ibm cognos 8 system administration best practices · cognos 8 system administration best practices...

Helping Companies Learn From the Past,

Manage the Present and Shape the Future

IBM Cognos 8

System Administration Best Practices

September 10, 2010

Albert Valdez, III

Director of Education Services, Senturus, Inc.

Today’s Agenda

• Welcome and Introduction

• Cognos 8 System Administration Demonstrations

1. Cognos 8 Security Model Overview

2. Implementing Single-Sign-On with Active Directory and IIS

3. Optimize your environment to leverage available resources:1. Optimize server configuration settings

2. Configure multiple virtual dispatchers on the same physical server

4. Use free tools to investigate User and Object Policies

5. Row-level Security Best Practices

6. Examine the Cognos 8 Data Sources, Connections, and Sign-On’s

7. Available Deployment Utilities (MotioCI)

• Upcoming live hands-on training sessions

• Overview of Cognos Training Options

• Review and Wrap-up

Today’s Format

• Demonstration will begin shortly

• Please submit questions via the GoToWebinar

Question pane in the GoToWebinar control panel

• We will address questions LIVE at the conclusion of

the presentation, so if you do not get an immediate

response, please HOLD ON!

• We will try to answer EVERY question via email if we

do not get a chance to respond while you are

attending the Webinar

Welcome and Introduction

• Who am I?– Albert Valdez, Director of Education Services at Senturus

– 10 years as a Technical Trainer, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management

– 5 years as a Senior Education Specialist at Cognos, Inc.

– Lifetime CTT+ Certification from CompTIA

– IBM Cognos Certified

– Last 5+ Years as a Senior Consultant, Solutions Architect, Education Director

• Who is Senturus?– Currently IBM Advanced Solutions Partner

– Cognos Platinum Partner 2002-2008

– Full Service Solutions provider:

• Data Warehouse

• Program Management

• Performance Management

• Platform-Independent

Cognos 8 System Administration Best

Practices Demonstration

Demo 1 – Review the Cognos 8 Security Model and look at how to configure Single-Sign-On using Microsoft Active Directory and IIS. Deploy Portal Pages to Users.

Purpose: Understand the out-of-the-box Security settings and best practices for a common configuration leveraging existing Enterprise Authentication.

Cognos 8 Security Model

Cognos 8 System Administration Best

Practices Demonstration

Demo 2 – Optimize server configuration settings to increase

performance and configure a second dispatcher

Purpose: There are several areas in which administrators can improve application performance. We will examine the areas with the biggest impact.

Cognos 8 System Administration Best

Practices Demonstration

Demo 3 – Use free tools to investigate User and Object

Policies

Purpose: As a Cognos system administrator, we are provided with limited tools to assess and manage our environment. However, there are utilities available to assist with some common administrative tasks, such Motio’s PI and CI tools.

Cognos 8 System Administration Best

Practices Demonstration

Demo 4 – Row-level Security Best Practices

Purpose: In order to control access to sensitive data, it is recommended that row-level security be built into the Cognos metadata layer through Framework Manager. We will also examine data sources and signon’s in Cognos Connection.

Cognos Training Options

• IBM Public Classroom Training

• Training from a Certified Partner, On-site or Public

• Custom On-site Training

• Small group Mentoring/Knowledge Transfer

• Remote/On-line Training

• Computer Based Training

• Upcoming Senturus Public Training Events…

Cognos Training Options

• Upcoming Senturus Public Training Events,

Hosted by Yours Truly:

– Tuesday-Wednesday, October 12-13, in Irvine and

on-line:

• Framework Manager Metadata Modeling Best Practices

– Friday, October 29, On-line ONLY:

• Dimensional Authoring with Cognos 8 Report Studio

– Registration information will be sent along

with the Webinar Follow-up, or visit

http://www.senturus.com/events.php

About Senturus Training

• What does Senturus Training offer?

• Why not just go to the IBM/Cognos public classes?

– On-site is more cost-effective when there are more than 4

people to train

– Courses are delivered at your location, on your schedule

– Attendance is limited to your group, minimizing distractions,

and allowing our instructors to focus on your group’s

pertinent concerns

– Course content and format can be structured specifically to

your audience

• As an IBM Partner, we can offer discounts on IBM

Public training starting at 10%

• We are your Training Partner!

What does Senturus Training offer:• Standard On-site Classroom delivery

– Based on Great Outdoors sample data

– Can be delivered anywhere, anytime

– Compressed format (fewer days)

– $2,950 per day list price (up to 12 students) *Price goes up Jan. 1*

• Customized On-site Classroom delivery– Based on client’s data

– Requires longer lead times so we can prepare materials

– Higher impact, more relevant, closes learning gap much faster

– $2,950 per day of delivery and course prep *Price goes up Jan. 1*

• Small Group Mentoring– We work on your data, in your environment

– Our experts facilitate the learning process while resolving actual issues and working toward a concrete deliverable

– Small group size allows for personalized knowledge transfer at the appropriate pace

– Rates start at $225 per hour

Want more???

• Senturus is offering a unique opportunity to attend complete, live, hands-on training sessions remotely or in-person

• Formal classroom setting with physical or virtual workstations for each student

• Remote attendance available – attend from anywhere, all you need is an Internet-connected PC (dual displays and PC headset recommended)

• Valuable hard-copy course handouts with step by step instructions

• $595 per day, per student

Q & A and Follow-up

• If you have submitted a question via GoToWebinar, we will be responding as quickly as possible