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Configuring
May 2006
Part No: 58466
Copyright 1991–2006 BMC Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
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all other BMC Software product or service names, are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC
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BMC Software, Inc., considers information included in this documentation to be proprietary and
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notices included in this documentation.
For license information about the OpenSource files used in the licensed program, please read
OpenSourceLicenses.pdf. This file is in the \Doc folder of the distribution CD-ROM and in the
documentation download portion of the product download page.
Contacting Us
If you need technical support for this product, contact Customer Support by email at support@remedy.com.
If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact Information Development by
email at doc_feedback@bmc.com.
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
AR System documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Learn about the AR System Developer Community . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Why should you participate in the Developer Community? . . . . . . . . 14
How do you access the Developer Community? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Contents 3
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
4 Contents
Configuring
Contents 5
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
6 Contents
Configuring
Contents 7
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
8 Contents
Configuring
Contents 9
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
10 Contents
Preface
Audience
This guide is written for administrators who are responsible for setting up
and maintaining the BMC® Remedy® Action Request System®
(AR System®). The guide is intended to aid new and current administrators
of AR System. If you are a current AR System administrator, this guide
enhances the ease of use and performance of your AR System environment.
If you are a new AR System administrator, this guide helps you create an
effective and efficient AR System environment.
Preface 11
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Before you explore the topics in this guide, make sure that you understand
the terms and concepts discussed in the Optimizing and Troubleshooting
guide, which contains all the required information for setting up and
administering a basic AR System environment. Your knowledge of basic
administrative AR System tasks is crucial for successful implementation of
the strategies discussed in this guide.
You must know how to use AR System, including BMC Remedy
Administrator, BMC Remedy User, and BMC Remedy Import. See the
Installing guide, the Form and Application Objects guide, and the Workflow
Objects guide for additional information.
AR System documents
The following table lists documentation available for AR System products.
Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
format is available on AR System product installation CDs, on the Customer
Support site (supportweb.remedy.com), or both.
You can access product Help through each product’s Help menu or by
clicking on Help links.
12 Preface
Configuring
AR System documents 13
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
14 Preface
Configuring
16 Preface
Chapter
This section discusses the overall architecture of AR System 7.0 and provides
a conceptual overview of the components of the AR System.
The following topics are provided:
AR System architecture overview (page 18)
AR System and web services (page 25)
Scalability (page 26)
Working with a portmapper service in AR System (page 35)
Data storage—The data storage element contains the actual data for the
system. AR System supports DB2, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, and
Microsoft SQL databases. For each of the relational databases, tables
owned by other systems can also be referenced as if they were owned by
AR System. Also, ARDBC plug-ins can be created and configured to allow
access to data stored outside the database as if it were located within tables
that are owned by AR System.
Figure 1-1 depicts the relationship among the components that reside within
each of the functional environments of the AR System architecture. Notice
that no definitive starting and ending point separates the three
environments, because their functions sometimes overlap.
Wireless
Browser Clients
Clients
Windows Palm OS
Clients Client
Presentation
Internet
Services
1. Reporting Mid-Tier
2. Flashboards
3. ...
Sync
Support
Programs Business
Processing
Services
1. Approval
2. DSO
3. Application
AR System Server
Servers
4. ...
ARDBC Data
Plug-in
Storage
AR System Other
Non-AR System Non-Database
Database Database Data Sources
AR System server
The AR System server processes all the data entered by a client. As the
workflow engine between the client and the database server, the AR System
server writes data into the database when an AR System request is created,
and retrieves that data when a client requests it. The server verifies that a user
has permission to perform each transaction that is requested, thereby
enforcing any access control that you have defined as part of an application.
The server also evaluates the data in the database with each transaction to
determine whether workflow is triggered.
The AR System server has no direct user interface. Clients, such as the
mid tier, BMC Remedy User, and other applications, communicate with
AR System by means of a well-defined application program interface (API).
Both a C interface and a Java interface are available. The API uses remote
procedure calls (RPCs) to communicate with the server.
When a client submits a request to the server, the request enters through the
API, goes through access control and data validation, filter processing, and
then transactions are committed to the data repository as appropriate.
User
API
Filters
External
Processes
Filter API
Web Plug-In
Services
Plug-In
Scalability
Scalability is a feature in both the mid tier and the AR System server.
Scalability 27
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Mid-Tier
Dispatcher
Flash-
Escalation Admin Fast List Private Alert
boards
Queue Queue Queue Queue Queues Queue
Queue
390603 390619 390600 390620 390635 390601
390621-390634
390636-390669
390680-390694
Worker Worker Worker Worker Worker Worker Worker
Thread Threads Thread Threads Threads Threads Threads
Database
Queues
A queue is a meeting point where remote procedure calls (RPCs) wait to be
handled by the worker threads that process the RPCs. When a queue is
created, it automatically starts the minimum number of threads specified for
its thread type. The default for this setting is 1. For more information, see
“Threads” on page 32.
There are seven types of AR System queues. Each queue has an RPC program
number associated with it, as outlined in the following table.
Note: Administration, alert, escalation, Flashboards, fast, and list queues use
a fixed RPC program number. Private queues, however, can be configured
to use any RPC program number within the ranges of RPC program
numbers reserved for private queues.
Scalability 29
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
All servers include an admin queue, which is the default server setting.
Because an admin queue has a single thread available to handle requests, a
server that has only an admin queue (and no fast or list queues) functions as
a single-threaded server. While the admin queue handles all administrative
functions, it can also perform the functions of all other queues if no other
queues are configured. If no other queues are configured, all requests are
placed in the admin queue.
Alert queue
The alert queue handles all alerts that are sent to registered clients. The alert
queue handles only internal requests, not requests from outside the
AR System server. The threads in this queue do not open database
connections, so they do not use many resources.
The minimum thread count for the alert queue is 1. If the server is supporting
Remedy Notifier 4.x clients, set a maximum of 5 alert threads because those
client versions cannot handle more than 5 simultaneous connection
requests. If the server is supporting Remedy Notifier 3.x or earlier clients, set
a maximum of 1 alert thread because those client versions do not correctly
handle simultaneous connection requests.
To configure an alert queue, see “Defining queues and configuring threads”
on page 153.
Escalation queue
All servers automatically create an escalation queue unless Disable
Escalations is configured. (For more information, see “Configuring multiple
servers to access the same database” on page 181.) The escalation queue
handles only internal requests, not requests from outside the AR System
server. It handles escalations specified by the administrator and performs all
escalation processing. Like the admin queue, the escalation queue has only
one thread.
Flashboards queue
The Flashboards queue is a private queue that is automatically created if your
system has a Flashboards license. The queue supports all functionality of the
Flashboards product to make sure that there is dedicated access without
overwhelming the other queues in your system.
Fast queue
The fast queue handles the operations that generally run to completion
quickly without blocking access to the database. The fast queue handles all
server operations, except for:
Administrative operations that restructure the database. These operations
use the administration queue.
The ARExport, ARGetListEntry, ARGetListEntryWithFields, and
ARGetEntryStatistics, and other API calls (which use the list queue).
See the C API Reference guide for more information about API calls.
One or more threads can serve the fast queue if a fast queue is configured. To
configure a fast queue, see “Defining queues and configuring threads” on
page 153.
List queue
The list queue handles AR System operations that might require significant
time, block access to the database, or both. Examples of these operations
include ARExport, ARGetListEntry, ARGetListEntryWithFields, and
ARGetEntryStatistics.
