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** Troubleshooting ** Error 'The Cognos Gateway is unable to connect to the Cognos BI server' at logon (or system reports)

Troubleshooting


Problem

User launches Controller. User receives error message.

Symptom

The error message varies depending on which version of Controller you are using.

Example - Controller 10.2.1:
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence
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.
Try again or contact your administrator.
 
Example - older version:
IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence
The IBM Cognos gateway is unable to connect to the IBM BI server. The server may be unavailable or the gateway may not be correctly configured.
Try again or contact your administrator.

Cause

There are several possible causes for similar symptoms, for example:
  • The Gateway server's cryptographic keys are out-of-synch with the content manager server
    • See separate IBM Technote #299795
  • Or (rare) Cognos BI server's Microsoft IIS website has a problem, and requires an IISRESET
    • See separate IBM Technote #794459.
This Technote specifically relates to the most likely cause, where there is a problem with the 'IBM Cognos' Windows service (Cognos BI engine / report server engine).


Examples:
There are several potential causes for the IBM Cognos service not starting correctly:
Example #1 - 'Cognos Configuration' has been incorrectly configured.
In this scenario, the system has never worked OK before
Example #2 - System used to work OK, but stopped working properly after server reboot
Problem with the ContentStore database. In other words, the report server tried to start its service whilst the Content Store (database) was not available. The contentstore database contains most of the settings/configuration/content for the Cognos BI Report service. Without this database, the Cognos BI report service cannot function.
  • For example, the SQL server could have been off-line during the period of time that the report server (application server) was starting up. This caused the 'IBM Cognos' service to be unable to use the configured 'content store' database.
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TIP: When rebooting Controller servers, reboot the database (for example SQL) server first, and then reboot the Controller application server afterwards. This is to ensure that the content store database is available when the application server starts the Cognos BI report service.
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Example #3 - Cognos BI Report Server's database repository ("the contentstore") has a problem
In other words, the report server cannot successfully connect to the Content Store database where much of its configuration information is stored
  • For example, the SQL server may have a problem (such as the hard drive is full)
Example #4 - System used to work OK, but suddenly stopped working with no apparent explanation
There are many possible causes for this, for example a memory leak on the server.
More information:
The 'IBM Cognos' reporting service, is configured inside the application 'Cognos Configuration'.
  • By default, the service will register itself as a Windows service, and will start automatically when the server reboots.
  • However, it can be manually started/restarted from inside 'Cognos Configuration' (launched from the Start Menu).

If you have multiple Controller application servers, there will typically be one 'Report Server' - this is the one application server which runs this Windows service.
  • By design, the other application servers will typically not have this service running

Diagnosing The Problem

Example #2 (and also #3)
  1. Open the log file 'cogserver.log' ( <install location>\logs\cogserver.log)
  2. Look for an error message similar to:
172.23.249.252:9300 596 2007-11-20 11:39:36.771 +1 Initialization_SESS Initialization_REQ Thread-15 CM 1587 1 Audit.cms.CM StartService Warning 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.
Failed Logon:com.jnetdirect.jsql.g: TCP/IP connection failed to host:dbserver java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out: connect jdbc:JSQLConnect://dbserver:1433/controllerreports&quot;>url:jdbc:JSQLConnect://dbserver:1433/controllerreports

Resolving The Problem

Example #1
Configure 'Cognos Configuration' correctly (in particular, the 'Report Server' and 'Dispatcher URI' setting), then restart service.
Example #2 - System recently stopped working (for example, after server reboot)
Workaround:
Ensure the SQL database server is online (available), and the 'content store' database is available and valid. Afterwards, restart application server(s) (report server in particular), and test.
 
Long term fix:
When rebooting Controller servers, reboot the database (for example SQL) server first, and then reboot the Controller application server afterwards. This is to ensure that the content store database is available when the application server starts the Cognos BI report service.
For more details, see separate IBM Technote #1347377 .

Example #3 - Cognos BI Report Server's database repository ("the contentstore") has a problem
Steps:
  1. Logon to the 'report server' as an administrator
  2. Launch 'IBM Cognos Configuration' (known as 'Cognos Configuration' in earlier releases)
  3. Expand 'Local Configuration - Data Access - Content Manager'
  4. Right-click on 'Content Store'
  5. Click 'test'
  6. Make a note of any error message and diagnose using IBM Technotes.

TIP: For example:
1. Open 'Content Store' section
2. Make a note of 'Database Server', 'Database name' and 'User ID and password' sections
3. Ask your database administrator (for example SQL DBA) to check that these are correct, and there are no problems with the server/database.

Example #4 - System used to work OK, but suddenly stopped working with no apparent explanation
Fix:
Upgrade to a modern version of Controller.
 
Workaround:
Start (or re-start) the 'IBM Cognos' Windows service, and/or reboot the entire report server itself.
  • For more details, see separate IBM Technote #1347144.

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Historical Number

1040002

Document Information

Modified date:
21 July 2020

UID

swg21347919

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