Deploying Cognos Portlets to IBM WebSphere Portal 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0

Before users can add Cognos portlets to their portal pages, you must deploy the portlets to the portal server.

You can deploy the following portlets:

• Cognos Content portlets

  This group includes Cognos Navigator, Cognos Search, Cognos Viewer.

• Cognos Extended Applications portlets

  This group includes the Cognos Extended Applications portlet.

• Metric Studio portlets

  This group includes the Metric List and Metric History Chart portlets.

Before you start deploying the portlets, ensure that Cognos 8, including Cognos Connection and Portal Services, is installed and configured.

For the Cognos Extended Applications portlet, Cognos 8 Software Development Kit must also be installed. If Cognos 8 Software Development Kit is not installed or not available, the portal administrator should disable the Cognos Extended Applications portlet after the portlet applications file is installed .

For the Metric List and Metric History Chart portlets, Metric Studio must also be installed. If Metric Studio is not installed or not available, the portal administrator should disable the Metric List and Metric History Chart portlets after the portlet applications file is installed .

You must first log on to the portal with administrator privileges.

The deployment process consists of the following tasks:

	Installing the portlet applications file
	Configuring the portlet applications
	Configuring the portlet cache
	Customizing the content of Cognos portlets

After you deploy the portlets, you can configure security for your WebSphere Portal environment .

For more information, see the Installation and Configuration Guide.

Install the Portlet Applications File

Before Cognos content can appear in any WebSphere page, you must install the portlet applications file CognosBIPortlets_c83.war located in the c8_location\cps\ibm\portlets directory. This file contains the applications for the Cognos portlets, one for Cognos Navigator, Cognos Search, and Cognos Viewer, one for Cognos Extended Applications, and one for Metric List and Metric History Chart.

To install the portlet applications file, you must be logged on to the portal with administrator privileges, and be able to access the CognosBIPortlets_c83.war file from your file system or network file system. If the Portal Services installation is not within your network access, you must manually move the CognosBIPortlets_c83.war file to an accessible location.

The portlet applications file can be installed only once. However, it can be updated when required.

Steps

1. At the top of the portal page, click the Administration tab.

2. From the menu on the left, click Portlet Management, Web Modules, and then click Install.

   Tip: To update the CognosBIPortlets_c83.war file, click Web Modules, select the file name, and click the update web module button .

3. Click the Browse button, and, in the c8_location\cps\ibm\portlets directory, select the CognosBIPortlets_c83.war file.

4. Click Next.

5. Click Finish.

   A message confirms that the portlets were successfully installed.

Configure the Portlet Applications

Configure the portlet application to specify the signon mechanism and the address of the server component for Portal Services. This must be done for all sets of Cognos portlets: the Cognos Content portlets, the Cognos Extended Applications portlets, and the Metric Studio portlet.

Steps

1. On the Administration tab, click Portlet Management, Web Modules.

2. Click the CognosBIPortlets_c83.war file.

   A list of the Cognos portlet applications appears.

3. For the application you want, click the edit portlet application button .

   The edit page appears.

4. For the Active Credential Type property, enter one of the following values to specify the single signon mechanism used in your installation.

   • LtpaToken

   • HttpBasicAuth

   • SiteMinderToken

   • WebSealToken

   For more information about configuring single signon for Portal Services, see Configuring Security for Portal Services.

5. For the Cognos 8 WSRP WSDL Location property, modify the URL as required to connect to the CPS server. The URL must contain the correct protocol, server name, port number, and server path.

   By default, the protocol is http. If Cognos 8 is configured to be accessed through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections, change the protocol to https.

   The server path must point to a Cognos 8 gateway.

   • For the Cognos Navigator, Cognos Search, and Cognos Viewer portlets, the path is c8_gateway/wsrp/cps4/portlets/nav?wsdl&b_action=cps.wsdl.

   • For the Cognos Extended Applications portlet, the path is c8_gateway/wsrp/cps4/portlets/sdk?wsdl&b_action=cps.wsdl.

   • For the Metric Studio portlets, the path is c8_gateway/wsrp/cps4/portlets/cmm?wsdl&b_action=cps.wsdl.

6. Click OK.

   The Cognos portlets are now available to be added to pages by users. You can configure Cognos portlets so that their default settings are the same for all users.

7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 for the Cognos Extended Applications Portlets and the Metric Studio Portlets.

   Note: You can create the Cognos Extended Applications portlets only if Cognos 8 Software Development Kit is installed. For information about creating extended applications for Portal Services, see the Developer Guide.

Configure the Portlet Cache

Portal Services caches HTML markup fragments that are used to quickly regenerate recent views of portlet pages. These markup fragments are compressed and stored in the user’s session object. You can configure the number of pages stored for each user’s portlet.

The size of the markup fragment for each page depends on the complexity of the portlet, but they are typically about 5KB. By default, the cache stores ten pages for each user’s portlet.

Steps

1. On the Administration tab, click Portlet Management, Web Modules.

2. Click the portlet applications file CognosBIPortlets_c83.war.

3. In the portlet applications list, click the application you want.

4. For the portlet you want to set the cache size, click the configure portlet button .

5. For the Maximum Cached Pages property, enter the maximum number of pages you want to cache.

6. Click OK.

7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for each portlet.

8. Restart the Cognos 8 service.

Customize the Content of Cognos Portlets

As an administrator, you can define the default content and appearance of portlets. When you customize a portlet instance using the configure button , the settings become the default for all users who view this instance.

If the portlet is not locked for editing, users can customize the content for their instance of the portlet. Users retain their custom settings even if you reset the portlet. Users inherit the settings you configure only when they view the instance you configured, or when they reset the portlet using the reset button in the edit page of the portlet.

Applications that appear in the Cognos Extended Applications portlet may include editable application parameters with default values defined by the developer. To change the parameter values that users see as defaults, you must edit the applications.xml file. For information about modifying application parameters, see the Developer Guide.

The configurable properties for the Cognos portlets vary. For more information, see User Reference Help for Portal Services.

Steps

1. Go to the page where you added the Cognos portlets.

2. Click the configure button  for the portlet that you want to configure.

3. Edit the settings as required.

   These become the default settings for user instances of this portlet.

4. Click OK.