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IBM Cognos BI Installation & Configuration on Redhat Linux
Vikas_K_Manoria | Nov 27 2014 | 4 Comments | 9,102 Views

Those who normally work with Cognos BI on Windows Server, find it difficult to install and
configure on Linux. In this blog well see steps involved in this installation and configuration on
RHEL. There are three parts to it.
1) Meet the pre-requisites (Hardware & Software)
2) Install and configure Cognos BI Server components
3) Install and configure HTTP server
Cognos Framework Manager and Transformer are client tools and must be installed on Windows.
Meet the pre-requisites (Hardware & Software)
Lets start with step -1. You can go thru standard supported environment specification on IBM
site (http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27037784). Here I am going to
install Cognos BI V 10.2.1 on RHEL 6.4 system with the specification shown in below
screenshot.

We need to ensure installation of required patches before we start Cognos installation:

glibc-2.12-1.80.el6 (both ppc and ppc64 packages) - 32 and 64 bit glibc libraries

libstdc++-4.4.6-4.el6 (both ppc and ppc64 packages) - 32 and 64 bit libstdc++ libraries

nspr-4.9-1.el6 (both ppc and ppc64 packages) - 32 and 64 bit nspr library for CAM ldap
provider

nss-3.13.3-6.el6 (both ppc and ppc64 packages) - 32 and 64 bit nss library for CAM ldap
provider

openmotif-2.3.3-4.el6 (both ppc and ppc64 packages) - 32 and 64 bit openmotif libraries

One way to get these libraries is to download them independently from various Linux websites
and install them. The other and probably the better way is to use your OS (RHEL 6.4 in this case)
disk or .ISO image for the process. I am going to use the second option here. First I copied

RHEL6.4-20130130.0-Server-x86_64-DVD1.iso file in /data folder (newly created) then

mounted it as /media and update repository.
mountoloopRHEL6.420130130.0Serverx86_64DVD1.iso/media
vi/etc/yum.repos.d/server.repo
rpmimport/media/*GPG*
yumcleanall

Now to check if glibc package is already installed or not, use below command:
rpmqa|grepglibc
If package is installed youll get file list (name ending with .x64_64 or .i686) in return otherwise
we need to install it including dependencies using below command:
yuminstallglibc.i686//For32bit
yuminstallglibc.x86_64//For64bit

Repeat the same process for libstdc++,nspr,nss,openmotif.

We also need to have JDK 7 installed as prerequisite. I am downloading IBM JDK 7 from IBM
site (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/linux/download.html ) for Linux 64-bit
environment and install it as shown below.
./ibmjavax86_64sdk7.11.1.bin
It is installed in /opt/ibm/javax86_6471. Now we are ready for step-2.
Install and configure Cognos BI Server components
As shown below in snapshot, I have copied these 5 server components

First unzip the package using below command

tarxvfbi_svr_10.2.1_l86_ml.tar.gz
cdlinuxi38664h
./issetup

It would open GUI based installation wizard, as shown below -

From here steps are self explanatory. I am selecting all four components from Component
Selection screen as I want all on my single server. By default Cognos Content Database is not
selected. In case, you plan to create content store somewhere else you can go ahead without it.

Once the installation is over you can go ahead with Cognos Samples, SDK, Mobile and other
server components. Add the bcprov-jdk14-134.jar from
/cognos/c8_64/bin64/jre/1.5.0/lib/ext/bcprov-jdk14-134.jar to the $JAVA_HOME/lib/ext path
cp /opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/bin64/jre/7.0/lib/ext/bcprovjdk14
145.jar/opt/ibm/javax86_64/jre/lib/ext
We also need to add JAVA_HOME in cogconfig.sh file before opening Cognos Configuration
tool.
vi/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/bin64/cogconfig.sh
And add below line as first executable command of cogconfig.sh file.
ExportJAVA_HOME=/opt/ibm/javax86_64/jre
Save it and run it to start Cognos service.
./opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/bin64/cogconfig.sh

Just test if Cognos BI service is running successfully by opening

http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet on browser.

Install and configure HTTP server

You can choose your choice of HTTP server here. I am using IBM HTTP Server (32-bit). It is
no-charge and can be downloaded from
www.ibm.com/software/webservers/httpservers/download
Unzip downloaded package, update JAVA_HOME in IHS/install file and run it.
tarxvfihs.7000.linux.ia32.tar
cdIHS
viinstall
./install
Itll open GUI wizard for installation.

After successful installation well add necessary virtual directories in configuration file.
vi/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/conf/httpd.conf
Add below lines in httpd.conf
#Cognos#
#LoadCognosApache2.2Module
LoadModulecognos_module"/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgi

bin/lib/mod2_2_cognos.so"
#AddWebDAVlockdirectory,makesuretheLoadModule
dav_modulemodules/mod_dav.soandLoadModuledav_fs_module
modules/mod_dav_fs.soareuncommented
DAVLockDB/tmp/DBLOCK
#Aliasforthecgiscripts
ScriptAlias/ibmcognos/cgibin"/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgi
bin/"
<Directory"/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgibin">
AllowOverrideNone
OptionsNone
Orderallow,deny
Allowfromall
</Directory>
#AliasfortheCognoswebcontentfolder
Alias/ibmcognos"/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/webcontent"
<Directory"/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/webcontent">
OptionsIndexesFollowSymLinksMultiViewsIncludesNoExec
AddOutputFilterIncludeshtml
AllowOverrideNone
Orderallow,deny
Allowfromall
DAVon
</Directory>
Find out below lines and add # in the beginning to comment them.
#LoadModulewas_ap22_module
/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/Plugins/bin/32bits/mod_was_ap22_http.so
#WebSpherePluginConfig
/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/Plugins/config/webserver1/plugincfg.xml
We can save it now. Well create two file one two start the server and another to stop it.
Create startIHS.sh with below code
export
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgi
bin:/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgibin/lib
./apachectlstart

And stopIHS.sh with

export
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgi
bin:/opt/ibm/cognos/c10_64/cgibin/lib
./apachectlstop
Copy both files in /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin and run startIHS.sh to start the server.
cd/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin
./startIHS.sh
Heres your Cognos BI server ready for use. Open http://localhost:80/ibmcognos
on local machine or use IP address/hostname instead of localhost. In my case, HTTP server is
running on 80 port number (default).

If you want to upgrade it with fix pack 3 which is latest please get it from below link and install
it.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24037728

References:
IBM Cognos 10.2.1 official documentation (Knowledge Center)
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27037021#cbiv10r2m1en
Business Intelligence Installation and Configuration Guide
http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/documentation/docs/en/10.2.1/inst_cr_winux.pd
f
Business Intelligence Architecture and Deployment Guide