Publish a Package

In Cognos 8, you can publish a package to any folder in Content Manager so your users can access it.

You can also publish a package to a network location. A package on a network location cannot be used by your users. Publishing to a network location is useful for backing up a package.

Objects that are excluded or hidden, but are necessary in a query path, are included but marked as hidden in a published package.

To avoid problems, troubleshoot the package before publishing it by using the Verify the Package Before Publishing check box in the Publish wizard to ensure that it is complete and does not contain errors.

When you publish a package, you can

• Set the number of model versions to retain on the server. For more information about model versions, see Update a Report to Use the Latest Version of a Package.

  Tip: To see the number of model versions set for a package, select a package and, in the Property pane, find the Max Versions property.

• Externalize query subjects and dimensions so that you can use them with Transformer .

Steps

1. Select the package you want to publish.

2. From the Actions menu, click Package, Publish Packages.

3. Choose where to publish the package:

   • To publish the package to the report server, click Cognos 8 Content Store, click open, and select an existing folder or create a new folder in the Content Store.

   • To publish the package to a network location, click Location on the network.

4. To enable model versioning when publishing to the Cognos 8 Content Store, select the Enable model versioning check box and type the number of model versions of the package to retain.

   Tip: To delete all but the most recently published version on the server, select the Delete all previous model versions check box.

5. Click Next.

6. In the Add Security window, define security for the package (optional):

   Goal	Actions
   Create, add, or remove a user, group, or role.	On the User Access tab, click Add. In the Select Users and Groups window, define user security. For information about how to use the Select Users and Groups window, see the Administrator and Security Guide. Users, groups, or roles defined in the user Access Tab have Read, Write, Execute, and Traverse permissions.
   Grant administrative access to a user, group, or role.	On the Administrator Access tab, click Add. In the Select Users and Groups window, define administrator security. For information about how to use the Select Users and Groups window, see the Administrator and Security Guide. Users, groups, or roles defined in the Administrator Access Tab have Read, Write, Set Policy, and Traverse permissions.

   Note: The Add Security window in the Publish Wizard is only available the first time you publish a package. To change security for a published package, see Modify Package Security

7. Click Next.

8. If you want to externalize query subjects, select the Generate the files for externalized query subjects check box.

9. By default, the package is verified before it is published. If you do not want to verify your model prior to publishing, clear the Verify the package before publishing check box.

10. Click Publish.

    If you chose to externalize query subjects, Framework Manager lists which files were created.

11. Click Finish.

Publish a Package Based on an OLAP Data Source

You can use Framework Manager to connect to an OLAP data source and create a package based on a cube. You can then publish the package directly to Cognos Connection, making it available for use in the Cognos 8 studios.

By default, each package contains a connection to only one cube. If you want to create a package containing multiple cubes, run the metadata wizard and create a package for each cube. Then create a package that includes individual packages as required.

Before creating a package containing multiple cubes, consider the potential performance impacts. In Cognos Connection, each time a package is used, a connection is made to each of the data sources defined in the package. Creating large packages with multiple cubes can have a negative impact on performance. To offset the potential performance impact of creating one large package containing many cubes, create one package per cube and then create smaller combinations of packages as required.

By default, packages based on an OLAP data source do not contain vendor function lists. If you want to include the vendor function list, specify the function sets to include and then republish the package.

Note: To publish a package that contains a single cube, we recommend that you use Cognos Connection. For information on publishing a package from Cognos Connection, see the Administration and Security Guide.

Steps to Create and Publish a Package

1. In the Welcome page, click Create a new project.

   Tip: If you are already in Framework Manager, click New Project from the File menu.

2. In the New Project page, specify a name and location for the project and click OK.

   You may be prompted to provide authentication information.

3. In the Select Language page, click the design language for the project.

   The language you select cannot be changed after you click OK, but you can add others. For more information, see Add a Language to a Project.

4. In the Metadata Wizard dialog box, click Data source and click Next.

5. Select your data source from the list of available data source connections and click Next.

   If the data source connection is not available in the list, you can click New to create the data source connection. For more information, see Create a Data Source Connection.

6. Specify a name for the package and click Next.

   Optionally, you can specify a description and screen tip for the package.

7. Specify who has access to the package.

   You can add users, groups, or roles .

8. Click Finish to import the metadata and create the package.

9. When prompted, click Yes to publish the package or click No to return to the Project Viewer.

Steps to Add Another Package

1. In the Project Viewer, right-click the model that you want to use and click Run Metadata Wizard.

2. In the Metadata Wizard dialog box, click Data Sources and click Next.

3. Select your data source from the list of available data source connections and click Next.

   If the data source connection is not available in the list, you can click New to create the data source connection. For more information, see Create a Data Source Connection.

4. Specify a name for the package and click Next.

   Optionally, you can specify a description and screen tip for the package.

5. Specify who has access to the package.

   You can add users, groups, or roles .

6. Click Finish to import the metadata and create the package.

7. When prompted, click Yes to publish the package or click No to return to the Project Viewer.

The namespace appears in the Project Viewer. You cannot see objects in the native metadata model from within Framework Manager. The native metadata objects are visible from within the Cognos 8 studios when the native metadata package is used.

Publishing a Package by Running a Script

Cognos 8 reports are dependent on the objects in the package on which the report is based. If your report uses objects that no longer exist in the package, the reports will not run. You can have this problem if you make changes to the physical data source, and then use a script to generate the model and republish the package. After the script is run and the package is published, analyzing the impact of publishing the package does not identify the broken reports.

To avoid this problem, do the following:

	Run the script, excluding any steps that publish the package.
	Verify the model or analyze the impact of publishing the package.
	Publish the package.

Update a Report to Use the Latest Version of a Package

When you publish a package for the first time, you create a corresponding package on the Cognos 8 server. The package contains a model but no reports.

When you publish a package, you can select the number of versions of the model to keep on the server. The next time you publish the package, the version of the model is updated in the existing package on the server.

New or modified reports use the latest version of the model in the package. When a report is saved, the version of the model used is saved in the report specification. If the package is republished, the report author is notified that the report uses the newest version of the model in the package. The report author must save the report to complete the update. If you open a saved report after the package it is based on is republished, one of two things happens:

• If the original version of the package still exists, the report runs against the original version. If you want the report to run against the latest version of the package, you must update the report to use the latest version of the package. See the steps below.

• If the original version of the package no longer exists, the report is updated to run against the most recent version.

Step

• Do one of the following:

  • Move one report to the latest version of the model by editing and saving the report.

  • Before republishing the model, move all reports to the latest version of the model by selecting the Delete all previous model versions check box in the Publish wizard.

  • Before republishing the model, disable model versioning by setting the model version limit to 1.