Cognos 10.2.2 Configuration using Apache Derby/Oracle, Microsoft IIS and ISAPI Gateway

Install IBM Cognos Executable File

1. Open the Cognos Installable directory and run “issetup.exe” to start the installation of Cognos BI Server components.

2. Select the path of installation directory. Also, select the Server Use Type.

3. Select the components (Application Tier, Gateway, Content Manager and Cognos Content Database). Please note that Cognos Content Database is file based Apache Derby database that is provided with IBM Cognos software. It is generally used for demo and proof-of-concept environments. For a typical Development, QA and Production environments, use a standard RDBMS instead of Cognos Content Database. Also, for a stand-alone server installation, check all the components. IF you want distributed installation, only select appropriate components to install. In this example, I am selecting all the components as shown below.

Note: if you choose, IBM Cognos Quicksetup option, Cognos BI Server is automatically configured with “IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile” application server with CGI as gateway and DB2 as Cognos Content Store.  We are not selecting this for this exercise. 

4. Follow the directions on window and complete the installation. At the end of installation, you will see following screen. No need to start Cognos Configuration. Simply click on Finish button.  

5. In order to access Cognos application through web browser, we need to configure a web server with an appropriate gateway. In this excercise, we are using “Microsoft Internet Information Services” as web server and “ISAPI” as Gateway.

6. On Windows environment, Open Control Panel à Administrative Tools à Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

Setting Up Application Pool for IBM Cognos

Application pools are actually used to isolate web applications for better security, reliability, availability and performance. Also, keep running without impacting each other.

IBM Cognos 10 gateway modules will need to be executed in the context of an IIS 7.x application pool. We can simply use the Default Application Pool however, it's strongly recommended to define a dedicated application pool for IBM Cognos 10. Dedicated application pool can also be shared by other Cognos products IBM Cognos Enterprise Planning, IBM Cognos TM1 Web or IBM Cognos Executive Viewer. 

1. In IIS Manager window, on the Connections pane, expand the server and right-click on “Application Pools” à select “Add Application Pool”. 

2. Specify name as “IBM Cognos 10” > select appropriate .NET Framework Version > Managed Pipeline Mode as Integrated and click OK.

Configuring 32-bit Gateway

1. Right-click on newly created “IBM Cognos 10” pool and select “Advanced Settings”. 

2. Set the “Enable 32-Bit Applications” option to “True”. Also, set the “Start Automatically” option to True.

Please note that, above setting is applicable only to IBM Cognos 10.1.0 and 10.1.1 (both 32 & 64-bit), IBM Cognos 10.2 and higher (32-bit only). In Windows 64-bit OS, application pools use 64-bit operating mode by default. However, IBM Cognos 10.1.0 and 10.1.1 Gateway modules are 32-bit even in 64-bit Cognos versions. So, it is important to set this option to “True”.  

Configuring 64-bit Gateway

Please note that, above setting is applicable only to IBM Cognos 10.2 and higher. Also, the following additional steps are required to enable 64-bit.

• Open command prompt and navigate to cgi-bin in the Cognos installation location. Eg: C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\c10_64\cgi-bin
• Run the command copyGateMod.bat 64bit. If you want to revert, use copyGateMod.bat 32bit 
  
  

Create Virtual Directories for Cognos Application

We need to create a new virtual directory to determine the path (or alias) element to be used in the URL, right after the web server host name or address. Recommended name for virtual directory is “ibmcognos”. The access URI will look like http://>server</ibmcognos.

1. Under Connections à Sites à Right-click on “Default Website” à select “Add Virtual Directory”

2. Give Alias name as “ibmcognos” à Locate “webcontent” folder in the Cognos installation directory.

Create Application for cgi-bin

We need to create an application for cgi-bin to map the IBM Cognos Gateway modules to the application pool “IBM Cognos 10” (previously created).

1.  Right-click on “ibmcognos” directory à select “Add Application”

2. Specify Alias name as “cgi-bin” à Application pool as “IBM Cognos 10” à Locate the path “cgi-bin” folder in Cognos installation folders.

Configure IIS7 for ISAPI

A module mapping must be configured which routes requests calling “cognosisapi.dll” to the executable. The module must be added as an allowed extension so that “IIS” does not block its execution.

1. Select “cgi-bin” within the “ibmcognos” virtual directory à double-click on “Handler Mappings” on the right side pane.

2. Click on “Add Module Mapping” in “Actions” section.

3. Specify Request Path as “cognosisapi.dll” à Module as “IsapiModule” à Executable path should be the directory path where “cognosisapi.dll” is stored à specify Name as “IBMCOGNOS-ISAPI”.

Setup ISAPI restrictions for the web server

1. Select the server under Connections à Double-click on “ISAPI and CGI Restrictions”.

2. Make sure that the Restriction is allowed for cognosisapi.dll

Update Module Mapping Parameter

Cognos Gateway requires an additional parameter to be configured for ISAPI module mapping handlers. This setting is required for Cognos Administration and Cognos Mobile to function properly.

1. Select “cgi-bin” under connections à double-click on “Configuration Editor”.

2. Click on “handlers” under “system.webserver”.

3. Click on edit icon […] in the second column

4. Change the “allowPathInfo” property to “True”.

5. Open IBM Cognos Configuration à Update the Gateway URI as shown below à Save à Start the Services.

6. Open a web browser à type the URI http: http://localhost/ibmcognos/isapi

Configuring Cognos using Oracle as Content Store

If you want to configure Cognos using Oracle as a content store, you must install Oracle RDBMS software and also create a dedicated database for Cognos. Once the database is created, go through the following steps to configure the Content Store.

1. Navigate to the following Oracle installation path:

Oracle_Installation_Path\product\Oracle_Version\client_1\sqldeveloper\jdbc\lib

Copy the ojdbc6.jar file to the following location on the Cognos 10 environment:

Cognos_Installation_Path\c10\webapps\p2pd\web-inf\lib

2. Open Cognos configuration window >> right-click on "Content Manager" and navigate to "New resource" >> "Database".

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