Management agent acsd

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The management agent, acsd, coordinates the snapshot backup operation. It is a background daemon process that starts automatically.

The management agent, acsd, controls the backup flow and mediates between the other agents. The acsd agent provides access to the snapshot backup repository, which contains information about the valid snapshot backups and their relationships to snapshot capable storage devices.

If you must deviate from the standard installation, the management agent offers the following command options for customization:

Figure 1. acsd management agent

1  acsd?   -p acsd-profile
1   -c acsd-port
1   -r acs-repository
1   -d acs-directory
1   -b password-file

Syntax for obtaining version or help information:

Figure 2. acsd management agent help

1  acsd?  -v?  -h
Table 1. Options for starting the management agent, acsd, as a daemon process
Option Description Default Overrides profile parameter
-p acsd-profile Full path and name of the profile that is used by the management agent.

The management agent uses the GLOBAL and acsd sections of the configuration profile.

 <instance directory>/profile
-c acsd-port TCP/IP port number or service name on which the management agent is listening 57328 ACSD (port number or service name)
-r acs-repository Directory name where the snapshot backup repository is located None ACS_REPOSITORY
-d acs-directory Name of IBM® Storage Protect Snapshot directory ACS_DIR
-b password-file File in which the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot management agent password is stored (in encrypted form). See notes. ACS_DIR/shared/pwd.acsd No corresponding profile parameter.
-v Display version and help information None N/A
-h Display help information only None N/A

All parameters override the values that are specified in the acsd profile or the corresponding default values. The shared and logs directories are automatically created in ACS_DIR. If no parameters are entered, acsd starts with the default profile and uses the default parameter values where applicable, or an error message is shown if this profile does not exist.

When acsd is started for the first time, or with a new ACS_DIR parameter, the following actions occur:
  • Create the subdirectories shared and logs
  • Create a password file pwd.acsd in the shared subdirectory
  • Generate a master password
When the snapshot backup library uses the same ACS_DIR, it can authenticate itself to acsd with the password provided in the pwd.acsd file. If the snapshot backup library uses a different ACS_DIR, the default password file pwd.acsd must be copied to that directory so that they can read the master password from that directory.
Note: The minimum length of the master password is 8 characters. It must contain at least one number and one letter. The use of special symbols increases the strength of the password.