Configuration options

After you install and configure IBM® Cognos® components, you can change the configuration for your environment. Initially, default property settings are used to configure the components. However, you can change these default settings if existing conditions make the default choices inappropriate, or to better suit your environment.

For example, you can configure features for IBM Cognos Application Firewall or specify the amount of resources that IBM Cognos components use. Also, you can deliver IBM Cognos content using another portal by configuring Portal Services.

You can configure IBM Cognos components to use other resources, such as using an authentication provider and then enabling single signon for the database connection and the users.

If you use a load-balancing scheme in your environment, you can change settings to improve performance. For example, you can balance requests among dispatchers by changing their processing capacity or by setting the minimum and maximum number of processes and connections. For more information about tuning server performance, see the Administration and Security Guide.

For all Microsoft Windows operating system and most UNIX and Linux® operating system installations, use IBM Cognos Configuration to configure your settings. However, if the console attached to the UNIX or Linux computer on which you are installing IBM Cognos components does not support a Java-based graphical user interface you must manually edit the cogstartup.xml file in the install_location/configuration directory, and then run IBM Cognos Configuration in silent mode.

Use these optional configuration tasks to customize your configuration so that IBM Cognos components easily integrate into your existing environment.