One or more threads can serve the list queue if a list queue is configured. To
configure a list queue, see “Defining queues and configuring threads” on
page 153.
Private queues
Administrators can also create private queues for specific users who need
dedicated access. For example, you might create a private queue for a user
who is performing critical operations that you do not want blocked by other
users. Private queues guarantee a certain bandwidth dedicated to clients
using these queues.
Private queues support all operations except restructuring operations.
Restructuring operations are supported only by the administration queue
(see “Administration queue” on page 29). To configure a private queue, see
“Defining queues and configuring threads” on page 153.
Each private queue can be supported by one or more threads. To connect a
user to a private queue, see “Configuring clients for AR System servers” on
page 196.
Scalability 31
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Threads
The term thread is short for “thread of execution.” Threads allow the server
to process concurrent client requests. Each thread within the multithreaded
server can carry out a client request before returning to the queue to process
the next one. Start only as many threads as your database and system
resources can reasonably support. The total number of threads cannot
exceed the number of database connections that are available to the
AR System server.
All threads within a process share network and system resources; therefore,
consider carefully the available resources of your network when establishing
the minimum and maximum thread settings for your server queues.
There are three types of AR System threads:
Dispatcher
Worker
Thread manager
The following sections describe the different types of threads.
Dispatcher thread
The dispatcher thread routes requests to the appropriate queues. This thread
receives connection requests from clients. The dispatcher thread then places
the requests into the appropriate queue where each request can be handled
by one of multiple worker threads.
Every call that the dispatcher thread receives is assigned an RPC ID that can
be used to identify the call from the time the call is placed into a queue until
a response is sent to the client.
In general, the dispatcher thread uses the following logic to dispatch calls:
If no other queues are defined, the dispatcher thread routes all requests to
the admin queue. If, however, fast and list queues are created in addition
to the admin queue, the dispatcher routes client requests according to the
type of operation being performed. If private queues are created, the
dispatcher directs the call to the appropriate private queue based on the
RPC program number of the request.
A request is routed to the appropriate queue based on its RPC program
number. For example, a call that has RPC program number 390600 is
routed to the admin queue.
Scalability 33
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Thread manager
The thread manager is responsible for ensuring that a thread is restarted if it
dies.
For the Bourne shell, use the following commands to set ARTCPPORT:
% ARTCPPORT=<TCP_Port_Number>; export ARTCPPORT
% aruser &
For an API program, you can set variables through a shell or from within the
program. For more information, see the C API Reference guide.
This section provides information about licensing. The following topics are
provided:
Licensing overview (page 38)
Licensing a new AR System server (page 40)
Manually applying license keys (page 41)
Transferring server licenses to other servers (page 42)
Exporting licenses (page 43)
Importing licenses (page 45)
Licensing overview
AR System licensing grants the full and legal use of AR System and is
necessary for performing operations that change or update the database (for
example, updating requests or records). To run an unlimited AR System
server at your site, an AR System server license is required. Additional
AR System server options, such as the Distributed Server Option (DSO) and
Flashboards, require a separate, additional license.
In addition to server and server option licenses, AR System has user licenses.
The four kinds of user licenses you can use to access the AR System server are:
read, restricted read, fixed write, and floating write.
The base AR System product, after being licensed with the AR System server
license, comes with three Fixed Write licenses, unlimited Read licenses, and
unlimited Restricted Read licenses. To purchase additional user Fixed Write
licenses and user Floating Write licenses, contact your BMC Remedy Product
sales representative or an authorized reseller.
You can evaluate the AR System without purchasing or activating any
licenses. You are limited, however, to a maximum of 2000 records per form.
If you plan to install any AR System application that requires a license key
(for example, Flashboards), you can obtain the license key information for all
your products at one time. You can then submit a single license key request to
take care of all your applications. All licenses now issued are multi server
licenses.
For information about licensing applications that you create using BMC
Remedy products, see the Integrating with Plug-ins and Third-Party Products
guide.
For information about licensing server groups, see “Licensing server groups”
on page 187.
License keys
A license key consists of an encrypted character string to initialize or enable
the use of AR System as specified in the license key. This key allows you to
enable functionality and allows users to access the AR System and authorize
the type of access for each user. Two key pieces of information in your
License Key are:
Site Name—A string that is used to link all available licenses together. For
this reason, each license on each of your servers must use the same,
numeric site name.
Host ID —A value that ties your license keys to a specific machine.
The license key you receive establish the number of users authorized to access
the AR System installed on the server and the type of access granted to such
users (for example, fixed write license or floating write license). The key also
establishes the site name and host ID. You then use this key to apply or add
the licenses for AR System servers, server options, and users.
Note: License key generation includes a high level of security. Do not make
changes to the license file. The AR System server manages this file and will
make changes to it as needed.
Licensing overview 39
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Contact Customer Support if you cannot add the license file with BMC
Remedy Administrator or if you see the following error message:
Invalid AR Server license file. (ARERR 466)
4 Enter the license key information for the first license into the fields. Copy the
license information precisely.
5 Click Add License.
A dialog box is displayed confirming your license has been granted.
6 Click OK.
The license information is listed in the Add/Remove Licenses window.
7 Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each license key.
8 Close the Add/Remove Licenses window.
The server creates the new license file for you.
9 Import your new license file, make sure the Overwrite License check box is
cleared. See “Importing licenses” on page 45.
The system automatically loads your new licenses.
Contact Customer Support if you cannot import the license file or if you see
the following error message:
Invalid AR Server license file. (ARERR 466)
Exporting licenses
You can export your licenses to a directory to provide a backup copy, or to
provide a repository when sending a copy of your licenses to BMC Remedy
Customer Support for an upgrade or overwrite. You have to export all the
licenses; you cannot select specific licenses to export.
Exporting licenses 43
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Importing licenses
You can use the following procedure to import an AR System license file that
you receive from Customer Support.
4 Navigate to the location of the license file that you want to import.
5 Check the Overwrite licenses box if you are overwriting all your licenses.
WARNING: Select this check box only if you are renewing all your licenses.
This option deletes all existing licenses and adds only new ones. If you
delete your existing licenses accidentally, you must reapply to BMC
Remedy Support for new licenses.
Importing licenses 45
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
7 Click Open.
Your license file is imported to the default license directory. License
information is automatically added to the Add/Remove Licenses window
and any duplicate or incorrect licenses are removed.
This section discusses options for setting user and administrator preferences
locally and on the server (centralized). The following topics are provided:
User preferences and customizations (page 48)
Local preferences (page 49)
Centralized preferences (page 49)
AR System User Preference form fields (page 55)
Setting centralized preferences on web clients (page 102)
Local preferences
Local preferences are saved on the user’s computer in the local ar.ini file.
Centralized preferences
To use centralized preferences, create at least one preference server during
the login procedure, configure clients to log in to the preference server, and
install the preference forms during server installation. Web clients can also
access the web view of the AR System User Preference form.
If you did not install preference forms during installation, after you log in,
your local ar.ini file is used to determine your preferences.
If you have not installed the preference forms, and subsequently want to use
centralized preferences, you can import the definition files. There are three
preference forms, and all three must be loaded on the preference server for
centralized user preferences to function properly. For more information
about these forms, see “Creating a preference server” on page 50.
Local preferences 49
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Centralized preferences 51
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Important: If Use This Server or Use Other Server is selected, the local
preferences are disabled. The system will attempt to connect to the
designated preference server. If no preference server is found, the default
preference values are used instead of the local ar.ini file.
