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Unable to start Cognos service with the following error: [ERROR] The parameter named 'Supported ciphersuites' located in 'Cognos' is currently invalid.

How To


Summary

Trying to start, save or test the configuration in Cognos Configuration results in the following error.

"[ERROR] The parameter named 'Supported ciphersuites' located in 'Cognos' is currently invalid."

The error is a result of corruption to the cryptographic keys, often caused by an improper, or unexpected shutdown of Cognos services.

Objective

This technote provides steps to resolve this error when Cognos is unable to start.

Steps

The goal is to Regenerate the cryptographic keys. However, the documentation most often cannot be followed as expected due to the corruption of the cryptographic keys. The following steps are the work-around.
1. Start by trying to export the configuration. (Under File ->Export As...)
2. If the export works continue with Regenerate the cryptographic keys. If not, continue with Step 3.
3. If the export fails, check the <Cognos Install>\configuration\certs folder, and observe the size of the CAMKeystore file.  If it is zero bytes, copy the CAMKeystore.bkup file and rename it to CAMKeystore, then repeat steps 1 and 2. If the export continues to be unsuccessful, proceed to step 4.
4. If the export fails, you can attempt to regenerate the cryptographic keys without renaming the cogstartup.xml file. 
Close Cognos Configuration. Navigate to the Cognos installation directory and backup then remove the following:
 

- c11/configuration/caSerial

- c11/configuration/certs/CAMCrypto.status

- c11/configuration/certs/CAMKeystore

- c11/configuration/certs/CAMKeystore.lock

- c11/temp/cam/freshness

- c11/configuration/csk

5. Reopen Cognos Configuration and proceed to check the following areas for credentials to be reentered

-  Environment -> External JMX credentials (If there are no external metric monitoring tools, you must edit the fields and erase the username and password field)

- Audit Database

- Namespace Binding Credentials

- Content Store Database

- Notification Store and SMTP Mail Server

6. Once the common credentials are entered, you can test the configuration. If there is an error because a set of credentials is missing or not entered; a message references the part of the configuration.

7. If the testing of the configuration is successful, you can proceed with saving the configuration and starting the services after.

If there is still an error attempting to save the encryption error, go back to step 3 to redo the remaining steps.  Rename the c11/configuration/cogstartup.xml before continuing with the remaining steps. An empty cogstartup.xml file will be created and all configuration information will need to be manually entered in Cognos Configuration.

Related Information

Regenerate cryptographic keys

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
25 May 2022

UID

ibm16470627

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