Reducing the Content Manager load by storing user session files locally

When a user runs an interactive report, the report server sends a request to the Content Manager, asking it to store the report output in the session cache for the user. Such report output may be in one of the following formats: PDF, HTML with images, Microsoft Excel speadsheet software, CSV, or XML.

To reduce the processing load on the Content Manager, user session files are stored on the report server local file system. By default, this location is on the report server. You can change the location to a remote computer, such as a shared directory on Microsoft Windows operating system or a common mounted directory on UNIX operating system. For more information, see the topic about changing the location of temporary report output in the IBM® Cognos Business Intelligence Installation and Configuration Guide.

If you're upgrading, user session files are stored in Content Manager. You will need to change the report server local file system if you want to reduce the Content Manager load.

Storing temporary files might result in increased disk usage. Make sure to allocate sufficient space for the files.

This will not interfere with older versions of applications, such as Software Development Kit, which still send requests to the Content Manager.

The following parameters are available:

• Temporary objects location

  Specifies the location of temporary cache files. To store the temporary cache files on the report server, select ServerFileSystem. To store the temporary cache files on the Content Manager, select ContentStore.

  The default is ServerFileSystem.

• Temporary objects lifetime

  Specifies in hours the length of time that temporary cache files are kept. If you set this to zero, files are kept until they are manually deleted.

  This setting is used only by the dispatcher. The report server deletes temporary cache files when the browser is closed or when the user clicks the back button in the browser. If the report server does not delete the files, the dispatcher uses this setting to delete the files.

  The default is 4 hours.

There is also a setting in Cognos® Configuration for encrypting temporary files, which is not affected by the Temporary objects lifetime or the Temporary objects location settings. For more information, see the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Installation and Configuration Guide.