Updating Linux/Unix agent KDC_FAMILIES configuration

Answer

Before ITM 623 level

Suppose we want to add "ephemeral:y" to the KDC_FAMILIES environment for the Linux OS agent which is product code lz

1) Create a file in <install_dir>/config called ephemeral which has a single line as follows:

export KDC_FAMILIES="ephemeral:y ${KDC_FAMILIES}"

In this context, the double quotes will mean the ${KDC_FAMILIES} will be expanded into the current definition of KDC_FAMILIES.

2) Add the following as the last line of the lz.ini file:

. $CANDLEHOME$/config/ephemeral

which is a period, a space, and then the filename of the file just created.

During agent startup, the lz.ini file and other information will be processed into a lz.config file. In a test environment the result looked like:

. /opt/IBM/ITM/config/ephemeral

The config file is in unix shell format and the above single period means the named file is sourced, or logically included.

The benefit to this approach is that the setup will persist when the agent is reconfigured or when maintenance is applied. It will need to be included when new agents are installed.

There remains the question of how to implement this. In many environments there are methods to run commands on many servers. If not, see the following technote:

Running Commands Using Always True ITM situations
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21390488

which shows how to run single commands on multiple agents using situations. In this case, the commands would be:

echo export KDC_FAMILIES=\"ephemeral:y \${KDC_FAMILIES}\" > $CANDLEHOME/config/ephemeral

and:

echo . \$CANDLEHOME\$/config/ephemeral >> $CANDLEHOME/config/lz.ini

The backslashes are used to preserve special characters through shell processing.

From ITM 623 level onward the process is much simpler.

1) Create a file in <install_dir>/config called lz.environment which has a single line as follows:

export KDC_FAMILIES=ephemeral:y ${KDC_FAMILIES}

2) You do not need to append anything to the ini file.