For more information about the effects of these choices, see “Behaviors
associated with preference server configuration” on page 53.
6 Click OK.
Centralized preferences 53
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
If you choose Use This Server or Use Other Server as the Preference Server ,
the following behaviors can occur:
If no preference server is available, the default preference values are used and
no session specific changes to the preferences are stored. (Local preferences
are disabled)
The user specifies a valid The system connects to the preference server and the Accounts list is updated
preference server to reflect the list of servers that are specified on the Server List setting for that
preference server.
The user specifies an The system searches the accounts list for a server that is designated as a
invalid preference server preference server. If one is found the server name is written to the Preference
Server field of the Login dialog box. In addition, the accounts list is updated
to reflect the list of servers that are specified on the preference server.
Note: The user will receive this warning: 50174—The preference server
specified is invalid. Another preference server has been
selected.
If no preference server is available, the default preference values are used and
no session specific changes to the preferences are stored. (Local preferences
are disabled.)
The user will receive this warning: 50175 -- The preference server
specified is invalid. User preferences will not be used.
Common fields
These fields reside in the non-page field portion of the AR System User
Preference form. These fields affect both BMC Remedy User and the mid tier.
General tab
Figure 3-3: AR System User Preferences form—General tab
In addition, the Use Background Color field designates whether the default
colors or the color codes defined on the Tools > Options tab are used to
display BMC Remedy User windows. The options are:
No—Default Color is selected on the Color tab in the Options window in
BMC Remedy User.
Yes—Color codes defined on the Color tab in the Options window in
BMC Remedy User are used to display windows.
Confirmation tab
Figure 3-6: AR System User Preferences form—Confirmation tab
Report tab
Figure 3-7: AR System User Preferences form—Report tab
Logging tab
Figure 3-8: AR System User Preferences form—Logging tab
Locale tab
Figure 3-9: AR System User Preferences form—Locale tab
You can specify the conditions under which you want to upload and
download types of preference files to and from the preference server.
File types
You can specify options for downloading and uploading the following file
types:
Macro
AR SystemReport
Crystal Report
Search
Data File
Customize Default Field
See BMC Remedy User help for information about uploading and
downloading preference files.
Download actions
For each file type, you can specify the following actions for downloading:
On Login—Automatically download all files of the selected type when you
log in.
On Demand—Download files only when they have been accessed.
Manual—Manually download files, or download files of the selected type
by choosing Tools > Manage > Files > Download.
Upload actions
For each file type, you can specify the following actions for uploading and
downloading:
Immediate Save—Immediately upload the file after it is created or
modified.
On Relogin or Exit—Automatically upload all files of the selected type
when you log in or exit.
Manual—Manually download files, or upload files of the selected type by
choosing Tools > Manage > Files > Upload.
Advanced tab
Figure 3-11: AR System User Preferences form—Advanced tab
Alert tab
Figure 3-13: AR System User Preferences form—Alert tab
Recent tab
Figure 3-14: AR System User Preferences form—Recent tab
Edit tab
Figure 3-15: AR System User Preferences form—Edit tab
Window tab
Figure 3-16: AR System User Preferences form—Window tab
Misc tab
Figure 3-17: AR System User Preferences form—Misc tab
Web tab
Figure 3-18: AR System User Preferences form—Web tab
Licensing users
When creating users, you must assign a license type to each user. The type of
license a user has determines the user’s ability to access AR System objects
and to perform tasks.
License types
There are four kinds of licenses you can use to access the AR System server:
read, restricted read, fixed write, and floating write. With the exception of
restricted read licenses, users can access AR System from only one IP address
at a time. After you have logged out of one machine, you might need to wait
a short time to make sure your status is cleared before using the same login
name to access another machine.
A user who is blocked from access can perform a license take-over through a
message dialog box. This was added to address instances where someone
forgets to log off a client at a different location. Only one license take-over is
allowed every fifteen minutes for all users on the system.
The following table summarize the important license elements as they relate
to access control.
2 From the License Category option list, select one of the following options:
Server—Displays information about typical AR System licenses such as
AR System server, User licenses, and BMC Remedy Application licenses.
Application—Displays information about licenses for applications
created by ISVs (Integration System Vendors).
3 From the Category option list, select the appropriate license category:
Current licenses— For each user currently connected to AR System,
displays the name of the user, the type of AR System license assigned, the
connect time during the current session, the time that the user last
accessed the server during this session, and the floating write license pool.
Registered licenses—For all users known to AR System, displays the name
of the user, the type of AR System license assigned, the default notification
mechanism, and the email address.
4 To display all users for the selected licenses category, select the appropriate
license type from the menu.
The Write License Pool column shows the name of the current group (pool)
from which the user’s Floating Write license has been acquired. At another
time, if a license has been acquired from a different pool to which the user
belongs, that pool name is displayed.
5 Click Close.
Note: If you release a Fixed or Read license, this procedure removes the user
from the list of current users; there is no effect on the user’s ability to
connect to the server. The next time the user accesses the server, the user’s
license information reappears.
7 Click Close.
License pools
A license pool consists of a number of floating licenses reserved for a group,
subject to the number of floating licenses available in the database. When a
member of a group logs in, a license from the license pool for that group is
granted. When the user has finished with the license, it is released back into
the pool.
If there are no licenses available in the pool, a check is made to see if the user
is a member of any other group that has a license pool. If there are no licenses
available in any pool the user is a member of, a check is made for floating
licenses not associated with any pool. A user is never granted a floating
license from a pool of which he is not a member.
License pools allow you to give priority to a group that needs licenses more
urgently. The group with the smallest group ID has the highest priority.
When a non-reserved floating license becomes available, it is granted to the
next user who needs it, regardless of the priority of that user’s access to the
system.
You specify the number of licenses reserved for a group in the Group form in
BMC Remedy User. For more information about User groups, see the Form
and Application Objects guide and “Adding and modifying user information”
that follows.
The following table lists the key fields in the User form.
Field Description
Login Name Identifying name that the user enters into the User Name field
when logging in to AR System. The name can be the same or
different than the user name by which this user is known to the
underlying operating system.
Password Identifying password that the user enters when logging in to
AR System. This field is limited to 29 characters.
The Password field is encrypted into the database using a one-way
hash (SHA1), so unauthorized users cannot retrieve passwords in
clear text, for example, to log in to applications. To enhance
system security, select a password that is different from one used
for another purpose.
If unsecure passwords are needed for applications, store the
password in a character field rather than the Password field
(field 102).
If the password field is left blank, the AR System server will not
validate the password with the user’s Windows or UNIX
password, unless you configure the server to cross-reference a
blank password. For more information, see “Server
information—Configuration tab” on page 132.
Field Description
Group List Lists the access control groups to which the user belongs. If you
leave this field empty, the user will have only basic Submitter,
Assignee, Assignee Group, or Public permissions. Specify groups
by name or ID, as defined in the Group form, when entering
groups in the Group list.
User permissions are determined in the Group List field of the
User form. If you later change the Group ID for a group, the users
originally assigned to the group are still attached to the old ID. If
there is no group with the old ID, these users lose access to any
AR System object for which they do not have permission through
another group.
This field is limited to 4000 bytes, including expanded strings.
Computed Displays the name of any computed group to which the User is a
Group List member. The members of a computed group are calculated by the
server based on the groups that the User belongs to. This is a
display-only field, and the field ID is 121.
