Tool Specific Configuration Options

Some IBM Support Assistant Team Server add-on tools which run as standalone Java applications - outside of the IBM Support Assistant Team Server process - make use of configuration options that can be specified at tool startup time as command line parameters. In some cases, it may be useful to apply local custom values (or local overrides) for these tool startup options.

Generally, these options are propagated to the tool as Java "system properties". In this case, each such property appears on the command line as a '-D' parameter.

Some options may apply to configuration of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) itself. These options are documented in the IBM User Guide for Java (http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/java7sdk/v7r0). A common example is Java heap size configuration, as in:

java -Xms96M -Xmx1200M ...

Tool specific local configuration files

Local tool options are specified in tool specific .properties files. These files are located under the IBM Support Assistant Team Server "ToolBox" directory, in tool specific subdirectories. The name of such a directory matches the tool's 'ID', and can be found on the IBM Support Assistant Tool Administration details panel.

For example, the tool ID for Memory Analyzer, web edition, is:

com.ibm.java.web.memoryanalyzer

so the corresponding tool directory is:

ISA5/ToolBox/com.ibm.java.web.memoryanalyzer/

and the configuration properties file, in that directory, is:

com.ibm.java.web.memoryanalyzer.properties

In order to override the default options, and ensure the changes are not lost after a tool update, the original properties file should be copied from the tool directory to the ToolBox 'properties' directory and changes should be applied to the copy.

Example:

Configuration property names

JVM configuration options are specified as a list of command line parameters associated with the single property name jvm.args, as in:

jvm.args=-Xms96M -Xmx1200M

Any other properties are propagated as Java system properties. For clarity, these are prefixed in the properties file with "opt.". For example, the property definition:

opt.server.https.port=10912

would result in a command line parameter:

-Dserver.https.port=10912

Some properties may be defined for facilitation of integration of add-on tools with the IBM Support Assistant Team Server environment. These properties should not be modified. Any such properties will be found at the tail end of a tool specific configuration file, following a comment indicating that they should not be modified.

Example:

# DO NOT MODIFY
opt.dump.dir=${filestore.root}

Note that the above example illustrates the use of substitution variables. There are two supported substitution variables:

filestore.root	The location for the IBM Support Assistant cases store
install.root	The tool's ToolBox subdirectory

General properties affecting report generator tool launch

There are properties that apply to every report generator tool and which may be customized per tool.

process.time.max	Elapsed time, in seconds, to allow a tool to run before forcibly terminating the tool process. The default for this property is specified in the application properties file as the value of the property DISPATCH_WORKER_TIMEOUT.
process.memory.min	Minimum available real system memory, in megabytes, required for tool launch. The default for this property is specified in the application properties file as the value of the property PDTOOL_LAUNCH_MEMORY_LIMIT.
jvm.args	JVM configuration options

General properties affecting web tool launch

The following properties apply to every interactive web tool and may be customized per tool.

opt.server.https.port	The secure communications port for the web tool.
jvm.args	JVM configuration options

Setting heap sizes for desktop tools

When you launch desktop tools you can set the minimum and maximum heap sizes in MB as appropriate for your workstation. If you do not provide a value or you provide an invalid value, then the default values for your workstation's Java Runtime Environment will be used. You can change the heap sizes each time you launch a desktop tool.

Ensure you know how much workstation memory is available before choosing heap size values. If you set valid values that are not appropriate for the available memory resources on your workstation, then the tool my exit with an exception or it may fail to start.