Symptom
The IBM Cognos Gateway is unable to connect to the IBM Cognos BI server. The server may be unavailable, or the gateway may not be correctly configured.
Problem
After you configure IBM Cognos components and start the IBM Cognos 8 services, when you connect to the IBM Cognos 8 portal, the error message may appear.
Cause
Check the IBM Cognos server log file for more information. By default, the cogserver.log file is located in the c8_location/logs directory. If you configured another destination for log messages, check the appropriate file or database.
Content Manager may not be able to connect to the content store if the content store is not configured properly. This may occur if
the content store uses an unsupported character encoding
the content store uses a database collation sequence that is case sensitive
the configuration settings you specified in IBM Cognos Configuration are not valid
Solution
Unsupported Character Encoding
If the following messages appear in the log file, the database you created for the content store does not use a supported character encoding:
For Oracle:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-SYS-5121 Content Manager cannot start because the database character set for the content store is not supported.
CM-SYS-5126 The content store database server uses the character set US7ASCII.
CM-SYS-5125 The content store database client uses the character set US7ASCII.
For DB2 UDB:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-SYS-5121 Content Manager cannot start because the database character set for the content store is not supported.
CM-SYS-5124 The content store database server uses the code page 1252.
For Sybase:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-SYS-5121 Content Manager cannot start because the database character set for the content store is not supported.
For Content Manager to connect to the content store, the content store must use the appropriate character encoding.
| Database | Character | encoding |
| Oracle 9i | AL32UTF8 | AL32UTF16 |
| DB2 UDB | Codeset | UTF-8 |
| Sybase ASE | UTF-8 | UTF-8 |
| Microsoft SQL Server | UTF8 | UTF16 |
To resolve this problem, you must recreate the content store database using the correct character encoding, or convert the character encoding. For more information, see the database vendor documentation.
Case Sensitive Collation Sequence
If the following messages appear in the log file, the database you created for the content store uses a database collation sequence that is case sensitive:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-SYS-5122 The content store database has a default collation that is case-sensitive. Content Manager requires a content store that has a case-insensitive collation.
CM-SYS-5123 The content store database server uses the collation <parameter>.
CM-SYS-5007 Content Manager build @cm_build_version@ failed to start! Review the Content Manager log files and then contact your system administrator or customer support.
To resolve this problem, you must recreate the content store database using a database collation sequence that is not case sensitive. For more information, see the database vendor documentation.
Invalid Configuration Settings
If the following or similar messages appear in the log file, you did not configure the content store correctly in IBM Cognos Configuration.
For Microsoft SQL Server:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-CFG-5036 Content Manager failed to connect to the content store. The connection string is "jdbc:JSQLConnect://localhost:1433/cm".
Failed Logon:com.jnetdirect.jsql.x: Cannot open database requested in login 'cm'. Login fails. url:jdbc:JSQLConnect://localhost:1433/cm.
For DB2:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-SYS-5003 Content Manager is unable to access the content store. Verify your database connection parameters and then contact your database administrator.
[IBM][CLI Driver] SQL1013N The database alias name or database name "CM123" could not be found.
For Oracle:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-CFG-5036 Content Manager failed to connect to the content store. The connection string is "jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:pb1".
ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied.
For Sybase:
CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
CM-CFG-5036 Content Manager failed to connect to the content store. The connection string is "jdbc:sybase:Tds:localhost:5000/cm".
JZ006: Caught IOException: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect.
If you are using an Oracle database, do not use illegal characters such as an underscore in IBM Cognos Configuration for the Service Name property. If the Service Name includes illegal characters, tables are not created in the content store database when the IBM Cognos 8 service is started.
Steps for Microsoft SQL Server
In the Explorer window, under Data Access, Content Manager, click Content Store.
If you created the database using Windows authentication, you must delete the existing content and create a new one by doing the following:
Right-click Content Store and click Delete.
Right-click Content Manager, and then click New resource, Database.
In the Name box, type a name for the resource.
In the Type box, select SQL Server database (Windows Authentication) and click OK.
In the Properties window, type the appropriate values for the Database server with port number or instance name and Database name properties.
For a Microsoft SQL Server database, you can choose to use a port number, such as 1433, or a named instance as the value for the Database server with port number or instance name property.
To connect to a named instance, you must specify the instance name as a JDBC URL property or a data source property. For example, you can type localhost\instance1. If no instance name property is specified, a connection to the default instance is created.
Note that the properties specified for the named instance, along with the user ID and password, and database name, are used to create a JDBC URL. Here is an example:
jdbc:JSQLConnect://localhost\\instance1/user=sa/more properties as required
If you want to change the logon credentials, specify a user ID and password:
Click the Value box next to the User ID and password property and then click the edit button when it appears.
Type the appropriate values and click OK.
From the File menu, click Save.
The logon credentials are immediately encrypted.
Test the connection between Content Manager and the content store.
Tip: In the Explorer window, right-click the new database and click Test.
Content Manager connects to the database, checks the database permissions, and creates and populates a table. The table is not deleted and is used each time that the test is repeated.
Steps for Oracle, DB2, and Sybase
In the Explorer window, under Data Access, Content Manager, right-click Content Store and click Delete.
This deletes the default resource. Content Manager must be configured to access only one content store.
Right-click Content Manager, and then click New resource, Database.
In the Name box, type a name for the resource.
In the Type box, select the type of database and click OK.
If you installed more than one version of IBM Cognos 8, you must use a different content store for each version. When a content store is used by a new version of IBM Cognos 8, it cannot be used by an older version.
Tip: If you want to use Oracle Net8 keyword-value pair to manage the database connection, select Oracle database (Advanced).
In the Properties window, provide values depending on your database type:
If you use a DB2 database, for the Database name property, type the database alias.
If you use an Oracle database, type the appropriate values for the Database server and port number and Service name properties.
If you use an advanced Oracle database, for the Database specifier property, type the Oracle Net8 keyword-value pair for the connection.
Here is an example:
(description=(address=(host=myhost)(protocol=tcp)(port=1521)(connect_data=(sid=(orcl)))))
If you use a Sybase database, type the appropriate values for the Database server and port number and Database name properties.
If you want to change the logon credentials, specify a user ID and password:
Click the Value box next to the User ID and password property and then click the edit button when it appears.
Type the appropriate values and click OK.
From the File menu, click Save.
The logon credentials are immediately encrypted.
Test the connection between Content Manager and the content store.
Tip: In the Explorer window, right-click the new database and click Test.
Content Manager connects to the database, checks the database permissions, and creates and populates a table. The table is not deleted and is used each time that the test is repeated.