Creating a service instance for Cognos Analytics from the web client

After you install Cognos Analytics, you must create at least one Cognos Analytics service instance. Each service instance must be in a different Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform project. You can create a service instance in the operands project or in a project that is tethered to the operands project. If you are a IBM® Software Hub user, you can use the web client to create service instances. The web client guides you through the process of creating service instances.

Who needs to complete this task?
To create a service instance from the web client, you must have the Create service instances permission in IBM Software Hub.
When do you need to complete this task?
Complete this task only if you want to create a service instance from the web client.
Alternative methods for creating a service instance

Before you begin

This task assumes that the following prerequisites are met:

Prerequisite Where to find more information
Cognos Analytics is installed. If this task is not complete, see Installing Cognos Analytics.
The content store is configured. You can also use the content store for your audit content.
Important: When you provision your instance, you must use the same IAM mode as your content store.
If this task is not complete, see Configuring the content store for Cognos Analytics.

You must have sufficient resources for the plan size that you select. If you do not have sufficient resources, the instance cannot be created.

Use the following table to determine which size plan to use when you create the instance. The information in the table represents the total resources that are required by all of the pods that comprise the Cognos Analytics instance. The resources can be distributed across the nodes in your cluster. However, the nodes must have sufficient capacity to run the pods.
Note: The memory and storage requirements are provided in both Gi and GB. The values in GB are rounded up to the next whole number.
Plan size Minimum required resources Maximum required resources Largest pod
Fixed Minimum Across the cluster, you must have at least:
  • Cores: 10
  • Memory: 40 Gi (Approximately 42 GB)
  • Storage: 2.2 Gi (Approximately 2.4 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 26 Gi (Approximately 28 GB)
 At most, the instance uses:
  • Cores: 10
  • Memory: 40 Gi (Approximately 42 GB)
  • Storage: 2.2 Gi (Approximately 2.4 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 26 Gi (Approximately 28 GB)
 The largest pod requires up to:
  • Cores: 2.6
  • Memory: 13 Gi (Approximately 14 GB)
XSmall Across the cluster, you must have at least:
  • Cores: 9.4
  • Memory: 38.5 Gi (Approximately 41 GB)
  • Storage: 2.2 Gi (Approximately 2.4 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 26.6 Gi (Approximately 28.6 GB)
 At most, the instance uses:
  • Cores: 16
  • Memory: 72.9 Gi (Approximately 78 GB)
  • Storage: 2.2 Gi (Approximately 2.4 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 42.2 Gi (Approximately 45.3 GB)
 The largest pod requires up to:
  • Cores: 2.6
  • Memory: 13 Gi (Approximately 14 GB)
Small or Small with minimal reserved CPU resources Across the cluster, you must have at least:
  • Cores: 9.4
  • Memory: 40.5 Gi (Approximately 43 GB)
  • Storage: 2.2 Gi (Approximately 2.4 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 26.6 Gi (Approximately 28.6 GB)
 At most, the instance uses:
  • Cores: 16
  • Memory: 76.9 Gi (Approximately 82.5 GB)
  • Storage: 2.2 Gi (Approximately 2.4 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 42.2 Gi (Approximately 45.3 GB)
 The largest pod requires up to:
  • Cores: 2.6
  • Memory: 13 Gi (Approximately 14 GB)
Medium Across the cluster, you must have at least:
  • Cores: 24
  • Memory: 78.9 Gi (Approximately 84.7 GB)
  • Storage: 4.2 Gi (Approximately 4.5 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 21.6 Gi (Approximately 23 GB)
 At most, the instance uses:
  • Cores: 31.4
  • Memory: 103.2 Gi (Approximately 110.8 GB)
  • Storage: 4.2 Gi (Approximately 4.5 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 52.6 Gi (Approximately 56.5 GB)
 The largest pod requires up to:
  • Cores: 3.6
  • Memory: 13 Gi (Approximately 14 GB)
Large Across the cluster, you must have at least:
  • Cores: 30
  • Memory: 80.4 Gi (Approximately 86.3 GB)
  • Storage: 8.2 Gi (Approximately 8.8 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 72.2 Gi (Approximately 77.5 GB)
 At most, the instance uses:
  • Cores: 53
  • Memory: 141.6 Gi (Approximately 152 GB)
  • Storage: 8.2 Gi (Approximately 8.8 GB)
  • Ephemeral Storage: 118.2 Gi (Approximately 126.9 GB)
 The largest pod requires up to:
  • Cores: 4.6
  • Memory: 13 Gi (Approximately 14 GB)

About this task

Create an instance of the Cognos Analytics service so that users can interact with the Cognos Analytics interface.

You can provision only one instance of the Cognos Analytics service in a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform project (Kubernetes namespace). If you want to provision additional Cognos Analytics service instances, you must configure an additional tethered project for each service instance that you want to provision.

Procedure

To create a service instance:

  1. Log in to the web client.
  2. Switch to the IBM Cloud Pak for Data experience, if needed.
  3. From the navigation menu, select Services > Instances.
  4. Click New instance.
  5. Click the Cognos Analytics with Watson tile. Then, click Next.
  6. In the Instance details tab, provide details of your new instance.
    1. Enter a name for your instance in the Name field.
    2. Optional: Enter a description for your new instance in the Description(optional) field.
    3. From the Namespace drop-down list, select either the control plane namespace or any tethered namespace that was created after the installation. For more information, see Tethering projects to the IBM Software Hub control plane
    4. Click Next.
      Important: You can click Next only after you enter values into all required fields in a tab.
  7. In the Starting Configuration tab, choose a storage class, a plan size, and a security standard for your instance.
    1. Select your options in the Shared Block Volume Storage, Shared File Volume Storage, Crypto Conformance, and Plan size drop-down lists.
    2. Click Next
  8. In the External Storage tab, configure external connections.
    1. Select your Audit and Content Store databases in the Audit Database and Content Store Database drop down lists.
      Important: When you provision your instance, you must use the same IAM mode as your content store. If you created your content store in IAM mode, you must provision your instance in IAM mode. If you created your content store in non-IAM mode, you must provision your instance in non-IAM mode.
    2. Optional: Provide Advanced Property to JDBC connections for Audit and Content Store in the Additional JDBC Property for Audit Store and Additional JDBC Property for Content Store fields.
    3. Click Next.
  9. In the SMTP Configuration tab, configure your SMTP server.
    1. Enter SMTP parameters in the SMTP Server Address, Default Sender, and SMTP Port fields. You do not must enter anything in the SMTP Username(optional) and SMTP Password(optional)
    2. Optional: You select if TLS is enabled for your SMTP server and enter TLS certificate.
    3. Click Next.
  10. In the Summary tab, review all the values that you entered during the process of new instance creation.
    1. Verify that all values are correct.
    2. Click Create.

Results

It can take approximately 30 minutes for the provisioning process to complete. You can continue to use other services in Cloud Pak for Data while the process completes.

For a list of the drivers that Cloud Pak for Data provisions with Cognos Analytics, refer to Cognos Analytics on Cloud: Supported Software Environments.

What to do next

Important: Limit user access to the content store. See Updating the security settings.
You must give users access to the service instance. For more information, see Managing users (Cognos Analytics).