To search in this field in a query-by-example, enter the ID
number of a computed group in the Computed Group List field.
In the following examples:
The ID for Computed Group 1 is 5678
The ID for Computed Group 2 is 6789
To enter more than one computed group ID, include semicolons
after each ID. You must enter the computed group IDs in the
same order in which the names appear in the Computed Group
List field when the user’s record is displayed.
You can also use the Advanced Search bar with the LIKE operator.
Include the semicolon with the complete ID.
To search for users who are members of Computed Group 1,
enter:
‘Computed Group List’ LIKE “%5678;%”
You can also enter a partial ID for the computed group. To search
for users who are members of both Computed Group 1 and
Computed Group 2, enter:
‘ComputedGroupList’LIKE“%56%”AND‘ComputedGroupList’LIKE
“%89%”
Field Description
Full Name Full name of a user. By default, this name appears in the Results
pane of the User form when users perform a search operation.
License Type Type of license that the user is assigned: Read, Restricted Read,
Fixed, or Floating. The default is Read. See “License types” on
page 104 for further descriptions of these types.
Full Text For use with older versions of AR System server.
License Type
Default Notify Method by which the user is notified for Notify filter and
Mechanism escalation actions when User Default is specified. The default
setting on the User form is Alert.
Email Address Email address used to notify the user if email is the notify method.
Instance ID Field used with BMC Remedy Applications. Do not delete this
field.
Object ID Field used with BMC Remedy Applications. Do not delete this
field.
Application The name of the application and the appropriate license type. For
Licenses example, Help Desk User Fixed, where Help Desk is the name of
the application and User Fixed is the type of license.
To delete users
1 Open the User form in Search mode.
2 Choose Actions > Search to retrieve a list of currently defined users.
3 Select the appropriate user from the list.
4 Choose Actions > Delete.
A confirmation box appears to verify that you want to delete the selected
users.
5 Click OK.
WARNING: Do not delete the Demo user until you have created another
Administrator user first, or you will lose administrator privileges.
Set Submitter
Mode to Locked.
The Authentication Login Name field on the User form interacts with the
User Name field in the Login dialog box according to the following rules:
If the Authentication Login Name field is present on the User form, the
value contained in this field is used for authentication instead of the name
entered in the User Name field in the Login dialog box.
For backwards compatibility, if the Authentication Login Name field is
not present on the User form, or the value in this field is NULL, then the
user is authenticated with the information entered in the User Name field
in the Login dialog box.
These rules apply to all AR System clients, including those accessing an
AR System server using C or Java APIs.
You can set any permissions, including whether the values are optional or
required. You can also create workflow to populate and validate the values in
this field.
The Authentication String Alias field on the User form interacts with the
Authentication field in the Login dialog box according to the following rules:
The value in the Authentication String field on the User form is used
instead of the entry in the Authentication field in the Login dialog box.
For backwards compatibility, if the Authentication String Alias field is not
present on the User form, or the value in this field is NULL, then the
information entered in the Login dialog box is used for authentication.
These rules apply to all AR System clients, including those accessing an
AR System server using C or Java APIs.
You can set any permissions, including whether the values are optional or
required. You can also create workflow to populate and validate the values in
these fields.
This section discusses configuring servers and client to work with AR System.
The following topics are provided:
Configuring AR System servers (page 124)
Configuring a server for development or production cache mode
(page 178)
Configuring multiple servers (page 179)
Running a stand-alone AR System server on Windows (page 194)
Configuring firewalls with AR System servers (page 195)
Configuring clients for AR System servers (page 196)
Configuring a server to use plug-ins (page 197)
Configuring the AR System server for external authentication (AREA)
(page 199)
Configuring a mail server (page 202)
Configuring a server for alerts (page 202)
Configuring and using the AR System Server Administration plug-in
(page 204)
For information about the mid tier and BMC Remedy Mid Tier
Configuration Tool, see the Installing and Administering BMC Remedy Mid
Tier guide.
Field Description
Server Version Displays the version number of the AR System software on the
server. This value corresponds to the $VERSION$ keyword.
Server Displays the folder (directory) where the AR System server is
Directory installed on the server system.
Hardware Displays the hardware platform on which the server is running.
This value corresponds to the $HARDWARE$ keyword.
Operating Displays the operating system software version running on the
System server system. This value corresponds to the $OS$ keyword.
Server Name Defines an alias that is always interpreted as the current server.
Alias An alias allows you to use a functional name for a server rather
than a machine name (for example, ACME or HelpDesk). Do not
enter a fully qualified domain name. An alias makes it easier to
move workflow between machines.
Entering an alias in this field does not automatically assign an
alias to the server. The network environment must reflect a
change to the server name before entering the alias name in this
field. The alias name must be a valid host name on your network.
Accordingly, you might need to update DNS, your host files, NIS,
and so on.
After you make all your changes to the server environment, users
can log in to BMC Remedy User using the new server alias, just
like any other server name.
See your network operating system documentation for
information about creating an alias for the server.
Server Time Displays the current time on the server (in the local time zone).
6 Click Apply.
To set timeouts
1 Open the server window.
2 Select a server to administer.
3 Choose File > Server Information.
4 Click the Timeouts tab.
6 Click Apply.
6 Click Apply.
6 Click Apply.
You can enter a location other than the default location (<ar_install_dir>/
db on UNIX and <ar_install_dir>\Arserver\Db on Windows), and a
name for each of the log files created in debug mode. You can also specify the
same location and file for multiple types of logging to write all the data logged
to a single file.
Note: You can also set debug modes for active links, macros, API calls,
databases, and filters in BMC Remedy User through the Logging tab in the
Options dialog box. When a check box is selected, a log file with the name
specified in the Log File Path will contain all logging information. The file
is stored in the default folder (for example, \Home) unless you change it.
You can also use the log information to analyze the active links used in
guides. Log files are enabled in BMC Remedy User because that is where
active links and macros run.
For more information about the debug trace modes and log files, see the
Optimizing and Troubleshooting guide.
5 Select the check box next to each appropriate debug trace mode.
You can select all, some, or no log files. The File Name field is disabled until
you select the related check box. After you select a logging mode, you can
specify a different file name.
Important: When naming log files, do not use special characters (such as a
forward slash (/) or a question mark (?). Use alphanumeric characters
only.
7 From the Log-File Creation field, choose one of the following options:
Create Backup—Creates new log files, and the contents of the previous log
files are written to <logname>.bak files.
Append to Existing—Log files and their contents are preserved, and new
information is appended to them.
8 From the Client-Side Logging Group list, select the group that will be able to
use logging options in AR System clients. Logging options are disabled
(grayed out) for users who are not members of this group.
For more information about the client logging, see the Optimizing and
Troubleshooting guide.
9 In the Maximum Log-File Size field, enter the maximum size (in bytes) for
the log file.
A value of 0 (the default) specifies no limit. Except for 0, the log file size
cannot be set to less than 4096 because that could be the length of one single
log line.
When the log file reaches the maximum, new information wraps to the top
of the file, overwriting the old information. If you do not specify a maximum
size limit, you run the risk of running out of disk space on your system.
This setting does not apply to the arforkd.log file.
10 Select the logging options.
Select the Buffer Logged Lines option to buffer logged lines instead of
having them immediately written to disk.
Select the Log Per Thread option to create per-thread log files.
Selecting these options decreases the impact to AR System performance
when logging is enabled. For more information, see the Optimizing and
Troubleshooting guide.
