Pre-configuring the Cognos Mobile native apps for users

Configure the IBM® Cognos® Mobile application to streamline the setup for users and control how the application works on iOS and Android devices.

About this task

You can encode and generate configuration settings in a URL to distribute to Cognos Mobile application users in an email message, a chat, or by other methods. With this URL, the users can automatically configure the application on their mobile devices.

The Cognos server URL is included in the configuration so that users do not need to type the URL on their mobile devices when configuring the application.

As an additional security measure, a password can also be included in the configuration. The mobile configuration password provides a tamper-evident seal to ensure integrity of the configuration URL and confirms that the source of the URL is valid. The configuration URL and password should never be transmitted together using the same medium, such as email or chat, at the same time. Users need to enter this password only once when they open the configuration URL.

Procedure

  1. From a desktop browser, log on to IBM Cognos Connection with administrator privileges.
  2. Go to IBM Cognos Administration, and click the Mobile tab.
  3. Click Remote Configuration.
  4. For IBM Cognos Server URL, type your IBM Cognos BI server URL, such as http://cognos_bi_server/ibmcognos.
  5. Enable or disable the following settings:
    Pass-Through Authentication
    Enable this setting so that users can navigate to the Cognos BI server through the different intervening web pages that are displayed to them.
    By default, IBM Cognos Mobile requires direct connectivity with the IBM Cognos BI server. If direct connectivity is not possible because of intervening security products or third-party portals, this setting must be enabled. The intervening products could include CA SiteMinder, Tivoli® Access Manager, Microsoft ISA Server, or landing pages in public WiFi networks.
    Automatic Downloads
    Enable this setting for the Cognos Mobile apps to automatically download new report outputs from the user's inbox and from reports pushed to the user. This setting should be enabled, unless bandwidth is a concern.
    Display Sample Server
    Enable this setting for the Cognos Mobile apps to access the Cognos Mobile sample server. The sample server contains sample IBM Cognos reports that illustrate the capabilities of IBM Cognos software. The sample reports are optimized for use on mobile devices.
    Maintain Application State
    Enable this setting so that the application can restore its latest content space after the application is restarted. For example, if the application is closed while viewing a report in the content space "My Reports", the application reopens the content space "My Reports" after a restart. If this setting is disabled, the application displays the main panel after a restart.
    Default: Off
  6. Optional: Select the Mobile Configuration Password check box and type a password of your choice. The password can contain a maximum of 20 alphanumeric characters, and cannot contain spaces.

    If you decide to specify this password, ensure that you provide it to the users separately from the configuration URL.

  7. Optional: Select the SSL/TLS Certificate Pinning check box and paste the SHA-1 fingerprint of the SSL or TLS certificate that secures the entry point to your Cognos BI server. An example of the Cognos BI server entry point is a web server, a proxy server, or a load balancer.

    Enable this setting to ensure that the client communicates only with the servers that are configured with the X.509v3 certificate and that have the same SHA-1 fingerprint.

    The value for this setting is a sequence of 40 hexadecimal characters (a-f and 0-9) without any punctuation marks. Remove the punctuation marks from the value before pasting it in this field. You can specify multiple SHA-1 fingerprint values separating them with a colon (:).

    Tip: In Firefox, you can obtain the SHA-1 fingerprint by clicking on the padlock icon in the browser URL bar and then clicking More Information > View Certificate.
  8. Click Generate Mobile Configuration Code. A base64-encoded URL is generated that includes the specified configuration settings.

    The following is an example of the generated URL: 

    cmug://aHR0cDovL3ZvdHRtb2IxL2NzcDI-dmVyc2lvbj0xLjAmcGFzcz1vZmYmYXV0b
2R3bj1vZmYmZGlzcHNhbXA9b24mcHdkPW9uJnNhbHQ9UWlzQVJoTTNPaFVfJmhhc2g9Q
VFnQUFBQkliV0ZqVTBoQk1iV2U3SEJiUjhkczJBV2wrKzI0Y2d6cWxLMi8.
  9. Copy the configuration URL and provide it to the Cognos Mobile application users by email, chat, or by other methods.
    Ensure that the following conditions are met when copying and transmitting the URL:
    • All characters in the URL, including underscores (_), are selected when copying the URL.
    • The application that you use to transmit the configuration URL maintains the case of the URL. The URL is case-sensitive.

Results

When users tap on the configuration URL from the administrator, the Cognos Mobile application is opened on their iOS or Android device. The users must confirm if they want to proceed with automatic configuration. If the mobile configuration password was specified in step 5, the users must enter the password when prompted. The application is then configured with the settings specified in the URL.

If the users enter an incorrect password or tap on the Cancel button, the application opens without applying any configuration settings.

Tip: Some email applications deliver the configuration URL to users as plain text. In this situation, the users can copy and paste the URL into the browser and open it from there.
Parent topic: IBM Cognos Mobile administration