Diagnostic Tools Details - Cognos Performance Management Products

By Diane Masters, Diagnostic Tools Development, NA Customer Support, Cognos Inc.

Cognos Diagnostic Tools can help users troubleshoot issues or automate the collection of information. The results can be used for internal diagnosis or can be attached to a support case logged with Cognos Support. Information details about the data, system and environment settings, product configuration, and more can be immediately retrieved and viewed for on-the-spot analysis by a Cognos support analyst and the customer.

A "product" Diagnostic Tool retrieves specific product information as determined by the requirements forwarded to the Diagnostic Tools team by customer support analysts as well as other sources.

A "healthcheck" Diagnostic Tool determines a user's software environment compatibility with Cognos supported software environments. It compares the user's actual software version information to the software version information documented in Cognos Software on the Cognos Support website and reports potential compatibility issues.

When a Diagnostic Tool is run, an Information Request dialog box appears which prompts the user for product specific information. In the Diagnostic Categories section, each category selected determines the information that is returned.

Let's take a comprehensive look at each of the diagnostic categories for two of the four available Cognos Diagnostic Tools for the Cognos Performance Management products - Cognos 8 Controller for Windows and Cognos Planning for Windows.

Cognos 8 Controller Diagnostic for Windows – Diagnostic Categories

Figure 1: Cognos 8 Controller Information Request dialog box

Cognos cmplst.txt Details - Reports the complete text of the cmplst.txt in the results text file and the tabbed pane window and also creates a copy of the cmplst.txt file in the folder <%TEMP%>\DT_Tools\Controller8\Files Copied.

COM+ Users Information - Retrieves the Users and Roles settings for CognosController from the Component Services.

Executables Installed – Reports a status of "Installed" or "Not Installed" for:

frlicserver.exe
FrangoServerBatch.exe
FrangoServerBatch<#>.exe
ASP.NET

Example

Figure 2: Executables installed 

Files Copied - Retrieves a copy of the following files:

ccr.exe.congif
cogserver.log
ControllerLaunch.xml
dbversion.txt
logvfp.log
odbc.ini
all tl-contrl-<version>_<date>_2030. txt files
all tl-contrl-<version>_<date>_2030_summary_error.txt files

A status of "Copied" or "Not Copied" is reported in the results text file and the tabbed pane window. All copied files are located in the separate folder <%TEMP%>\DT_Tools\Controller8\Controller8_FilesCopied.

Internal DB Information - Retrieves the database settings for Application Security Enabled, Integrated With Access Manager, and all Server Preferences for each database connection name entered in the section Connection Name(s) of the dialog box.

Example

Figure 3: Internal Cognos 8 Controller Database Information 

List of CCR Directory Content - Retrieves a listing of all files and directories in the directory C:\Program Files\Cognos\ccr.

List of Datalink Files - Reports a listing of all the ".udl" files in the install location data directory and their respective database types.

Example

Figure 4: List of Datalink Files and Database Type

List of Deployment Dir Files - Retrieves a listing of all files in the install location deployment directory.

List of .NET Directories - Retrieves a listing of all .NET Version Directories from the directory <%windir%>\Microsoft.NET\Framework.

Example

Figure 5: List of .NET Framework Directories

List of web.config Files - Retrieves a listing of all web.config files located on the local system drives.

Processes Status - Reports a status of "Running" or "Not Running" for the processes:

ControllerConf.exe
frlicserver.exe
FrangoServerBatch.exe,
all FrangoServerBatch<#>.exe

The PID, Session Name, Session#, and Memory Usage information is reported for each process with the status of "Running".

Registry Information – Retrieves a registry dump of the key

HKLM\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\FrangoController.

Third Party Application Versions – Retrieves version information for Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Soap Toolkit, Microsoft .Net ( includes install status and SP Level), and Microsoft Excel.

Example

Figure 6: Third-party Application Version Information

Verification Requests – Reports a status of "DOES NOT EXIST" or "EXISTS" for the directory <%windir%>\temp\CognosController.

Version of Oracle Database – Retrieves the Oracle database version information if an Oracle database connection name is entered in the section Connection Name(s) of the dialog box.

Example

Figure 7: Version of Oracle Database

Cognos Planning Diagnostic for Windows – Diagnostic Categories

Figure 8: Cognos Planning Information Request dialog box

CAB File Statistics - Retrieves a listing of all ".CAB" files existing in the directory

<install directory>\Webcontent\Contributor\Controls

The information categories "Size", "Last Modified" date, and "File Name" are reported for each file.

Example

Figure 9: CAB File Statistics

Cognos cmplst.txt Details - Reports the complete text of the cmplst.txt in the results text file and the tabbed pane window and also creates a copy of the cmplst.txt file in the folder <%TEMP%>\DT_Tools\EP\Files Copied.

Files Copied – Retrieves a copy of the following files:

odbc.ini
ErrorLog.dcf
Filesys.ini
lexw.ini
PlanningErrorLog.csv (for versions 7.3+)
PlanningLogger (for version 7.2)
PlanningTimer.csv
All JCE*.tmp files
.sf files of non-demo SYSID's in lexw.ini
Last 500 lines of AppEvent.evt
Last 500 lines of SysEvent.evt

The status of "Copied" or "Not Copied" is reported in the results text file and the tabbed pane window. All copied files are located in the separate folder <%TEMP%>\DT_Tools\EP\EP_FilesCopied.

Example

File 10: Files Copied to Diagnostic Temporary Directory

Oraoledb.dll Version – Retrieves the version information of file
<Oracle install directory>\bin\oraoledb.dll.

Processes Status - Reports a status of "Running" or "Not Running" for the processes:

lexw.exe
dyalog32.exe
dllhost.exe,
pKeepAliveServ.exe
EPJOBE~1.exe
Jhost7.exe 

The PID,  Session Name, Session#, and Memory Usage information is reported for each process with the status of "Running".

Example

Figure 11: Processes Status

Registry Information – Retrieves a registry dump of the keys:

HKLM\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\Analyst
HKLM\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\Contributor
HKLM\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\Cognos Consolidation
HKLM\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\epLogger
HKLM\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\Planning
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Com3\StaThreadPool
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Office Version>\Excel
HKCU\Software Microsoft\Office\<Office Version>\Excel
HKLM\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\PAD
HKCU\Software\Cognos\<cer#>\PAD
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\<Office Version>\Excel\Security\AccessVBOM

Let Us Know Your Needs

These diagnostic tools are written and provided for the benefit of both Customers and Customer Support Analysts. If you find that you have an information requirement which a current diagnostic does not address, please contact the Diagnostic Tools team with your requirements and suggestions.