Save Report Output Outside IBM Cognos Analytics

If you configure a file system location that is outside of IBM® Cognos® Analytics, you can then share the report output with external applications or people who don't have IBM Cognos Analytics. This is how most report output files are saved.

To use this feature, you must first configure a root directory in IBM Cognos Configuration. An administrator must then set the file location in IBM Cognos Administration. For more information, see the topic about setting a file location for report output saved outside of IBM Cognos Analytics, in the IBM Cognos Analytics Administration and Security Guide.

Report outputs will always be written to the directory configured for each Delivery Service instance. In order to avoid having report outputs written to multiple locations, ensure that you are either running only one instance of the Delivery Service, or configure all service instances to use a shared network file location. Any Dispatcher running the Delivery Service must have access to the file system or be disabled on all systems not intended to save report output.

Procedure

  1. Create a directory for your file system.

    Tip: Ensure that the directory is accessible to users and separate from the installation directory. For example, in a distributed installation on Microsoft Windows, an archive folder such as \\servername\directory could be used.

  2. On the Content Manager computer, start IBM Cognos Configuration.
  3. From the Actions menu, click Edit Global Configuration.
  4. In the Global Configuration window, click the General tab.
  5. For Archive Location File System Root, type a URI using the format

    file://directory

    where directory is the directory that you created in step 1.

    The file:// portion of the URI is required. Windows UNC names, such as \\servername\directory, can be used. If so, the URI must be formatted as follows:

    file://\\servername\directory

    Tip: Ensure that you do not use a mapped drive when running Cognos as a Microsoft Windows service.
  6. To confirm that the correct location will be used, click Test.
  7. Click OK.
  8. From the File menu, click Save.

Results

The administrator must now configure the file location. For information, see the topic about setting a file location for report output saved outside of IBM Cognos Analytics, in the IBM Cognos Analytics Administration and Security Guide.