Cognos comes with an option called unattended install. This can be useful when you have to install a number of machines which must have installed the same components. In the <install dir>/c8/instlog find files with the extension *.ATS. When you look into the ts-C8BISRVR-8.3-81.20-20090416_1328.ats file you see a structure like this:

 [Dialog1]
Title=Welcome to the Installation Wizard
DE=0
EN=1
FR=0
JA=0
ES=0
NL=0
SV=0
[Dialog3]
Title=Installation Location
APPDIR=C:\Program Files\cognos\c8
BACKUP=1
[Dialog6]
Title=Shortcut Folder
APPFOLDER=Cognos 8
ALLUSERS_FLAG=1
[Component List]
C8BISRVR_APP=0
C8BISRVR_APPLICATION_TIER=0
C8BISRVR_GATEWAY=1
C8BISRVR_CONTENT_MANAGER=0
C8BISRVR_CONTENT_DATABASE=0
[Install Conditions]
RebootSystem=0
 

This file can be used as input for the issetup.exe installation executable.
0= do not install
1= install

For all types of servers you can select the required components and save this. The file installs the selected components on the server for you.

If you don't want to figure out which components to select, install the Cognos software with the GUI on a test server. After installation(file transfer) you'll find an ats file, generated by Cognos which reflects your selection during installation.

issetup.exe -s gateway.ats