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where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

  • 1.  where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Sat June 19, 2021 09:40 AM
    Hello everybody,
    still here because I don't have this information anywhere.
    The case is this:
    we have saved some advanced settings such as RSVP.EXCEL.PAGEGROUP_WSNAME_ITEMVALUE
    in the dispatcher services and we have changed some parameters such as Maximum Number of Processes and Connections for report and batch services.

    now we should upgrade, from 11.0 to 11.1.7. Will these settings be preserved using an over the top install?
    but more important, if i would to preserve and backup this settings,where are these settings saved? on some particular fileor are they saved in the content store?

    Thanks as always.

    ------------------------------
    Magnum BI
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    #CognosAnalyticswithWatson


  • 2.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Sun June 20, 2021 05:12 AM
    Hey,
    advanced dispatcher settings are stored in the content store. You won't loose them with an over-the-top install.

    BTW: advanced system setting (Glass UI) are stored in files here <installPath>\configuration\data\flipper\config\global.


    ------------------------------
    Robert Dostal
    Team Leader BI
    GEMÜ
    Ingelfingen
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Sun June 20, 2021 11:07 AM
    Thanks again mr Dostal.I don't know about the flipper config folder.
    anyway for the content store solution, it needs a parameter  to export and import also the configuration settings.

    https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-include-configuration-settings-when-doing-exportimport-cognos-analytics 

    Thanks community,



    ------------------------------
    Magnum BI
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  • 4.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Mon June 21, 2021 12:49 PM
    Edited by System Fri January 20, 2023 04:41 PM
    Hi, Magnum,

    I've always set this kind of advanced parameter through Cognos Configuration, but I'm still on Cognos 10. The process may be slightly different in CA 11; it's documented here: Advanced settings configuration - IBM Documentation.

    The one you're interested in is documented here: Report service and batch report service advanced settings - IBM Documentation.

    RSVP.EXCEL.PAGEGROUP_WSNAME_ITEMVALUE is defined as a boolean defaulting to false, so you'd want to set it to true.

    ------------------------------
    Michael Walter
    Business Analyst
    TX HHSC
    Austin
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Mon June 21, 2021 06:09 AM
    Hi Robert,
    Thanks for this information.
    Can we male changes directly to these files present in the location mentioned above? Is there any specific format to be used?
    We do see 3 different files under this folder.
    configuration0.properties, configuration2.properties, configuration3.properties

    We do have to make changes to 200+ servers, Administration team is finding it difficult to change manually. We have been doing so through SDK until Cognos 10.2.2, while with Cognos 11.1.7, we do not have an SDK API. We are facing some issues with REST API login, hence not able to provide option of uploading extension.
    If we can make use of changing the file, then it will help us.
    Thanks!

    ------------------------------
    Dhanush
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Mon June 21, 2021 06:14 AM
    Hi Dhanush,
    actually I've never tried to modify the parameter settings in these files. I just use them to get an overview which extended parameters I have set so far. But I guess that changes to those files won't apply in the portal. That sounds too easy ;)
    I have no further knowledge about the settings. I'd suggest to contact an IBM tech expert directly.

    ------------------------------
    Robert Dostal
    Team Leader BI
    GEMÜ
    Ingelfingen
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Tue June 22, 2021 03:06 AM
    Edited by System Fri January 20, 2023 04:10 PM
    Hi Dhanush, 

    I don't think it is true that SDK is not available in 11.1.7. All SDK files should be part of the default installation and don't require a separate install; check for SDK folder in the Cognos installation folders root directory. 

    Regards

    ------------------------------
    Kiran Passumarthi
    www.linkedin.com/in/kiranpassumarthi
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Tue June 22, 2021 06:05 AM
    Hi Kiran,

    Sorry for mixing up in the above post. We do use SDK with Cognos 11.1.7, to set up the security configuration - modify folder permission based on Cognos roles, add application groups/roles to cognos specific roles.
    The point mentioned in above post - 
    There are some new parameters to be added/new changes to be made in portal -
    Example - Version of Cognos should be hidden, Glass.urlLoginParameters to be set, Schedules and Subscription to be hidden for adhoc user.
    The above actions can be configured through UI, but our middleware team finds it difficult to change in 200+ servers.
    We are not able to see any published SDK API to make the above set of changes or we are unaware of it.
    Please let us know if there is any other option.

