Deploying Cognos 8 Entries

To deploy Cognos 8, you

	export into a deployment archive in the source environment
	move the deployment archive to the target environment
	include configuration objects if you are importing the entire content store
	import from the deployment archive into the target environment
	test the deployed entries

In Cognos Connection, you can organize your deployment specification in folders in the same way that you organize all your entries. See Organizing Entries.

Deployment can be part of an agent. For more information, see Agents.

You can schedule deployment to run automatically at a specified time or as part of a job. Cognos 8 saves the run history for each deployment specification. After you export or import, you can view the date and time and the status of the deployment. You can also view any error messages created by the deployment and the list of entries that were exported or imported. For more information, see .

To deploy Cognos 8 entries, you must have execute permissions for the Administration tasks secured feature and traverse permissions for the Administration secured function. We also recommend that you belong to the System Administrators group and have read and write access to the Cognos namespace so that you can deploy the System Administrators group. For more information, see Set Access Permissions for an Entry.

When you do a partial export of public folders and directory content rather than exporting the entire content store , you must have read and traverse permissions for the entries that you export. You also need write permissions because you create a deployment specification and deployment history when you export. When you import, you must have write and set policy permissions for the entries that you import.

We recommend that you stop the Content Manager service before you export and import. This prevents users from receiving unpredictable results if they are performing operations during the deployment. For example, if users view reports in a package while the package is being imported, users may encounter errors when the report outputs are replaced. For more information, see Stop and Start Dispatchers and Services.

Before you start, you must plan the deployment to determine what deployment options to use and what entries to deploy . You may want to back up before deployment .

Create an Export Deployment Specification

To export the Cognos 8 entries, you create an export deployment specification . You can also use a previously saved deployment specification for export or for redeployment of your entries.

The entries are exported to an export deployment archive in the source environment. Later, you import the archive entries into the target environment. You can update the entries in the target environment using the entries from the deployment archive.

When you export, you select the entries to deploy, and you set the options that are used as defaults when importing.

Steps to Create a New Export Deployment Specification

1. In the source environment, open Cognos Connection.

2. In the upper-right corner, click Launch, Cognos Administration.

3. On the Configuration tab, click Content Administration.

4. On the toolbar, click the new export button . The New Export wizard appears.

5. Type a unique name and an optional description and screen tip for the deployment specification. Select the folder where you want to save it and click Next.

6. Choose whether to export the entire content store or to do a partial export of specific folders and directory content:

   • To export specific folders and directory content, click Select public folders and directory content, and then click Next. Proceed to step 7.

   • To export the entire content store, click Select the entire content store and select whether to include user account information. Click Next and proceed to step 18.

7. In the Select the Public folders content page, click Add.

8. In the Select entries page, in the Available Entries box, select the packages or folders that you want to export.

   You can browse the Public Folders hierarchy and choose the packages and folders you want. Click the right arrow button  to move the selected items to the Selected entries box, and click OK.

9. For each package and folder that you export, do one of the following:

   • If you want the package or folder to have a different name in the target environment, or if you want to change the target location or add multilingual names, click the edit icon  make your changes, and click OK.

   • If you do not want users to access the package or folder and its entries, select the check box in the Disable after import column. This is useful when you want to test the reports before you make them available in the target environment.

10. Under Options, select whether you want to include the report output versions, run history, and schedules and what to do with entries in case of a conflict.

11. Click Next.

12. In the Select the directory content page, select whether you want to export Cognos groups and roles, distribution lists and contacts, and data sources and connections and what to do with the entries in case of a conflict.

13. Click Next.

14. In the Specify the general options page, select whether to include access permissions and references to third-party namespaces, and who should own the entries after they are imported in the target environment.

15. Specify the Recording Level for the deployment history .

16. Click Next.

17. In the Specify a deployment archive page, under Deployment archive, select an existing deployment archive from the list, or type a new name to create one.

