MSSQL Server 2005 & Cognos 8.

3 Installation and Configuration

Hi my name is Gopi Kishore Yalakanti, working as a Java Developer, has 8+ years of
experience. I was trying to learn Cognos and was trying to install and configure the Cognos with
SQL Server 2005, faced lot of difficulties in configuring and importing the database as I was new
to these installations and configurations. Finally I managed to finish installation and configuration
successfully. I think this document may help for the people who are trying to install. You can
contact me at gopi.yalakanti@gmail.com

SQL Server 2005 installation is pretty straight forward, so I am not adding the screenshots of
installations.

Pre-Requisites Softwares:

1. Cognos 8.3/8.2/8.1.2 BI Server.
2. Cognos 8.3/8.2/8.1.2 BI Modelling.
3. SQL Server 2000/2005 Developer/Enterprise Edition. I tried on SQL Server 2005.
4. Apace 2.0 / IIS installed

System Hardware Configuration:

1. Windows XP Professional with Service pack 2 or 3
2. Minimum 2GB of RAM
3. 30 GB Hard Disk Space

Installations Steps:

1. Create a windows login Ex: (cognos) provide admin access.
2. Login with the newly created user account.
3. Install SQL Server 2005.
4. After installation Start SQL Server Management Studio.
5. Connect to the Database Engine with windows authentication using the newly created login
and password.
6. Create a temporary database, used while configuring the Congos. I created a temp database as
DB1.
7. Once finished with creating DB, Select Security
8.
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9. Right click on the Logins menu and select New Login
10.
11.

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12.
13. Click ok and New Login is created.
14. Now you need to install Cognos 8.3/8.2/8.1.2 BI Server
15. Setup file located at <Drive:>\Cognos 8.3 BI Server\win32\ issetup.exe
16. Double click the file and follow the screenshots below.




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Select Start Cognos Configuration and click Finish.
In the below screenshot specify the Database server ip and newly created SQL Server login and
Database name.

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Configuring mail server is optional.


Once you configure, save the configuration and start the server, Displays message server is started.
Now stop the server and install Cognos 8.3/8.2/8.1.2 BI Modelling.
Setup file located at <Drive:>\ Cognos 8.3 BI Modelling\win32\issetup.exe. follow the screenshots
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Specify the SQL Server login password. (This is very important) otherwise framework manager
cannot recognise Datasoruces.

Not its turn to restore the sample DBs provided by Cognos. You can locate the sample DBs at
C:\Program Files\cognos\c8\webcontent\samples\datasources\sqlserver
If not you can download here http://rapidshare.com/files/196638314/sqlserver_db.rar
To restore the DBs goto C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data folder
and create the DB files.
Ex: right click at files windows select create new text documents and rename files as
GOHR_Data.mdf and GOHR_Log.ldf. Follow the screenshots.
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These two are important
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Setting the virtual directories in IIS

1. Open IIS and follow the screenshots
2.
3. Right click on the Default Website and select New-> Virtual Directory

4. Specify the alias name as cognos8
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5.
6. Select the cognos installation directory under program files select webcontent folder
7.
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8.
9.
10. Now Cognos 8 virtual directory created.
11. Now create cgi-bin virtual directory under cognos8, follow the above procedure but
created alias name as cgi-bin and directory location as C:\Program Files\cognos\c8\cgi-bin
12. You should see the following screen for successful setup
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13.
14. Completed the setup in IIS. Now start the service and open internet explorer and type
http://localhost/cognos8
15. Start using the Cognos Studio tools.

Setting in Apace 2.0

Install Apace 2.0
Got to location C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf
Edit httpd.conf file with any text editor and add the following lines of code at the end of the
file. Change the drive names if installed on different drives

ScriptAlias /cognos8/cgi-bin "c:/program files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin"
<Directory "c:/program files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride FileInfo
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from All
</Directory>

Alias /cognos8 "c:/program files/cognos/c8/webcontent"
<Directory "c:/program files/cognos/c8/webcontent">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride FileInfo
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from All
</Directory>


Hope you like this document. Good Luck and enjoy the installation. If you feel like saying
thanks just send a thanks mail to gopi.yalakanti@gmail.com
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