Cognos Cubes and PHP

[cogdev]

2 questions
Is it possible (or simple), to use PHP and MYSql to create cubes? We are hoping to deploy cubes but there are issues with the licensing. From my understanding, we have to get a licence for every web user...is that really the case?

 

[semby]

I cannot answer your first question accurately, as I'm unfamiliar with MySQL and PHP.

As to your second question. Cognos does charge a license fee per named user.

If you're purchasing PPES (since you're talking about web) you normally get a number of licenses included in the cost of the purchase.

In the past I've seen customers build quite elaborate systems to circumvent the licensing rules. For example saving standard canned cognos reports to .pdf and posting them to the corporate intranet.

 

[john76]

As to the first question, I see no reason why you could not use MySQL for your DBMS. For the worst case scenario that PP cannot use an ODBC connection (via a catalog) to connect to MySQL, I am sure you can schedule a bulk-export from MySQL to .txt files for PP to read.

How (or why) you would use PHP in the creation of powercubes escapes me. Are you trying to write an interface to read a powercube via an intranet? If so, I can't help you with that as I would have NO idea how to even approach that issue! ;-)

As far as I know, Cognos does only offer a "per user" type of licensing. As semby indicated, there are ways to circumvent this (multiple users sharing a single login name comes to mind) but frankly, if your company could afford the software in the first place, they should be able to afford the licences.

HTH,
John