Depending on the types of Microsoft SQL Server data sources you are using, there are considerations you should keep in mind when defining some types of authentication.
When connecting to Microsoft SQL Server using OLE DB, you can select Cognos 8 Service Credentials as the signon type for the data source connection. This property instructs Cognos 8 to log on to the SQL Server database using the logon specified for the Cognos 8 service. Users do not require individual database signons. However, all users will authenticate to the database with the same credentials and will have the same view of the data. For production environments, individual database signons are generally more appropriate.
You should not use a Windows local system account for the Cognos 8 server logon with a Microsoft SQL Server OLE DB data source.
You can configure Cognos 8 to use a Microsoft Active Directory namespace, where users are prompted for credentials as part of the Cognos 8 logon process. You can configure Cognos 8 to use these same credentials automatically when accessing the Microsoft SQL Server data source. The data source connection for Microsoft SQL Server must be configured for An External Namespace and that namespace must be the Active Directory namespace.
You can configure Cognos 8 to use a Microsoft Active Directory namespace and to authenticate users for Cognos 8 using Kerberos authentication and delegation. You can configure Cognos 8 to automatically authenticate the user when accessing the Microsoft SQL Server data source. The following configuration is required:
The Cognos 8 gateway must be installed on an IIS Web server that is configured for Windows Integrated Authentication.
Content Manager must be installed on a Windows 2003 or Windows XP server.
Content Manager, the report server (Application Tier Components), IIS Web server, and the data source server (Microsoft SQL Server) must belong to the same Active Directory domain.
The data source connection for Microsoft SQL Server must be configured for An External Namespace and that namespace must be the Active Directory namespace.
The report servers are trusted for delegation.
For more information about installation options for the gateway and Content Manager, as well as configuring the namespace and delegating trust, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide.