IBM Support

Easy Install presents an "Unable to set up SSO URL" error if the host machine name contains an underscore ('_')

Troubleshooting


Problem

After performing a Cognos Analytics 11.x easy install on a machine which includes a non-RFC character in the hostname (specifically, an underscore), you will experience the following error when accessing the Cognos Analytics URI
"CA Initialization Information
unable to set up SSO URL"
It is impossible to log in to Cognos Analytics

Symptom

The only symptom is the error message:
"CA Initialization Information
unable to set up SSO URL"

Cause

The underscore ('_') character is not RFC-compliant for the purposes of DNS resolution, and breaks the solution.

Environment

Cognos Analytics 11.x Easy Install
Any supported windows platform which has an underscore in the hostname

Resolving The Problem

It is necessary to change the hostname in Windows (refer to Microsoft documentation for this part of the resolution)

The process you will need to follow, in order to make the bundled Informix server pick up the new hostname, is as follows:

 

  1. Stop Cognos
  2. Open the <cognos install>\configuration\cogstartup.xml file in WordPad or NotePad++, and replace all instances of your current hostname (old_hostname in this example) with an RFC-compliant hostname (new-hostname in this example) that you will change to.
  3. Open a command prompt (CMD) as Administrator
  4. Change to the <cognos install>\informix folder
  5. Run the command ol_cognoscm.cmd to set the informix environment
  6. Change to the <cognos install>\informix\bin folder
  7. Execute the following command (substitute "new-hostname" for your new hostname - and only use the hostname, not the fully qualified name)

    ntchname -m -o old_hostname -n new-hostname
     
  8. Change the hostname of the server at the Windows level (reference Microsoft documentation for this step)
  9. Restart when prompted

Document Location

Worldwide

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSTSF6","label":"IBM Cognos Analytics"},"Component":"Server","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"All Versions","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
02 July 2019

UID

ibm10958131

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