Troubleshooting Cognos Analytics reports

Find answers to questions about resolving issues with reports in the optional Cognos Analytics reporting tool.

Problem
You can set output format options for reports either when you schedule a report or run a report. If you choose PDF format for your report and the report contains many columns, all of the columns might not fit on one page. For example, if a report contains 20 columns, then the row for a specific resource might be shown on more than one page: 10 columns on the first page and 10 columns on the second page.
Solution
To fit the maximum number of columns on one page, set the PDF options in one of the following ways:
When you schedule a report
  1. Navigate to a report in the Cognos Analytics reporting tool.
  2. Right-click the report, then click Properties.
  3. Click the Schedule tab for the report.
  4. Click the New icon.
  5. Click Select in the PDF options area.
  6. From the Orientation list, select Landscape.
  7. From the Paper size list, select 11 × 17.
When you run a report
  1. Navigate to a report in the Cognos Analytics reporting tool.
  2. Right-click the report, then click Edit report.
  3. Click the Run options icon Image shows the Run options icon., then click Show run options.
  4. From the Paper size list, select 11 × 17.
  5. From the Paper orientation list, select Landscape.
Problem
When you create a custom report, you cannot find online help that describes the columns that you can include in your reports.
Solution
To view the online help, follow these steps:
  1. Go to the URL for your Cognos Analytics server. The URL is similar to this URL: http://myhostname:9300/bi
  2. Click Team Content in the Welcome portal.
  3. Click IBM Spectrum Control Predefined Reports.
  4. Click any predefined report.
  5. Click the Help link at the upper right of the page.
  6. Go to the custom reports help content.
To view information about custom reports, see Custom reports about performance and Custom reports about capacity and relationships.
Problem
If the IBM Spectrum Control database (TPCDB) is not accessible, you are prompted to reenter your user ID and password although you previously entered the correct user ID and password.
Solution
Check that the server that hosts TPCDB is available. Check that the firewall settings on the server are not preventing you from accessing TPCDB.
Problem
If the password to access the IBM Spectrum Control database (TPCDB) is changed, you must also change the password in the Cognos Analytics reporting tool.
Solution
In the Cognos Analytics reporting tool, complete the following steps:
  1. Go to the URL for your Cognos Analytics server. The URL is similar to this URL: http://myhostname:9300/bi
  2. Click Manage in the Welcome portal, then click Administration console.
  3. Click the Configuration tab.
  4. Click the TPCDB data source
  5. Click the TPCDB connection. The breadcrumb text is Directory ‎> Cognos ‎> TPCDB ‎> TPCDB‬.
  6. In the Actions column, click the Set properties icon Image shows the Set properties icon., and then click the Signon tab.
  7. Click Edit the signon.
  8. Make your changes, and then click OK.
Problem
When you use particular combinations of properties from the Storage Volume section in the Performance package in a custom report, a No data available message might be displayed. This occurs when you use the following combinations of properties in a custom report:
  • Server Name, Hypervisor Name, and any other property from the Storage Volume section
  • Server Name, Hypervisor Name, Hypervisor Cluster Name, and any other property from the Storage Volume section
  • Server Name, Hypervisor Cluster Name, and any other property from the Storage Volume section
Solution
Do not use these combinations of properties in custom reports.
Problem
When you add a filter to a property in Query Studio, not all of the resources are listed in the Filter (Pick values from a list) area. For example, when you add a filter to the Storage Volume Name property, not all of the volumes are listed.

This problem occurs because the maximum number of items in a list in Query Studio is 5000. If there are more than 5000 items in the list, only the first 5000 values are displayed, in alphabetical order.

Solution
Click Search for values in the Filter (Pick values from a list) area. Type a keyword, and then click Search to search for volumes on a resource. For example, type a% to find volume names that begin with ’a’ or ’A’.
Problem
When you run a report, it takes a long time for the report output to display. It might take a long time to run a report for some combinations of the interval and reporting period. For example, the report might take a long time if you select the Sample interval or Hourly interval with one of the following periods:
  • Last 30 days
  • Last 90 days
  • All
Solution
When you run a report, use shorter reporting periods with the Sample interval or Hourly interval.
Problem
When you run a report, the output that is displayed contains no data. If you select the Daily interval and a recent reporting period, then no data might be available. For example, if you select Last 24 hours or Today, the data for those reporting periods is unlikely to be collected yet.
Solution
When you run a report with a Daily interval, use a reporting period other than Last 24 hours or Today.
Problem
If you create a custom performance report in Query Studio, in particular circumstances, the report takes a long time to complete. This problem might occur in the following circumstances:
  • The report is for more than 10,000 volumes.
  • The interval for the report is Hourly, and the data for the report was collected for more than 15 days.
  • The interval for the report is Sample, and the data for the report was collected for more than 7 days.
Solution
When this problem occurs, complete the following steps for the report in Query Studio:
  1. Click Run Report in the menu pane.
  2. Click Advanced Options.
  3. Clear each of the following check boxes:
    • Automatically generate footer summaries for measures
    • Automatically summarize detail values, suppressing duplicates
    • Enable drill up and drill down in the report output
    • Enable drill through from a package in the report output
  4. Click OK.
Problem
If you used the IBM Spectrum Control Capacity and Relationships package in 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, or 5.2.4 to create custom reports, you might need to re-create those reports.
Solution
If your custom reports use any of the following properties, you must re-create the reports in the Capacity and Relationships package:
  • NAS File Set Name
  • NAS File Set Comment
  • NAS File Set Path
  • NAS File Set Used Space (GiB)
  • NAS File Set Used Inodes
  • NAS File Set Is Detected
  • NAS File Set Status
To view information about how to create custom reports in the Capacity and Relationships package, see Creating custom capacity and relationship reports.