11 Click Apply.
6 Click Apply.
Windows—netstat -a
If you do not check available ports, you might assign port numbers that
conflict with other applications, and your servers might not start as expected.
Client tools can use ports 0–65535.
On UNIX, port numbers within the range 1–1024 are available only for use
by the superuser, and many of these numbers are reserved.
6 Click Apply.
7 Restart the server for the changes to take effect.
Note: To change the port number that the AR System server uses when
communicating with the plug-in server, you must edit the Plugin-Port
option of the ar.cfg (ar.conf) file, and restart the server. For more
information, see “Plugin-Port2” on page 332.
3 In the Server Queue box, click in the Type column. When the list appears,
choose a Fast, List, Alert, or Private server.
If you select a Fast server, the RPC Program Number 390620 is
automatically assigned.
If you select a List server, the RPC Program Number 390635 is
automatically assigned.
If you select an Alert server, the RPC Program Number 390601 is
automatically assigned. If an Alert server is not specified, the Alert Queue
automatically starts one thread.
If you select a Full Text Indexer server, the RPC Program Number 390602
is automatically assigned.
If you select a Private server, a list appears in the RPC Program Number
column. Choose an RPC program number from the following ranges:
390621–390634, 390636–390669, 390680–390694.
4 In the Min Threads field, enter the minimum number of threads that you
want started at startup.
The default is 1.
5 In the Max Threads field, enter the maximum number of threads that your
system will be allowed to start.
The default is 1. When all the existing worker threads are in use, the system
starts additional threads as needed until the maximum number is reached.
These additional threads remain active until the server is rebooted.
6 Click Apply.
Note: If you are creating passwords for the Application Service and DSO
server, you can set the minimum API version to 9 to make sure that secure
5.1 and above servers cannot communicate with servers running previous
AR System versions. For information about setting the API version, see
“Server information—Configuration tab” on page 132.
6 Click Apply.
7 Restart the AR System server for the Connection Settings to take effect.
6 Click Apply.
6 Click Apply.
Note: You must install and configure your SC system before implementing
SC with AR System. The recommended method of SC integration is
installing and running the SC client instead of editing paths in the system
registry. A correct installation of the SC client must work properly with
AR System. When using the SC system, make sure that you have enabled
integration and that you have installed the SC clients.
WARNING: Choose an SC system and stay with it. Do not mix SC systems.
Otherwise, you run the risk of introducing inconsistencies within the
AR System server environment.
6 Click Apply.
Host
Server
Server
On UNIX, port numbers within the range 1–1024 are only available for use
by the superuser, and many of these numbers are reserved.
Client tools can use ports 0–65535.
Note: To change the port number that the AR System server uses when
communicating with the plug-in server, edit the Plugin-Port option of the
ar.cfg (ar.conf) file, and restart the server. For more information, see
“Plugin-Port2” on page 332.
Server Server
c Enable the required server events in the Server Events tab of the Server
Information dialog box.
6 For companion servers, perform the following steps:
a Disable Administrator Operation.
All Administrator operations with the exception of logging and setting
ports will be disabled. See “Server information—Configuration tab” on
page 132 for more information.
b Disable all the server events in the Server Events tab of the Server
information dialog box.
7 Decide which server in the set will perform Archive or Escalation functions.
a For this server, enable the required function.
b For companion servers, disable the required function.
These functions will not be disabled until you restart the server. See “Server
information—Configuration tab” on page 132 for more information.
DSO
BMC Remedy Email Engine
Escalation
Flashboards
To configure server groups, you must complete the following tasks:
Step 2 For subsequent servers, choose the same database when installing the servers
in a server group, and select the Share database option. See “Installing servers
as members of a server group” on page 187.
Step 3 License the servers appropriately. See “Licensing server groups” on page 187.
Server membership for each server in the group. See “To specify a server
as a member of a group” on page 187.
A server group name. See “To set the server group name” on page 188.
The time interval that servers use to check whether another server is still
online, known as the check interval. See “To set the server check interval”
on page 188.
(Optional) A log file to record server group activity. See “To set the server
group log file” on page 189.
(Optional) Whether you want server group activity to be recorded in the
Server Events form. See “To log server group activity in the Server Events
form” on page 190.
Step 5 In BMC Remedy User, determine the settings for individual servers in the
group. See “AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form” on page 191
and “To designate server settings in BMC Remedy User” on page 191.
Figure 5-17: Server Group Member selection in the Server Information dialog box,
Configuration tab
Figure 5-18: Setting the server group name in the Server Information dialog box
5 In the Server Group Name field, enter the name of the group to which the
server belongs.
This can be any name of your choice; make sure that you use the same name
when tagging the floating licenses. Names can be as long as 80 characters,
including spaces, and must have no special characters. You can include
double-byte characters, but avoid using numbers at the beginning of the
name.
6 Click OK to close the Server Information dialog box.
3 Open the Server Information dialog box (File > Server information).
4 Click the Advanced tab.
Figure 5-19: Setting the check interval in the Server Information dialog box
5 In the Check Interval field, enter how often you want the server to check the
status of other servers in the group.
The default check interval is 30 seconds, the minimum value is 10 seconds,
and there is no maximum value. If you change this value after a server group
is running, you must restart all the AR System servers.
The information shared between servers in the group includes:
The current server’s own status.
Whether any server is delinquent.
The parameters needed for sending signals.
Information about operational responsibilities.
For an explanation of delinquency and rankings, see “To designate server
settings in BMC Remedy User” on page 191.
6 Click OK to close the Server Information dialog box.
Figure 5-20: Server Group entry in the Server Information dialog box, Logging tab
6 Enter a path to the log file if you do not want to use the default.
7 Click OK to close the Server Information dialog box.
Figure 5-21: Server Group entry in the Server Information dialog box, Server Events
tab
If you change the name of one of the servers in a server group after the server
is established as a member, remove all references to the previous server name.
See “To remove a server from a server group or to remove all references to an
old server name” on page 193.
3 In the Operation field, select the operation for which you want to determine
the settings.
4 In the Server field, enter or select the name of the server.
All servers that are members of the server group will be listed in the menu.
When adding entries for servers not already in the group, enter the fully
qualified server name or the name that was established in the configuration
file. See “Establishing a server name for the servers in a server group” on
page 190.
5 In the Rank field, enter the ranking for the specified operation for the server.
The servers for any one operation are ranked lowest to highest; a value of 1
indicates the server that will be chosen first to perform the operation.
Ranking numbers do not need to be consecutive, but avoid duplicate
numbers. A value of null will result in the server ignoring the entry. If an
operation has no server designated with a valid rank, it will not run on any of
the servers in the group.
6 Enter a delinquent threshold value for the server.
The delinquent threshold is the number of times the specified server has not
reported its status before the next server in the ranking takes responsibility
for the operation. The interval time is set in BMC Remedy Administrator in
the Advanced tab of the Server Information dialog box.
7 Save the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form.
8 Restart the AR System server for the change to take effect.
You can set this option for each server in the server group independently.
You should set all servers to use the same method. See also “Server-
Group-Signal-Option2” on page 336.
For example:
174.21.8.109 coyote.acme.com coyote
Firewall
Remedy
User
AR System
server
Remedy
Alert
ALERT
Outbound Port
Inbound Port
TCP Call
To enable these connections through the firewall, the AR System server and
the client must be configured to communicate on the proper ports:
AR System server—The AR System administrator assigns a specific port
number in the Server TCP/IP Port box as described in “Assigning TCP
port numbers to AR System servers” on page 149.