    If you are typing a new name for the deployment archive, we recommend that you do not use spaces in the name. If the name of the new deployment specification matches the name of an existing deployment archive, the characters _# are added to the end of the name, where # is a number such as 1.

18. If you want to secure the archive, under Encryption, click Set the encryption password, type a password, and then click OK.

19. Click Next.

    The summary information appears.

20. Review the summary information and click Next.

    Tip: If you want to change information, click Back and follow the instructions.

21. Review the summary information and click Next.

22. Select the action you want:

    • To run now or later, click Save and run once and click Finish. Specify the time and date for the run. Then click Run. Review the run time and click OK.

    • To schedule at a recurring time, click Save and schedule and click Finish. Then, select frequency and start and end dates. Then click OK.

      Tip: To temporarily disable the schedule, select the Disable the schedule check box. To view the schedule status, see Manage Scheduled Activities.

    • To save without scheduling or running, click Save only, and then click Finish.

After you run the export, you can move the deployment archive. You can also see the export run history .

Steps to Modify an Existing Export Deployment Specification

1. In the target environment, open Cognos Connection.

2. In the upper-right corner, click Launch, Cognos Administration.

3. On the Configuration tab, click Content Administration.

4. In the Actions column, click the properties button  for the deployment specification you want to modify, and then click the Export tab.

5. Modify the deployment options as required.

   Tip: If you want to change the export target location, click the edit button  next to the export name in the Target name column, the Public Folders content section, and choose the package or folder you want.

6. Click OK.

   This saves the options and you can run the export now or at a later time .

Steps to Run an Export

1. In the Actions column, click the run with options button .

2. Click Now to run the export immediately, or click Later, and enter the time, that you want the export to run.

   You can also schedule a task to run on a recurring basis, and view a list of scheduled tasks using the Schedule Management tool. For more information, see Schedule Management.

   Tip: To avoid warning messages when logged into multiple namespaces, before you run the export next time, renew your credentials. In Cognos Connection, in the upper-right corner, click the my area button , and then click My Preferences. On the Personal tab, in the Credentials section, click Renew the credentials.

You can now move the deployment archive.

Move the Deployment Archive

Move the deployment archive that you created in the source environment to the target environment. Later, you use the deployment archive to import in the target environment.

If the source and target environments use the same content store, you can import without moving the deployment archive.

The location where deployment archives are saved is set in the configuration tool. The default location is c8_location/deployment.

If you plan to move the deployment archive to a location on a LAN, ensure that there is enough disk space. If you did not encrypt the deployment archive, we recommend that you copy it to a secure location.

Steps

1. Copy the deployment archive from the source environment to a location on the LAN or to a CD.

2. Copy the deployment archive from the LAN or CD to the target environment in the location set in the configuration tool.

You can now include configuration objects if you’re importing an entire content store or import to the target environment.

Import to a Target Environment

You import entries from the deployment archive into the target environment. To import the entries, you create an import deployment specification .

You can import using an existing deployment specification if you previously saved it without importing, or if you want to redeploy your Cognos 8 entries. You can update the entries in the target environment with entries from the deployment archive.

When you import, you select from entries that were exported. You can either accept the default options set during the export, or change them. You cannot select options that were not included in the deployment archive during the export. For information about how specific objects in the content store are imported, see Deployment Rules When Importing.

You can also use the New Import wizard to upgrade entries from previous releases of the product. You can upgrade report specifications during the import, or choose to upgrade them at a later time using the New Report Upgrade wizard. For more information, see Upgrade Report Specifications.

To use an existing import deployment specification, see Steps to Modify an Existing Import Deployment Specification

Steps to Create a New Import Deployment Specification

1. In the target environment, open Cognos Connection.

2. In the upper-right corner, click Launch, Cognos Administration.

3. On the Configuration tab, click Content Administration.

4. On the toolbar, click the new import button . The New Import wizard appears.

5. In the Deployment archive box, click the deployment archive that you want to import.

6. If the deployment archive is encrypted, type the password, and then click OK.

7. Click Next.

8. Type a unique name and an optional description and screen tip for the deployment specification, select the folder where you want to save it, and then click Next.

