.For all installations, before you use Web pages generated by IBM Cognos 8, you must configure your Web server. You must create virtual directories, or aliases, so that users can connect to IBM Cognos 8 in the portal. If you plan to run more than one IBM Cognos 8 product, or several instances of the same product, on one computer, you must create a separate application pool for each product or instance and then associate the aliases for that product or instance to the application pool. The steps for creating an application pool vary depending on your operating system.
For IBM Cognos 8 for reporting, you must also set the content expiry for the images directory in your Web server so that the Web browser does not check image status after the first access.
On UNIX and Linux, the account under which the Web server runs must have read access to the cogstartup.xml file in the c8_location/configuration directory. By default the cogstartup.xml file has read permission for others. If you run your Web server under a specific group, you can change the cogstartup.xml file permissions to ensure that it belongs to the same group as the Web server. You can then remove the read permission for others.
For information on creating a user account or a network
service account for IBM Cognos 8, see .
Create the following virtual directories:
Alias | Location | Permission |
cognos8 | c8_location/webcontent | Read |
cognos8/cgi-bin | c8_location/cgi-bin | Execute |
You can use a name other than cognos8 in the aliases. However, you must use cgi-bin as the second part of the alias and you must change the virtual directory in the Gateway URI property to match the new IBM Cognos alias. For more information, see Change a Port or URI Setting.
If you are upgrading from ReportNet or an earlier version of IBM Cognos 8, you can continue to use the existing aliases. If you install IBM Cognos 8 reporting components in a different location from the earlier version, change the existing aliases to include the new location. If you have more than one version of ReportNet or IBM Cognos 8 on one computer, you must use different alias names for IBM Cognos 8.
For Apache Web Server, ensure that you define the cognos8/cgi-bin alias before the cognos8 alias in the httpd.conf file located in the Apache_installation/conf directory. The cognos8/cgi-bin alias must be defined as a ScriptAlias.
If you want to use Report Studio’s image browser, enable Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) on your Web server.
If you use Apache Web Server, specify a directory in which to enable WebDAV. For information about configuring WebDAV, see your Web server documentation.
If you use Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), enable the Read and Directory Browsing properties for the URL you want to access.
For IBM Cognos 8 for reporting, set the content expiry on the c8_location/pat/images virtual directory in your Web server.
Each time a user opens Report Studio, their Web browser checks with the Web server to determine if images are current. Because there are over 600 images, this can result in excess network traffic. You can postpone this check until a specified date by using the content expiry feature of the Web server.
For information on setting content expiry, see the documentation for your Web server.
Note: When you upgrade, Report Studio users must clear their Web browser cache to get the latest images.
If you use Web aliases other than cognos8,
or your Web server is on another computer, or you are using Microsoft
Internet Application Interface (ISAPI), apache_mod or a servlet
gateway, change the Gateway URI when you configure IBM Cognos components.
From the Start menu, select Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Administrative Tools.
Launch Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
Web Management Tools and World Wide Web Services are enabled automatically.
From the root (your system name and user), select Features View.
In the IIS section, launch ISAPI and CGI Restrictions.
Select Edit Feature Settings and enable Allow unspecified CGI modules and then click OK.
Add your aliases. For example, c8_location,c8_location/cgi-bin.
Select your cgi-bin alias and ensure that Features View is selected.
Right-click Application Pools and select Add.
In the dialog box, enter a Web alias and the corresponding path to IBM Cognos 8 webcontent.
Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add the next Web alias.
Select Default Web Site.
Open Handler Mappings.
Select CGI-cgi mappings.
In the right pane, click Revert to Inherited.
Expand the application that points to your webcontent location.
Expand your cgi-bin application node.
Add a mapping that points to *.cgi and name it CGI-cgi.
Select the CGI-cgi mapping.
In the right pane, click Revert to Inherited.
Restart the IIS server.
Find the folder that contains cgi-bin (c8_location/cgi-bin) and right-click it.
Select the Security tab.
Add the Network Services user, granting all permissions except Full Control.
Right-click on Cognos8 service and select Properties.
Click the Log On tab.
Click This account and enter Network Service as the user.
Delete the Password and the Confirm the password values.
Click OK.
