Advanced Master Settings

The advanced settings tab is available when a master configuration is open in the Install Config Manager. The default values for the advanced settings typically meet the need of most OpenSpirit users. Make sure you fully understand the purpose of an advanced setting before changing the default. Each advanced setting is described below.

Server Time-out

The server time-out setting establishes the amount of time that an OpenSpirit data connector process continues to run when no application is connected to it. This setting is sometime referred to as the idle time-out.

Data connector processes are started by the OpenSpirit framework when an application requests a connection to a source of data. Data connector processes may be shared by multiple applications. Data connector processes are not shared between users, but may be shared between applications run by a single user.

Tip: Individual applications can override the server time-out setting when connecting to a data source. Consult with your application provider if you suspect the time-out is being overridden in an undesirable way. The server time-out setting of a data connector process can be viewed using the Process Manager tool.

Applications may connect and disconnect from a data connector process many times as the application is being used. Data connector processes typically take several seconds to start and some data connectors may take as much as a minute or more to start. A data connector process would start and stop repeatedly creating an unpleasant user experience if there was not a reasonable idle time-out period.

The server time-out is specified using seconds. The default server time-out value is 1 hour (3600 seconds). Setting the time-out to less than 5 minutes is strongly discouraged.

Process Starter Time-out

The process starter time-out is similar in concept to the server time-out described above. Process starter time-out is the idle time-out for process starters, which are also known as locators. Process starters are described in the Process Manager section of this help guide.

The process starter time-out is specified using seconds. The default server time-out value is 1 hour (3600 seconds).

Error Expiration Time

The error expiration time setting determines the amount of time a data connector process start error message is retained. Data connector process start error messages are created when the OpenSpirit framework is unable to create a data connector process to service a data request. Process start errors are stored in the OpenSpirit metadata repository and can be viewed using the Process Manager tool. Start error messages are purged from the metadata repository when the error expiration time is reached.

The error expiration time is specified using seconds. The default expiration time is 24 hours (86,400 seconds).

Log Retention

The log retention settings determine when data connector, process starter, and the shared service log files are deleted. New log files are created each time a data connector, process starter, or shared service process is started. The log file names contain a date and time to prevent new process runs from replacing log files created by previous process runs. Over time this can result in the accumulation of a large number of log files. The log retention settings were introduced to address this log file accumulation problem.

The days retention setting specifies the age in days that a log file must reach before it is a candidate for deletion. The minimum retention setting is the number of versions of a log file that preserved. Both conditions must be met for a log file to be a candidate for deletion.

For example, assuming the days setting is 7 and the minimum setting is 3, the log files created by a specific data connector must be at least 7 days old to be a candidate for deletion, and there must be at least three more recent log files for a log to be a deletion candidate. Log files that meet both expiration criteria are removed when a new process is started.

External Executable

The external executable settings are used when External Executable is selected as the Remote Startup Method setting on the main master configuration panel. These settings specify the command to use to create a remote process. A different command can be used for Windows and Linux.

Tip: The values entered into the External Executable fields are only used when the Remote Startup Method setting on the main master configuration panel is set to External Executable. The values are not used for any purpose if any other Remote Startup Method is selected on the main master configuration panel.

For example, the external executable setting for Windows is used when an OpenSpirit enabled application running on a Windows computer needs to connect to a data source that must be accessed using a data connector process on Linux. The OpenSpirit framework creates the Linux data connector process by running the command specified in this advanced setting to start a process starter on a Linux host. The process starter is in turn create a data connector process on the remote host.

The external executable setting should refer to a command executable or script that is capable of creating processes on a different host computer. It is expected that the command can accept command-line arguments that indicate the remote host that the process is to be started on and the command to be ran on the remote host to start the process. Several variables indicated using a $ character prefix can be used in the setting to indicate where information should be substituted to yield the external executable command. The substitution variables are listed in the following table.

Variable

Required?

Description

$host yes The name of the computer that the remote process should be started on.
$command yes The command to run on the remote host.
$userhome no The user's home directory on the local computer ($HOME on Linux, %USERPROFILE% on Windows).
$osphome no The top-level directory of the local OpenSpirit software installation.

Double quotes can be used around executable paths or parameters that contain whitespace but should be treated as a single command argument.

Note: The default values for the external executable settings are provided as an example. They are not expected to work in most company environments. Have your company's IT representative work with OpenSpirit support to determine setting values that work for your environment if you have selected the External Executable option for the Remote Startup Method setting on the master configuration panel.

Host Discovery Enabled

This option enables OpenSpirit users to type host names into the User Setup Wizard in addition to selecting hosts that have been configured with a master or satellite. The OpenSpirit framework attempts to locate the configuration files and software installation directory of the master or one of its satellites. This enables users to run data connectors on any host computer that has access to an OpenSpirit installation and supports the remote startup method that the master has been configured to use.

Host discovery is enabled by default. Uncheck this option if you want to restrict OpenSpirit users to only start remote data connector processes on hosts that have been configured with an OpenSpirit satellite.

Backup Settings

The backup settings control how the master installation's metadata repository database is backed up.

Backups Enabled

This option is enabled by default. Uncheck this option if you do not want the metadata repository to be automatically backed up.

Number of backups to keep

This option controls how many backup copies are maintained. The oldest backup is deleted once this threshold is exceeded.

Backup interval

This option controls how often a backup is run. The interval is specified in hours.

Run backup at specific time

Check this option if you would like to specify the time of day that the backup is run. It is recommended to run the backup at a time of day that is likely to have the least amount of OpenSpirit usage.

Hour to run backups

The hour of the day that the backup runs if the Run backup at specific time option was selected. Enter a number between zero and 23 inclusive. The hour is in the time zone of the host that the shared services are running on.

Folder path to write backups

The folder that the backups are written to. Subfolders are created for each backup. The subfolder names are the date and time that the backup was created. Each backup folder is the same size as your master installation's metadata repository database.

SMTP Server

This optional setting is used to indicate the SMTP host that should be used when sending emails on copy job or scan job completion. Setting an SMTP server enables OpenSpirit users to configure the email address they would like copy and scan job completion notifications to be sent to. The User Setup Wizard is used to configure the email address. Check the Password Required option to indicate that a password is also required when users configure an email address using the User Setup Wizard.

LDAP Settings

The LDAP settings are optional. The LDAP settings are used by some OpenSpirit web service workflows that require LDAP authentication to be used in a web service environment. Most OpenSpirit customers not need to use the LDAP settings.

Tip: The LDAP settings are not used by the OpenSpirit Desktop or by the TIBCO OpenSpirit® Runtime when starting data connector processes.

LDAP settings are canned be entered by selecting the LDAP Authentication Enabled option. Selecting this option enables the LDAP settings edit button . Click the edit button to open the LDAP Settings window.

Enter the LDAP URL for your company's LDAP server into the LDAP URL field. Consult with your IT administrator for information about your company's URL.

Enter the name of the LDAP Domain that you want to authenticate users in. Consult with your IT administrator for information about your company's LDAP domain.