Starting IBM InfoSphere Information Server node agent as a non-root user

The node agent (the ASB agent) can be started as the IBM® InfoSphere® DataStage® administrator user. Do this procedure after you create an installation of InfoSphere Information Server. Repeat this procedure after you add additional product modules or fix packs. You must also rerun steps 6-13 any time you have restarted the node agent as the root user and you now want to start it again as the non-root InfoSphere DataStage administrator user.

1. If you added additional product modules or fix packs to an existing InfoSphere Information Server installation, skip to step 6. If you are modifying a fresh installation, continue with step 2.
2. Verify that the InfoSphere DataStage administrator account that originally installed the engine tier exists. Verify that it belongs to the InfoSphere DataStage primary group.
   The InfoSphere DataStage administrator account is typically named dsadm. The InfoSphere DataStage primary group is typically named dstage.

   Note: If you did not install InfoSphere DataStage or IBM InfoSphere Information Analyzer, you can choose any trusted user.
3. Make sure that the stack_hard variable in the /etc/security/limits file is set to -1 for the user that was selected in step 2.
4. Make sure that the user can write to the temporary directory.
5. Configure the node agent to start as the non-root user when a computer restarts. To do so, locate and change the content of the ISFAgents files on the engine tier computers.
   Note: The location and file name are different for each operating system, but the content of the file is the same.
   1. Find the ISFAgents file that must be modified.
      • Run this command: cd /sbin
      • Run this command: cd /etc
   2. Run the command: find . -name "*ISFAgents*"
      Note: This step might return multiple files with various prefixes in the name. Some files might link to other files and might reflect your change to the original file. You do not have to edit the linked files. The main file is typically located in the rc.d/init.d/ISFAgents directory.
   3. Change the content of the file. The file contains information such as these lines:

      #!/bin/sh   
      # chkconfig: 2345 85 60
      # description: Information Services Framework server.
      IS_INIT_D=true;export IS_INIT_D
      "/opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode/bin/NodeAgents.sh" "$@"  

      Change as follows:

      #!/bin/sh
      # chkconfig: 2345 85 60
      # description: Information Services Framework server.
      IS_INIT_D=true;export IS_INIT_D
      /usr/bin/su - dsadm -c "/opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode/bin/NodeAgents.sh $*" 

      Note: If you did not install InfoSphere DataStage or InfoSphere Information Analyzer, in place of dsadm in the file, specify the alternate user that was selected in step 2.
6. Log in as a system administrator with root access.
7. Change to the /opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode/bin directory.
8. Run this command to stop the node agent:

   ./NodeAgents.sh stop

   Note: If you use IBM InfoSphere Information Services Director, verify that all related jobs are stopped. Typically, stopping the node agent stops all InfoSphere Information Services Director jobs.
9. Remove any remaining root-owned *.out, *.err, and *.pid files from the /opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode/logs directory.
   You must always complete this step before you first start the node agent as a non-root user, if you previously started the node agent as root.
10. Change the ownership of the /opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode directory to the trusted user that was selected in step 2. To change the ownership, run this command:

    chown -R user /opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode

    where user is the trusted user.
11. Log in as dsadm or as the user that you selected in step 2.
12. Change to the following directory:

    /opt/IBM/InformationServer/ASBNode/bin

13. Run the following command to start the node agent:

    ./NodeAgents.sh start