Client—The administrator or user configures the Advanced Server
Properties in the Accounts dialog box as described in “To configure
Windows clients to avoid using a portmapper” on page 196. This informs
the clients of the location on the firewall through which they can connect
to AR System servers.
For more information about TCP port numbers, see “Assigning TCP port
numbers to AR System servers” on page 149.
To access private AR System queues, client machines must either set the
appropriate RPC and TCP values in the Accounts dialog box, or have the
ARRPC and ARTCPPORT environment variables set. Port 111 is used for
Portmapper, and it can be blocked for requests coming through the firewall.
Internal requests are be affected by this rule since Register-With-
Portmapper: T is the default configuration setting of the portmapper. The
BMC Remedy User accounts list should have the port number entered for the
AR System server. See the discussion in “Configuring a server to use plug-
ins” on page 197.
You can set these ports in the Advanced Server Properties of the Accounts
dialog box as the following section explains.
Advanced Server
Properties check box
2 Select the Advanced Server Properties check box to view the advanced port
columns. Otherwise, you see only the first two columns.
3 Click in one of the following columns and type the port number or the
private server number to which you want to connect:
TCP—Represents the port number of the specified AR System server.
The AR System supports the plug-in service and API, but if you have
problems with a specific plug-in, contact the plug-in service provider for
assistance.
For more information about creating ARDBC, AREA, or ARF plug-ins, see
the Integrating with Plug-ins and Third-Party Products guide and the C API
Reference guide.
Mode Description
Off Disables authentication chaining.
ARS - AREA AR System attempts to authenticate the user using the User
form, and then the AREA plug-in.
Mode Description
AREA - ARS AR System attempts to authenticate the user using the AREA
plug-in, and then the User form.
ARS - OS- AREA AR System attempts to authenticate the user using the User
form, then Windows or UNIX authentication, and then the
AREA plug-in.
ARS - AREA - OS AR System attempts to authenticate the user using the User
form, then the AREA plug-in, and then Windows or UNIX
authentication.
Tip: For maximum benefit, use Ignore Excess Groups and Group Mapping
together.
b Configure the Alert queue to adjust the minimum and maximum threads.
For more information, see “Server information—Server Ports and Queues
tab” on page 149.
3 Click the Timeouts tab, and in the Alert Send Timeout (seconds) field, enter
the number of seconds the server will wait during connection attempts
before timing out.
4 Click the Configuration tab, and perform the following steps:
a Select the Verify Alert Users check box to have the server verify at boot-up
time that each of the users it thinks is registered is still running and
listening for alert messages.
b Select the Disable Alerts check box to have the server refrain from sending
alert messages when alert events are entered into the system.
5 If you want the server to translate IP addresses before sending alert messages
to users, edit the Map-IP-Address option in the ar.conf file, see “Map-IP-
Address2” on page 326.
The AR System Server Administration plug-in allows you to view and modify
the same AR System server information you would typically see in BMC
Remedy Administrator using AR System forms you access from BMC
Remedy User or from BMC Remedy Mid Tier.
This document contains the following sections:
Note: The other links on this form are to forms that are already present in
your environment. The console provides a single location from which you
can access all the system forms in your environment.
The Server Information form contains the same tabs and fields and functions
the same as the BMC Remedy Administrator Server Information window.
See the Configuring AR System guide for more information.
Type source
control
information
here.
The Add/Remove Licenses form contains the same tabs and fields and
functions the same as the Add/Remove Licenses dialog box in BMC Remedy
Administrator.
The Manage User Licenses form contains the same fields and functions the
same as the Manage User Licenses dialog box in BMC Remedy
Administrator.
The alert system engages when a filter or escalation Notify action sends a
notification through the alert mechanism. This section describes the alert
system. The following topics are provided:
Alert system architecture (page 212)
Alert Events form (page 213)
Viewing alerts (page 214)
CleanupAlertEvents escalation (page 214)
Managing registered users (page 215)
Working with versions of the AR System prior to 5.x (page 215)
Enabling alerts on the Web (page 216)
ALERT
Remedy User Remedy Alert Web Browser
Creates and processes Informs users when Displays alert list and
alert events through new alerts arrive. source requests.
the Alert Events form.
Tip: If you use BMC Remedy Alert on Windows, you might receive
unnecessary “Server is busy” pop-up messages. This is due to limitations
in Microsoft's COM implementation. To avoid this problem, set the OLE
Timeout user preference under the Desktop section of the ar.ini file. For
example:
The default for the OLE timeout is 30 seconds. You might want to try a
longer timeout value.
The Alert Events form is automatically installed on your server. This form
contains the alert message details and identification information about the
source request.
The Alert Events form and its original fields cannot be deleted. To make the
feature more powerful, you can add new fields and workflow to the form.
Users do not interact directly with this form; they receive alerts through the
alert list in BMC Remedy User or through the Web.
Viewing alerts
The alert list in BMC Remedy User or on the Web displays alerts from
multiple servers. The alert list queries the Alert Events form on servers in to
which the user is logged for BMC Remedy User. For web clients, the alert list
queries servers that are configured in the mid tier. For more information, see
“Enabling alerts on the Web” on page 216.
Users can manage the alert list, and open the source request. They can view
alerts in the following ways:
In BMC Remedy User, choose Tools > View Alerts.
In a browser, display a form that contains an alert list field. This method
requires special configuration. For more information, see “Enabling alerts
on the Web” on page 216.
From BMC Remedy Alert, open the alert list in BMC Remedy User or the
browser. For information about BMC Remedy Alert, see BMC Remedy
Alert help.
If a web user has access to multiple forms that have alert list fields, BMC
Remedy Alert uses the first of those forms that appear in its form list.
Therefore, if the user has permission to multiple forms, you cannot always
predict which form will be used. To solve this issue, you can create multiple
forms with alert fields if every group in the system can access only one of the
forms. This option allows you to create forms with different workflow and
different fields for different groups.
CleanupAlertEvents escalation
The CleanupAlertEvents escalation is automatically created with the Alert
Events form. If enabled, this escalation deletes all alerts that are older than 30
days and are unread.
Initially, the CleanupAlertEvents escalation is disabled. You can enable it and
customize it according to your needs. If you do not need the escalation, you
can delete it from the server.
For example, if your host name is myserver and you used default settings
when installing the mid tier, the default web path is http://myserver/arsys.
When the user clicks the Open Alert List button in BMC Remedy Alert, the
system locates the form containing the alert list field on the server specified
in step 4, and opens it in the browser. If more than one form on the server
has an alert list field, the system opens the first form that it finds.
Note: This section explains how to import data. BMC Remedy Import does
not import object definitions to a server. For information about exporting
and importing definitions, see the Form and Application Objects guide.
Understanding preferences
Preferences determine tool behavior such as how BMC Remedy Import is
displayed on the screen, and import behavior such as how BMC Remedy
Import resolves conflicts during an import operation.
Preferences can be stored in either of two locations. If you have access to a
preference server, preferences are stored in the AR System Administrator
Preference form on the preference server. If you do not use a preference
server, preferences are stored in the ar.ini file.
When you perform an import, the current preferences will determine how
BMC Remedy Import handles your data. You should verify that the current
preferences are appropriate for the import being performed before you map
the data or save the mapping file. This is important because the preferences
are set in the mapping file when you save it.
