8.4 Go! Dashboard Install & Config

[funkigreendog]

Struggling to get this going, and as others have suggested, manual and install leave a bit to be desired.

We have a multi server Cognos 8 install (sepearte web server), and I'm struggling to understand if Dashboard is imply installed on the Application server or wether it needs a gateway component also installed.

I don't understand what WEB.GATEWAY_URI should be set to as the ../dashboard/html/ directory in the example does not exist anywhere.

[Jessy]

Hi kolonell,

Thanks for the tip on setting java_home before installing the service. The install guide is misleading when it says the java_home variable only needs to be set in either a distributed install or when not installed in the cognos8 folder. My server isn't distributed, and it is installed to the cognos8 directory, so I assumed this step wasn't needed. After setting java_home, the service starts without problems.

For my firewall problem, the URL I'm trying is: http://y2:8090/cognos/dashboard/html . In my CAF settings, I have "y2" under valid domains. When that didn't work, I also tried "y2:8090" but I get the same result. I placed a support call to Cognos and they sent me a "Troubleshooting GO! Dashboard Companion Guide" PDF which I'm still digesting.

Thanks for your help!

Hi,kyle556, Can I have a copy of your Companion Guide?
Thanks a bunch and best regards!

[Jessy]

I've started the IBMCognos8GoDashboard service. And now I'm trying to run the build file, but I failed every time. The error message is : The system cannot find the path specified.
Is there anyone who came across the same problem?
I wonder if it has something to do with the dashboard.properties file.
But how to update the dashboard.properties file? The installation guide doesn't make it clear.
Is there anyone who have resolved this problem can give me some hints?
Thanks!

[kolonell]

Hi Jessy

You'll need to update the build.bat file. I don't have it handy at the moment but from the top of my head
you'll need to set the path to the java installation folder. Maybe post the contents of your file if you modified it
already. But generally the Error you get means that something is incorrect as the java.exe can't be found.     

[funkigreendog]

Hi Jessy,

Below is an extract from the companion guide. As someone mentioned earlier it's available from the cognos site from the tech talk insider area. The below instructions are valid if the dashboard software is installed on the Cognos 8 server.

Modifying the dashboard.properties file
The dashboard.properties file is used IBM Cognos 8 GO! Dashboard as a
configuration file. This file will contain such information as context_root,
war/ear file name and the IBM Cognos 8 dispatcher URI.
1. Go to the ..\cognos_8_install\war\dashboard location
2. Open up the dashboard.properties file.
The following 2 parameters define the context path that the application
and Cognos 8 will reference. Any changes to these parameters will also
require an update to the WEB.GATEWAY_URI. The WEB.GATEWAY_URI
will be discussed later on in this document.
a) context_root=/cognos
b) dist_path=./dashboard
This defines the name of the war file that is created later in this section.
a) ear_name=dashboard.ear
b) war_name=dashboard.war
3. Change the following parameters to match your IBM Cognos 8
configuration.
a) c8_dispatch=http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch
b) c8_gateway=http://localhost:80/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi
c) c8_webcontent=http://localhost:80/cognos8
If needed, reference the table below to obtain the IBM Cognos

Configuration equivalent attribute name.

IBM Cognos Configuration Dashboard.Properties
Gateway URI c8_gateway
External Dispatcher URI c8_dispatch
None c8_webcontent
Save the file if there have been any modifications

[Jessy]

Hi Jessy

You'll need to update the build.bat file. I don't have it handy at the moment but from the top of my head
you'll need to set the path to the java installation folder. Maybe post the contents of your file if you modified it
already. But generally the Error you get means that something is incorrect as the java.exe can't be found.     

I'm glad to see your reply.
Thanks a bunch to you and funkigreendog. Thank you so much.
You really remind me! I've never thought about modifying build.bat.
Following your advice, I checked the file: its content is

@echo off
..\..\bin\jre\1.5.0\bin\java -classpath "../../bin/ant.jar;../../bin/xml-apis.jar;../../bin/xercesImpl.jar" org.apache.tools.ant.Main %*

but there is no jre folder in the bin folder. So I copied it from the C disk and ran the build.bat, I was noticed "Exception in thread 'main' java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/tools/ant/Main"
Then I copied ant.jar from c disk to the installation folder.
Eventually it works!
I'm testing the steps followed.
Thanks again.

