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Clarifications about old IPaddress parameter and new IPaddressV4 parameter in Planning Analytics

Question & Answer


Question

IPaddress parameter in tm1s.cfg is deprecated since moving from TM1 to Planning Analytics.
It is replaced by IPaddressV4 (and IPaddressV6)
However, it is observed that IPaddress could still have some effect on Planning Analytics servers.
Why is it so ? Is IPaddress still supported although it is not documented anymore ? Can we still use it ?

Answer

First of all, let's detail what IPaddress was doing in TM1 Server 10.2.2 and older versions.
"
   This parameter lets you specify multiple IP addresses for an individual IBM® Cognos® TM1® server.
For example, a server can use one IP address for clients within a firewall and a different IP address for clients outside the firewall.
   Note: When this parameter is used in the Tm1s.cfg file, both the Cognos TM1 Server and Admin Server must run on the same computer. If this parameter is used in the Tm1s.cfg file, but the Cognos TM1 Server and Admin Server reside on different computers, Cognos TM1 clients will receive an error when they attempt to log in to the Cognos TM1 Server.
   The syntax for Microsoft Windows uses as element separator a semicolon, for example the following setting specifies two IP addresses for the TM1 server:
IPAddress="130.5.32.0; 130.5.64.0"
   When you specify multiple IP addresses for a server, the associated Admin Server recognizes all addresses but displays only the first IP address in the Admin Server window.
"
Since Planning Analytics, IPAddress is replaced by IPAddressV4 (and IPAddressV6). Here is the documentation for IPAddressV4:

"
   This parameter lets you specify the IPv4 address for an individual IBM® TM1® Server.
Parameter type: optional, static
   A physical server/host can have one internal IP address for clients within a firewall and a different external IP address for clients outside the firewall. By default, all TM1 client requests are routed through the external (public) adapter, which would require updates to firewall profiles. By assigning the internal IP address of TM1 Server to the IPAddressV4 parameter, traffic is routed through the private adapter and firewall profiles do not require updates.
For example,
IPAddressV4="10.109.241.121"
   Note: This parameter replaces the old IPAddress parameters, which is now obsolete.
"
So to be clear:
No, IPaddress is not supported anymore and shall not be used anymore in Planning Analytics.
Currently, although Planning Analytics still seems to react to IPaddress, it is not behaving as it used to. 
For internal reasons that belongs to Development teams, the very core of IPaddress was removed, but we still seek for the presence of this parameter:
if it is found, no matter what is its value (it is not read anymore), then the Planning Analytics server registers itself against TM1 Admin Server, by using the TM1 Admin Server IP address.
More precisely, if the machine has multiple network cards (Ethernet or vEthernet, it does not matter) then the "TM1 Admin Server IP address" is the one with the lowest Interface Metric number.

This value can be found by running this command in Powershell:

Get-NetIpInterface
Result sample:
ifIndex InterfaceAlias                  AddressFamily NlMtu(Bytes) InterfaceMetric Dhcp     ConnectionState PolicyStore
------- --------------                  ------------- ------------ --------------- ----     --------------- -----------
4       Ethernet 3                      IPv6                  1500              15 Enabled  Connected       ActiveStore
12      vEthernet (HNS Internal NIC)    IPv6                  1500              20 Enabled  Connected       ActiveStore
8       Reusable ISATAP Interface {D... IPv6                  1280              75 Disabled Disconnected    ActiveStore
9       isatap.{8091DD94-4A2F-4233-A... IPv6                  1280              75 Disabled Disconnected    ActiveStore
7       Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Inte... IPv6                  1280              75 Enabled  Disconnected    ActiveStore
1       Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1     IPv6            4294967295              75 Disabled Connected       ActiveStore
4       Ethernet 3                      IPv4                  1500              15 Enabled  Connected       ActiveStore
12      vEthernet (HNS Internal NIC)    IPv4                  1500              20 Enabled  Connected       ActiveStore
1       Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1     IPv4            4294967295              75 Disabled Connected       ActiveStore

In this example, "Ethernet 3" interface metric number is 15, which is the lowest one.
On that machine, the "TM1 Admin Server" IP address is considered to be the IP address of that "Ethernet 3" card.
In case several cards have the same Interface Metric number, then the results might be unpredictible. However, normally, if running "ipconfig" command, the first in the list would be the one having priority on the others.
If we want to modify the interface number of one card (so that to clarify the configuration), This can be done by using the following command:

 set-netipinterface -ifIndex <ifindex_of_the_card_to_modify> -InterfaceMetric <new_number_to_use>
(a reboot might be necessary)

Also note that using this parameter presupposes that TM1 Server is installed on same machine as TM1 Admin Server, but again: this parameter must not be used anymore.

Since this parameter is already deprecated, it could be deleted in a future version without any additional warning.
Now only IPaddressV4 is supported (along with IPaddressV6).
When a TM1 Server starts, it registers itself against its TM1 Admin Server, and it specifies the value of IPaddressV4.
When a client connects to TM1 Admin Server in order to retrieve the list of available TM1 Servers, it picks and uses that IP address to directly connect to the TM1 Server.

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Document Information

Modified date:
16 September 2021

UID

ibm16489859

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