When you load a saved mapping file, the preferences specified in the
mapping file take effect. In other words, while a saved mapping file is loaded,
BMC Remedy Import reads preferences from the mapping file instead of the
ar.ini file or the preference server. The next time you log in to BMC Remedy
Import, the preferences from the ar.ini file or the preference server are
restored.
If you change preferences while you have a mapping file loaded, you must
save the mapping file again to save the new preferences for that mapping.
For more information about local and central preferences, see Chapter 3,
“Setting user preferences.”
Preparing to import
Before you import data into AR System with BMC Remedy Import, complete
the following tasks:
Define BMC Remedy Import preferences. Preferences are saved together
with data mappings (if you save your mappings), so set the preferences
before you save the mapping. See “Defining BMC Remedy Import
preferences” on page 225.
You might want to set different preferences for different import
operations. In that case, open the source data file and the target form first,
and then specify preferences for that particular import. Save the mapping
file according to step 10 on page 242 to save the preferences for that
particular import.
Make sure that there is adequate space where the import log file will reside.
BMC Remedy Import writes error messages and failed records to a log,
which can become quite large. See “Using the import log file” on page 244
for more information. The default import log path is
<ar_home_dir>\import.log. To specify another path, see “To define
desktop preferences” on page 226.
Make sure that there is adequate space in the database into which the
records will be imported. Contact your database administrator for
assistance.
Export the source data to a file compatible with BMC Remedy Import.
Complete all edits on the data file before you start BMC Remedy Import.
Do not edit the data file between the time you open BMC Remedy Import
and the time you start the actual import operation. The following table
describes the supported data types.
Preference Function
Desktop Defines the appearance and behavior of BMC
Remedy Import.
Duplicate Request ID Defines how BMC Remedy Import processes
records that contain request IDs, which duplicate
those already in the form.
Error Handling Defines how records that contain errors are
processed.
Data Defines how data and values contained in the
source data file are processed.
Date/Time Defines the date and time format of the data in the
source data file.
Confirmations Defines the warnings, messages, and alerts
displayed during imports.
To use preferences from a saved mapping file, see “Using a saved mapping
file” on page 243.
All preferences are defined in the Preferences dialog box, as described in the
following procedure. Additional procedures describe how to set each
preference.
Figure 7-2: BMC Remedy Import Preferences dialog box—Duplicate Request ID tab
Replace Old Record with Entries are imported using their existing IDs. If a
New Record duplicate ID exists, the entire database record is
overwritten with the record being imported. You must
map the required core fields with this option. If
required core fields are not mapped, the server will
reject the records. For information about mapping, see
“Importing data” on page 237. For information about
core fields, see Chapter 7, “Importing data into
AR System forms.”
Update Old Record with Entries are imported using their existing IDs. If a
New Record’s Data duplicate ID exists, only the fields being imported are
replaced, merging the record.
Note: If you choose this option, BMC Remedy Import
actually deletes the record and then reinserts it to
perform the “update.”
This setting also automatically makes all required fields
that are not core fields optional. See “To define data
preferences” on page 232 for more required field
preferences. For information about core fields, see
Chapter 7, “Importing data into AR System forms.”
Figure 7-3: BMC Remedy Import Preferences dialog box—Error Handling tab
Alert User with Popup Interrupts the import and displays an error message
Dialog (default). The message contains three choices.
Yes—Skips the problem record, writes the error and
the record data to the import log, and continues to
import remaining records.
Yes to All—Skips all problem records that generate
the same error, writes the error and the records to
the import log, and continues to import remaining
records.
Stop Import—Stops the import and prompts you
to copy all remaining data to the import log.
See “Using the import log file” on page 244 for more
information.
Skip Bad Records Skips problem records without displaying an error
message, and continues with the import.
Note: These settings are affected by field attributes set when fields are
defined. See the Form and Application Objects guide.
3 For required fields that are not core fields, choose the following option:
Make required fields Defines required fields that are not core fields as
optional during import optional during the import operation. If the check
box is:
Cleared (default)—All required fields are treated as
required. If a required field has a NULL value, an
error is generated. The error is processed according
to your preferences. See “To define error handling
preferences” on page 229.
Selected—Required fields that are not core fields
are not enforced. NULL values are allowed in
required fields.
BMC Remedy Import accepts short or long date formats in the data file, and
ignores leading zeros.
2 Select the appropriate options.
3 Click OK.
Importing data
Importing data into a form involves loading a data file and a target form,
defining preferences for the import, and mapping data. To import data into
a form, you must have Change permissions for the fields to which you want
to import data. For system fields such as Create-date, you must be the
administrator or subadministrator of the form.
The following procedure provides instructions for each step of the process.
To import data
1 Start BMC Remedy Import.
2 Log in, if necessary, according to your defined preferences.
The BMC Remedy Import window appears.
Note: If the data file contains duplicate field titles, an error is generated. If the
data is .arx or .xml format, the field titles will appear as their field IDs. If
the data file is .csv or .asc format, the fields will display with an appended
number, as follows, <field_title> [1], <field_title> [2], and so forth.
8 Specify how the data in the source file will map to the fields in the destination
form:
Map all data file fields to form fields.
Map individual data file fields to form fields.
To map all data file fields, click Add All in the BMC Remedy Import
window.
Note: Map the Request ID field of the destination form. If you do not map
this field, you must set the Duplicate ID preference to Generate New IDs
for All Records, or you will receive errors.
b From the Form Fields list, select the field for which you want to define a
fallback mapping.
The selected field appears in the Form Field field.
c Choose one or more keywords by performing one of the following actions:
Select a keyword from the Keywords list.
Enter a string or keyword into the Fallback Mapping Value field.
Note: You can stop the import before it ends. You are prompted to copy
unprocessed records to the log. There must be enough disk space in the
import log partition to copy the records.
To load a mapping
1 Choose Mapping > Load Mapping.
The Load Mapping dialog box appears.
2 From the Search Path field, select the directory that contains the mapping.
Selecting All lists all saved mappings and their directories.
3 From the Mappings list, select the mapping.
The directory containing the selected mapping appears in the Mapping Path
field.
4 Click OK.
The mapping is loaded into the Import window, the Fallback Mappings
dialog box, and Preferences dialog box.
AR XML data
To write XML (*.xml) data from AR XML records to the import log, you
must use the Alert User with Popup Dialog preference setting, as described
in “To define error handling preferences” on page 229. This setting stops the
import and copies the records to the file.
You can inspect the import log file to determine which records caused errors,
and make corrections in the original AR XML data file. You can then import
the corrected AR XML data file. With AR XML files, XML data from the
record is written to the log file, but the structure of the record is not retained
in a way that allows the log file to be converted to an import file.
Note: Full text search is an optional feature that you can purchase for the
AR System server.
Accrue searches that contain words from the Ignore Words List do not find
any matching AR System requests for those words. However, the accrue
search retrieves requests for the other search terms. For restrictions on FTS,
see “Limitations of FTS” on page 264.
Note: The Ignore Words List is different for each supported language.
For more information about who can use full text search, see “Assigning FTS
licenses to users” on page 276.
Using FTS
FTS is transparent to users who have an FTS license (fixed or floating). If
there is at least one FTS fixed or floating license in the AR System server, full
text indexing will be activated.
If an FTS license is available and the field is indexed for FTS, then FTS is
used.
If an FTS license is unavailable or the field is not indexed for FTS,
AR System uses the search capability of the underlying database. Under
these conditions, attachment fields will have only their names searched.
