Activating A Published Powercube Using Pcactivate - IBM Cognos User Manual

Example - Using an Updated PowerCube to Process a Query
This is an example of using an updated PowerCube to process a query.
For a cube named MyCube.mdc, where one version was copied and activated on
February 1, 2008 and a newer version was copied and activated on March 1, 2008,
the deployment location contains the following items:
v a file named MyCube.mdc
v a file named MyCube__20080301175839.ver
v a folder named MyCube__20080301175839 that contains the version of
MyCube.mdc that was copied and activated on March 1
v a folder named MyCube__20080201125819 that contains the version of
MyCube.mdc that was copied and activated on February 1
Assume that the report server needs to process a query using MyCube.mdc. When
attempting to access MyCube.mdc, the report server recognizes that the file is not a
valid PowerCube. The report server looks for a file named
MyCube__UTCdate_time.ver file. In the previous version, this file is named
MyCube_20080201125819.ver. Using the prefix of this .ver file, the report server
goes to the MyCube_20080301175839 folder and processes the query using the
version of MyCube.mdc in this folder.

Activating a Published PowerCube Using pcactivate

Use the pcactivate command to activate an updated or rebuilt PowerCube in the
production environment after the cube is manually copied to the deployment
location where the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence server can access it. You can
copy the newer version of the cube to one or more deployment locations, and then
activate the newer version in each location simultaneously.
You can use the pcactivate command with updated Cognos Transformer cubes,
version 7.x and later.
The pcactivate command:
v renames the directory in which the updated PowerCube is located to include a
version reference number
v creates a version (.ver) file that directs the IBM Cognos studios to access the
updated version of the cube
v deletes all other .ver files for the cube
The next time the published cube is accessed, the newer version is accessed
automatically.
Procedure
1. If it does not exist yet, create a new directory in the PowerCube deployment
directory in the production environment.
v The name of the new directory must be the same as the cube name. For
example, if the cube is named Product.mdc, the directory must be named
Product.
v The new directory must be created in the same location where the original
cube was deployed, as specified in the cube connection information in IBM
Cognos Administration.
For example, if the connection information specifies that the cube access path
is C:\Cubes\Product.mdc, the new directory must be created in the
following way:
Chapter 8. PowerCubes in Production Environments
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