COGNOS Business Intelligence Series 7

Appendix C: Managing Temporary Files
Configuring Mirrored Servers and Cubes
In a default installation of PowerPlay Enterprise Server, when a gateway and dispatcher are
installed on the same machine, the Temporary File Access property is set to Shared Temp by
default. This means that the gateway and the dispatcher share the same PPWB_DIR directory.
Any mirrored server or cube in this configuration must also share the same PPWB_DIR directory.
PPWB_DIR for both servers should point to the same disk location. The Web server must have
read/write access to the Temp directory. In certain Web-based deployments, however, your Web
server may not be able to access a shared drive directly. In this situation, you should set the
Temporary File Access property to CGI or Dispatcher, depending on where the Temp directory is
located, instead of the default Shared.
The following table shows the permissions that the Web server and the dispatcher have to the
Temp directory, depending on the setting you choose for the PPWB_TEMP_ACCESS property in
Configuration Manager.
CGI Shared Dispatcher
Dispatcher n/a read/write read/write
Web server read/write read n/a
Fetch Temporary Files
The fetch temporary files option can be used as an alternative to the sticky bit setting on your
router. If you use the sticky bit setting, all communications related to a particular request are
always passed to the same Web server. You can maintain better response times and a balanced
load by using this option.
Use the fetch temporary files option to specify which temporary file location PowerPlay Web
Explorer uses when building a report. When a user requests data, PowerPlay creates a Web page
for the data and a customized toolbar. The Web page is stored in the temporary file location until
requested by the user’s Web browser. The temporary location is the ppwb\temp directory which is
normally on your Web server. When you enable this option, PowerPlay uses the ppwb\temp
directory on the PowerPlay dispatcher to store its temporary files.
You can also use the fetch temporary files option if you have several Web servers, where requests
are handled through a router. Because the data for a PowerPlay Web Explorer report is passed to
the Web browser in two parts, you must enable fetch temporary files so that the temporary data is
stored at the shared level of the PowerPlay server. When PowerPlay processes requests for multiple
Web servers, this option ensures that the URLs for the data and customized toolbar can always be
resolved, regardless of which Web browser requested the report.
Steps
1. In PowerPlay Enterprise - Server Administration, click a server.
2. From the Edit menu, click Properties, and then click the Settings tab.
3. In the Fetch Files box (Options), type 1.
4. Click Apply.
5. Click OK.
Fetch Files is now enabled.
Setting the Base HREF
The Web page sent to a user by PowerPlay Web Explorer consists of frames that contain URLs
that are relative to the URL of the Web page. If your server configuration includes a router, these
URLs may be incorrect, and the Base HREF value must be set to the name of the external server.
Steps
1. Start the Configuration Manager
110 Cognos PowerPlay (R)