IBM Support

Cannot connect to SQL Server CM database in Cognos Analytics 11.1.0 - 11.1.6 when TLS 1.0 disabled

Troubleshooting


Problem

In Cognos Analytics 11.1.0 - 11.1.6, if TLS 1.0 is disabled in Windows, you may encounter these problems:
  • In Cognos Configuration, you test the Content Manager connection without SSL, but the Microsoft JDBC Driver returns the following error message:
    Unexpected Error occurred attempting to open an SQL connection.
    class java.io.IOException: SQL Server did not return a response. The connection has been closed.
  • You cannot start Cognos Analytics.

Cause

This issue occurs after TLS 1.0 was disabled and Windows is instead using TLS 1.2. This version discrepancy results in the error message because, by default, Cognos Analytics configuration requires TLS 1.0.

Resolving The Problem

To resolve the issue in Cognos Analytics 11.1.x, override the default TLS version by following these steps:

  1. On Windows, edit the file cogconfig.bat, and in the :gotJava section, add this option:
    set J_OPTS="-Dcom.ibm.jsse2.overrideDefaultTLS=true" %J_OPTS%
  2. On UNIX, edit the file cogconfig.sh, and add these lines:
    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dcom.ibm.jsse2.overrideDefaultTLS=true"
    export JAVA_OPTS

    located in the code as shown below:

    esac
    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dcom.ibm.jsse2.overrideDefaultTLS=true"
    export JAVA_OPTS
    $JAVA_CMD $JAVA_OPTS CRConfig $*
    exit $?
    else
  3. Start Cognos Configuration by running the file that you just edited:
    • On Windows, right-click cogconfig.bat and select Run as administrator.
    • On UNIX, run cogconfig.sh.
  4. Save the configuration in Cognos Configuration.

Document Location

Worldwide

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSTSF6","label":"IBM Cognos Analytics"},"ARM Category":[{"code":"a8m50000000Cl6YAAS","label":"Installation and Configuration->Content Manager"}],"ARM Case Number":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"11.1.0;11.1.1;11.1.3;11.1.4;11.1.5;11.1.6","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
02 July 2020

UID

ibm16198384