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IBM Cognos Analytics - Audit Extension Reports and Models

How To


Summary

As of IBM Cognos Analytics 11.2.4 a new Audit Extension is available to customers.

Attached to this document are a Deployment and Framework Manager models that can be used to report from data collected with the Audit Extension.
A utility to help edit the Audit Extension properties file is also available in this document.

Note: The minimum IBM Cognos Analytics version for import is 11.2.4.

Objective

The content provided in this article gives a basic overview of the IBM Cognos Audit Extension and updated reporting content. More comprehensive documentation is available soon.
The IBM Cognos Audit Extension is an as-is application. This means Customer Support does not field calls on this application.
This document is updated periodically as additional information is requested.

Steps

Enabling the Audit Extension:
  1. Copy the <CA Install>\samples\AuditExtension\war\AuditExt.war file into the \wlpdropins\<CA Install> directory. A running IBM Cognos Analytics automatically deploys the war file.
  2. Access the main page of the Audit Extension by using this URL. http://server:9300/AuditExt/AuditServlet
  3. Configure the Audit Extension to write to a database of your choice.
  4. Add in the IBM Cognos Servers that you want to audit, along with authentication.
  5. On the main page, use the play button to run audits. Audits can take a long time and it is advised to run in them in nonpeak hours.
Note: For connections to a remote SSL (HTTPS) dispatcher, you need to import the certificate. The certificate can be downloaded from the browser and imported by using the keytool. The certificate can also be exported with the ThirdPartyCertificateTool.
 
The export syntax.
C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\ThirdPartyCertificateTool.bat -E -e -p NoPassWordSet -r C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\ibm-jre\jre\lib\security\cacerts

The import syntax.
C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\ibm-jre\jre\bin>keytool -importcert -alias Cognos -file cognos.domain.com.crt -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit -noprompt
After the certificate is installed, the Application server might need to be restarted.
New Models and Deployments:
The attached models and deployments use Dynamic Query Mode (jdbc connection). The CQM (thick client) models and deployments are bundled with IBM Cognos.
Reporting:
  1. Download the attached deployment file.
  2. Extract the .zip files to expose the models and deployments.
  3. Copy the deployment into the deployments folder of the active Content Manager server.
  4. Log in to IBM Cognos Analytics and select the deployment for import.
  5. Select the package that matches your database and complete the import.
  6. Create a DQM database connection to the Audit Database for the database type used.
    • audit_extension_db2
    • audit_extension_or
    • audit_extension_ss
Modeling
  1. Download the attached FrameWork Manager file.
  2. Extract the file to a folder.
  3. Launch FrameWork Manager and open up the model.
Properties Editing Tool
The properties edit tool is used to modify the existing configuration of the Audit Extension. For example, if the database password changes this tool can be used to update it vs resetting the configuration on the web page and readding it. 
# JDBC connection details:
jdbc.url=jdbc:db2://auditextension.ibm.com:50000/AudExt
jdbc.user=db2admin
jdbc.password=Password
Steps to update the configuration.
Note: If the properties file you define in the command does not exist it is created, if it does exist it is used to update the configuration.
1. Download the attached AuditConf.jar file.
2. Copy the file to a location on your Audit Extension server.
3. Extract the c11AuditExtension.properties file from the AuditExt.war file. This extraction can be done with the Application Server running.
  • /opt/ibm-java-x86_64-80/bin/java -jar /temp/AuditConf.jar /opt/ibm/cognos/analytics/wlpdropins/AuditExt.war /temp/c11AuditExtension.propertiesOutput: Edit the configure file /tmp/c11AuditExtension.properties and run again to update war file!
  • C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\ibm-jre\jre\bin>java -jar "C:\Temp\AuditConf.jar" "C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\wlpdropins\AuditExt.war" "C:\Temp\c11AuditExtension.properties"
    Output: Edit the configure file C:\Temp\c11AuditExtension.properties and run again to update war file!
4. Edit the extracted file.
5. Run the same command from step 3 to write the c11AuditExtension.properties file back to the AuditExt.war file. You might need to perform this update with the Application Server stopped.
  • /opt/ibm-java-x86_64-80/bin/java -jar /temp/AuditConf.jar /opt/ibm/cognos/analytics/wlpdropins/AuditExt.war /temp/c11AuditExtension.propertiesOutput: The configure file c11AuditExtension.properties has been successfully updated!
  • C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\ibm-jre\jre\bin>java -jar "C:\Temp\AuditConf.jar" "C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\analytics1124\wlpdropins\AuditExt.war" "C:\Temp\c11AuditExtension.properties"
    Output: The configure file c11AuditExtension.properties has been successfully updated!
5. Depending on the application server used, a restart can be required to pick up the settings.

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
19 December 2023

UID

ibm16963231

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