9. Select the content that you want to include in the import.

   Tip: To ensure that the required target package or folder exists in the target content store, click the edit button  next to the package, and check the location. If you want, you can change the target location now.

10. Select the options you want, along with your conflict resolution choice for options that you select.

11. In the Specify the general options page, select whether to include access permissions and references to third-party namespaces, and who should own the entries after they are imported in the target environment.

12. Specify the Recording Level for the deployment history .

13. Click Next.

    The summary information appears.

14. Review the summary information and click Next.

15. Select the action you want:

    • To run now or later, click Save and run once and click Finish. Specify the time and date for the run. Then click Run. Review the run time and click OK.

    • To schedule at a recurring time, click Save and schedule and click Finish. Then, select frequency and start and end dates. Then click OK.

      Tip: To temporarily disable the schedule, select the Disable the schedule check box. To view the schedule status, see Manage Scheduled Activities.

    • To save without scheduling or running, click Save only then click Finish.

      When you run the import, you have the option of selecting to upgrade the report specification. If you choose not to upgrade the deployment specification at this time, you can upgrade it later. For more information, see Upgrade Report Specifications.

After you run the import, you can test the deployment. You can also see the import run history .

Steps to Modify an Existing Import Deployment Specification

1. In the target environment, open Cognos Connection.

2. In the upper-right corner, click Launch, Cognos Administration.

3. On the Configuration tab, click Content Administration.

4. In the Actions column, click the properties button  for the deployment specification you want to modify, and then click the Import tab.

5. Modify the deployment options as required.

   Tip: If you want to change the import target location, click the edit button  next to the import name in the Target name column, the Public Folders content section, and choose the package or folder you want.

6. Click OK.

   This saves the options and you can run the import now or at a later time .

Steps to Run an Import

1. In the Actions column, click the run with options button .

2. Click Now to run the import immediately, or click Later, and enter the time, that you want the import to run.

3. If you want to upgrade the report specifications, click Upgrade all report specifications to the latest version.

   You can also schedule a task to run on a recurring basis, and view a list of scheduled tasks using the Schedule Management tool. For more information, see Schedule Management.

You can now test the deployment.

Include Configuration Objects in Import of Entire Content Store

You can include configuration objects when importing an entire content store. For example, you may want to import the configuration because you have a series of advanced settings for your services that you want from the source environment.

By default, configuration objects are excluded when you import an entire content store, even though they are included in the export. Configuration objects include dispatchers and configuration folders used to group dispatchers. For more information, see Rules For Deploying the Entire Content Store.

We recommend that you do not import configuration objects. Dispatchers should be configured in your target environment before you import data from a source environment. If you must import configuration objects, you should either stop the source dispatcher services before the import, or restart Cognos 8 in the target environment after the import. Otherwise, you may get errors with the status of dispatchers. If you want to import configuration objects, you must be prepared for a brief interruption of services.

Steps

1. In Cognos Connection, in the upper-right corner, click Launch, Cognos Administration.

2. On the Configuration tab, click Dispatchers and Services.

3. Click the dispatcher you want.

4. Next to ContentManagerService, click the set properties button.

5. Click the Settings tab.

6. In the Value column, click Edit.

7. Select the Override the settings acquired from the parent entry check box.

8. In the Parameter column that appears, type the following in uppercase:

   CM.DEPLOYMENTINCLUDECONFIGURATION

9. In the Value column, type true

10. Click OK to finish.

Testing Deployed Applications

After you import the packages from the deployment archive, you may want to verify that all the entries were deployed successfully in the target environment.

You can test your deployment by

• reviewing the run history for a deployment

• ensuring that the correct packages and folders were imported along with their contents

• ensuring that the data sources, distributions lists and contacts, and Cognos groups and roles were imported

• verifying the permissions for the imported entries

• ensuring that the schedules were imported

• ensuring that any references to renamed packages were updated

• running imported reports and report views