Configure an SAP Namespace

You can configure IBM® Cognos® components to use an SAP server as the authentication source.

Before you begin

If you installed your IBM Cognos product on a 64-bit server, you must also manually copy the SAP RFC library files to the IBM Cognos installation directory.

Procedure

  1. If running on a 64-bit server, do the following:
    • Go to the SAP installation directory on the 64-bit server.
    • Copy all 64-bit SAP RFC library files to install_location\bin64.
    • Copy all 32-bit SAP RFC library files to install_location\bin.
  2. If running on a 32-bit server, copy all 32-bit SAP library files from the SAP installation directory to the install_location\bin64 directory.
  3. In the location where you installed Content Manager, open IBM Cognos Configuration.
  4. In the Explorer window, under Security, right-click Authentication, and click New resource > Namespace.
  5. In the Name box, type a name for your authentication namespace.
  6. In the Type list, click SAP and then click OK.

    The new authentication provider resource appears in the Explorer window, under the Authentication component.

  7. In the Properties window, for the Namespace ID property, specify a unique identifier for the namespace.
    Important: Do not use colons (:) in the Namespace ID property.
  8. Specify the values for all required properties to ensure that IBM Cognos components can locate and use your existing authentication provider.

    Depending on your environment, for the Host property, you may have to add the SAP router string to the SAP host name.

  9. If the SAP system encodes the contents of cookies, enable the decode tickets feature:
    • In the Properties window, for Advanced properties, click the Value and then click the edit icon.
    • Click Add.
    • Enter the name URLDecodeTickets and enter the value true
    • Click OK.

    All SAP logon tickets will be decoded by the SAP namespace before establishing a connection.

  10. From the File menu, click Save.
  11. Test the connection to a new namespace. In the Explorer window, under Authentication, right-click the new authentication resource and click Test.

    You are prompted to enter credentials for a user in the namespace to complete the test.

    Depending on how your namespace is configured, you can enter either a valid user ID and password for a user in the namespace or the bind user DN and password.