[kolonell]

Hi Jessy

Good to hear you got it to build eventually. What I prefer to do myself is to modify the location the build.bat is referencing  (instead of copying it like you did). But if the building succeeds I guess all is well ;-)   i would have just modified the "../../" sections in the file to reference the absolute path of a sun java install.

[Jessy]

Hi kolonell

   You are so brilliant! It's really a good idea to modify the location, easier than my solution.

   As you know, I have built and deployed the war file , also I have logged on to the dashboard website, but it's blank in the toolbox. When I clicked on the menus, some 'undefined' alert messagebox appeared. I wonder if you have met this problem before, how to deal with it .
   Many thanks!

[kolonell]

hmm .. sorry to say that but haven't encountered this one yet ;-)

Do you mind posting the contents of your dashboard.properties file ? I suspect something is wrong with the communication between Cognos 8 BI and the Dashboard servlets.

Where did you install Go! dashboard ? in the same folder as your existing Cognos 8 or a different one ? 

By the way .. Merry Christmas to all.

[Jessy]

Hi, kolonell

   First of all, Merry Christmas to you and everybody!

   At the installation time, I tried to install Go! Dashboard in the same folder as Cognos 8, i.e. C:\Program Files\Cognos\c8, but I was notified that I can't install dashboard there, so I changed the directory to D:\Program Files\Cognos\c8.

   The contents of my dashboard.properties are as follows:

context_root=/cognos
dist_path=./dashboard
ear_name=dashboard.ear
war_name=dashboard.war
c8_dispatch=http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch
c8_gateway=http://localhost:80/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi

I left most of them as default.
The website of dashboard is :http://localhost:8088/cognos/dashboard/html
c8_webcontent=http://localhost:80/cognos8

Pls help to find if there is anything wrong.
Thanks and best regards!

[kolonell]

Can't see anything "wrong" but I would suggest the change localhost references to the servername as you'll have issues if it's accessed from another PC (which might be what you are doing at the moment).  You'll have to rebuild the war file and redeploy for the changes to take effect.

Also verify that you can access C8 through the following URI :  http://<server name>:80/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi

What do you mean with "I was notified that I can't install dashboard there" ? Was it the product that prompted you or other reasons ? I ask this
because there are 2 components that need to be installed on top of the existing C8 ("Go! Dashboard Resources" and "Thumbnail service")

[Jessy]

Hi, kolonell

    Thanks for your kind help.Sorry to reply late.Need I change all the localhost to my IP address? I have changed those related to dashboard, but it doesn't work. I still see 'undefined' messagebox
     As for the "I was notified that I can't install dashboard there", it's the product that notified me. So I installed dashboard to D disk together with "Go! Dashboard Resources" and "Thumbnail service", but I can't see how these two services work.
     Another question is that I can't see Go!Dashboard in IBM Cognos Administration/Security/Capabilities. I've no idea about this situation.
     
 

[kolonell]

Hi Jessy

Not sure why they don't show up... Can you check you actually have Cognos 8.4 BI installed on the C drive? That is the only reason I can think of why it doesn't allow you to install on the top

[Jessy]

Yes, I surely have installed Cognos 8.4 BI on the C drive.
Does this have anything to do with the Go! Dashboard?

[josepherwin]

This is one heck of an annoying tool to install....

I've been following the installation guide, but their guide is very very misleading.

Anyway, I've the dashboard service up and running, but I still have that PRS-PRH-0250 error message.

Another problem that I encounter is that Once I click on the New Dashboard icon toolbox, it will then bring me to authentication page again (without any images/colours) as it it's pointing to a new dispatcher...

Basically what happen is that once I click on the New Dashboard icon, the URL will change from http://Http://webserver/cognos8 to http://Http://appserver/cognos8 where the dashboard server is installed.

The most annoying bit is that not only it doesnt recognise the existing SSO that i've setup, but if I click the "Home" icon, it will not bring me to the webserver, but to the appserver instead....