    Thanks!


    ------------------------------
    Dhanush
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Tue June 22, 2021 06:16 AM
    Hi Dhanush, 

    I do not know but you may want to check if there is any tool like Motio, Metamanager etc that does that. 

    And, I know this may be a bit outside this topic, but if all the parameters can be set from UI, I would suggest you to look at any RPA tool like UiPath, OpenRPA etc where you can record your actions once and replace the hardcoded values with values from an excel file. Then your team can populate the excel file with details of the URLs and credentials for all the environments. Once the RPA project (robot) is run using that excel as input, the robot will open the browser, navigate to the URL, login, navigate to configuration section and set the values for the parameters. This will be done for all the URLs in the excel. This way you can automate in very limited time and achieve what you want to do. 

    I know it is unfortunate to have to depend on another tool out side cognos, but I am sure this automation will take less time than building an SDK utility. 

    Regards

    ------------------------------
    Kiran Passumarthi
    www.linkedin.com/in/kiranpassumarthi
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Mon July 18, 2022 12:26 PM
    Just an update to anyone stumbling across this. Advanced Configuration settings can only be viewed via these files, not altered. These files are updated everytime Cognos services restart with the values from the ContentStore. If anyone knows where these are stored IN the Content Store DB that would be most helpful.

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    Jackson Eyton
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  • 11.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Mon July 18, 2022 04:00 PM
    I've written a control that shows all of the advanced settings per service per dispatcher. I hadn't considered allowing the user to update the settings through the UI but I can absolutely see how useful it would be.

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    Paul Mendelson
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  • 12.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Mon July 18, 2022 04:16 PM
    Edited by System Fri January 20, 2023 04:19 PM

    Could be a miscommunication but when applying settings in Manage -> Configuration -> System -> Advanced Settings: Key|Value via the GlassUI interface.

    Changes from the defaults are stored in a git repository somewhere, I assume in '.analytics\configuration\data\flipper\config\.git'. When you startup cognos services this repository is read and settings key|values are written to configuration#.properties files located in '.\analytics\configuration\data\flipper\config\global'. There can be an issue where one of these changes will completely break the UI/logon. I was mistaken thinking these settings were stored in the content store, IBM confirms they're somewhere in a git repository. I am still trying to track that down but some sort of a technote on changing these advanced settings outside of the UI would be a big help in certain circumstances. We did resolve our issue via complete server restore prior to the settings change.



    ------------------------------
    Jackson Eyton
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Tue July 19, 2022 10:47 AM
    Hi Robert,
    Thanks for this information.
    Can we male changes directly to these files present in the location mentioned above? Is there any specific format to be used?
    We do see 3 different files under this folder.
    configuration0.properties, configuration2.properties, configuration3.properties

    We do have to make changes to 200+ servers, Administration team is finding it difficult to change manually. We have been doing so through SDK until Cognos 10.2.2, while with Cognos 11.1.7, we do not have an SDK API. We are facing some issues with REST API login, hence not able to provide option of uploading extension.
    If we can make use of changing the file, then it will help us.
    Thanks!

    ------------------------------
    Google Sports
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    Posted Tue July 19, 2022 12:18 PM
    Google Sports,
        That does not appear to be the case. You CAN make changes to the files but they do not affect anything. When you restart services the files are overwritten on services startup with the values of the settings as they are configured. As of yet it is not clear where these configuration settings values are stored, recall they are NOT in the content store as restoring the Content Store DB prior to a change will not revert that change.

    ------------------------------
    Jackson Eyton
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: where are stored advanced settings of dispatcher and services?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Tue July 19, 2022 06:54 PM
    You inspired me to add bulk updating of advanced settings in cognos services. Check it out:


    With my extension you'd be able to search for specific services, check the ones you want, and simply update all of them with a single click of a button. I haven't had the chance to test it in 11.1.7, but I have no reason to think it wouldn't work there. 

    I am confused about what you mean about REST API not allowing you to upload an extension. Can you expand on what the problem is?

    ------------------------------
    Paul Mendelson
    ------------------------------