Field permission-related behavior for FTS fields is the same for non-FTS
fields.
Users enter search criteria in the same way, whether they are using FTS or
not, with the exception of accrual searches.
Note: All the following examples use FTS in the Advanced Search Bar, not
QBE. They assume that the FTS Search Option is set to Query Unchanged.
For example, if you want to search for the phrase “firewall blocked”, type:
<field> LIKE "firewall blocked"
With this example, a full text search will find requests with the phrase
“firewall blocked” with the search for blocked expanded to the word stem
block with any of its variants.
Note: The use of wildcards in a Word or Phrase search affects how stemming
is used. For more information about stemming, see “Searching for word
stems” on page 259.
The following table outlines the expected search results using a word or
phrase search.
firewall blocking my x
access
firewall blocked her x
access
firewall did not block
access
have the firewall block x
access
firewall is not working
firewall blocking my x
access
firewall blocked her x
access
firewall did not block x
access
have the firewall block x
access
firewall is not working
Accrue search
During an accrue (OR) search, the FTS engine finds requests that contain any
of the specified words in a field, instead of matching a string of characters.
The FTS engine matches the pattern of the characters specified in the search.
To perform an accrue search, use double quotation marks around the words
you want to search for, separating the words with a comma. The comma is
the accrue operator. The syntax for the search qualification is:
<field> LIKE "<word1>,<word2>, <...wordN>”
For example, if you wanted to search for the words “firewall” and “blocked,”
enter:
<field> LIKE “firewall,blocked”
With this example, a full text search will find requests with any occurrence of
the words firewall or blockedwith the search for blockedexpanded to the word
stem block with any of its variants.
Note: You can use the accrue operator only with fields indexed for FTS.
Using the same operator for a field that is not indexed for FTS causes the
AR System server to search for the literal string with a database search.
The following table shows the expected search result using an accrue search.
Qualification Example data Matches
<field> LIKE firewall blocks access x
“firewall,blocking”
firewall will block access x
firewall blocking my access x
firewall blocked her access x
firewall did not block access x
Literal search
Unlike accrue or word/phrase searches (which are word-based), the FTS
engine uses a literal search to find requests that match the string of characters
based on the contents of the entire field. Literal searches are possible only if
the field has been indexed for literal searching and if it is, only literal
searching is possible, not accrue or word/phrase searches. This type of
searching is useful mainly for performing case-insensitive searching on short
character fields, like name fields, with a very small set of requests matching
the search criteria. However, you can add either a leading or trailing wildcard
to increase the scope of a literal search. If you use both a leading and trailing
wildcard, a literal search becomes the equivalent of a word/phrase search.
The syntax for the search qualification is:
<field> LIKE “<string_to_be_searched_for>”
With this example, a full text search will find requests where the entire
content of the field is firewall (or Firewall if searching with case insensitivity).
The following table outlines the expected search results using a literal search.
firewall blocking my
access
firewall blocked her
access
firewall did not block
access
have the firewall block
access
firewall is not working
firewall blocking my x
access
firewall blocked her x
access
firewall did not block x
access
have the firewall block x
access
firewall is not working x
try blocking his access
Using wildcards
You can also use the percent sign (%) wildcard for any type of search to
broaden the set of matching requests. For example searching with the term
“%fire" will return requests with “fire” and “backfire”. Searching with
“fire%" will return requests with “fire" and “firewall”. Searching with
“%fire%” will return all combinations.
Note: Attachments cannot be searched with the QBE method unless a special
Form Search field is present on the form. For more information, see
“Adding a form search field to a form” on page 261.
However, be aware that the property settings influence how an accrue search
works, as shown in the following table.
On a form where a single attachment field is the only field indexed for FTS,
this feature can also be used as a method for providing a QBE search for the
attachment field. Otherwise, only the advanced search bar method is
available for searching attachments.
Important: Use caution when labeling this field, so users do not get the
impression that using this field will search all fields on the form. The
feature searches only fields indexed for FTS.
Note: This feature is available only from version 7.0 or later clients. For
environments with pre-7.0 clients, it is recommended that you hide this
field for those clients using client-side workflow when $VERSION$ < " 7"
(there is an intentional blank space in front of the 7). If the field is visible
and used in pre-7.0 clients, the qualification will not be sent to the server
(unbeknownst to users), potentially resulting in an unqualified query.
Also, for users without a full search text license, the AR System server will
return an error if a qualification is provided in this field.
This advanced search bar search will return all entries that contain the search
term “firewall” and were created on or after January 1, 2006.
Search strategies
When searching field for which FTS is enabled, consider the following tips
and strategies:
Make your searches as specific as possible. The more qualified your
searches are, the better the indexes can be utilized to return only the most
relevant entries. A smaller result set will produce a quicker response time.
Remove common words from accrue searches. For example, if you use the
accrue operator with five search terms and the search yields hundreds of
requests, delete the most generic terms from the search criteria to focus
your search on a smaller result set.
When using the advanced search bar, group references for FTS fields at the
beginning of the search criteria.
Search issues
Keep the following issues in mind when creating searches:
Full text searches that involve a field reference to the right of the relational
operator are not supported. A warning message occurs which indicates that
the query was treated as a database query instead of an FTS query. The
presence of ‘Target’ in the following example returns the warning message if
the Short Description field is indexed for FTS:
'Short Description' LIKE 'Target' + "ing"
If there are no variables to the right of the LIKE keyword in the statement,
FTS handles the search. For example:
'Short Description' LIKE "block" + "ing"
In this example, the search is handled by FTS because the two known values
(“block” and “ing”) are combined to form one known value (blocking).
Limitations of FTS
Limits to performing a full text search include:
In accrue searches, you cannot search for most punctuation marks
because they are treated as word separators.
In accrue searches, do not use words from the Ignore Words List. For
example, if the word the is in the Ignore Words List, searching on the
phrase the, database, request in the Short Description field might return
requests with the word the in them, but it is not used in the search itself.
For additional information about the Ignore Words List, see “Using the
Ignore Words List” on page 249.
In searches that use FTS, submitted or modified requests might not appear
immediately in the results list if you are searching on a field enabled for
FTS. There is sometimes a short delay from the time the request is
submitted or modified in the database to the time that the request is
available for searching in the FTS index.
On a server running in the English locale in the ISO-8859-1 character set,
words can contain only the following characters, if they are to be indexed
under FTS:_ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789$%#@.
On a server running a locale of other Western European languages in the
ISO 8859-1 character set, words can contain only the following characters,
if they are to be indexed under FTS:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghij
klmnopqrstuvwxyzäöüßÄÖÜåÅ>>øØàÀáÁâÂèÈéÉëËêÊìÌíÍïÏîÎòÒóÓùÙ
úÚñÑûÛçÇôÔýÝðÐãÃõÕÞþ€0123456789$%#@.
Administering FTS
This section describes how to administer FTS in AR System.
Reindexing
Most of the time, you should not have to rebuild your FTS indexes because
the AR System server periodically optimizes them after AR System requests
are added, changed, or deleted. If you make changes to your Ignore Words
List, you will need to rebuild the FTS indexes (reindex). See “Full text search
indexing” on page 266.
If you change the Case Sensitivity setting, you will need to rebuild the FTS
indexes, and the reindexing is started automatically when the change is saved.
To rebuild the index for a specific field, you must deselect the field for
indexing on the Database Properties tab of the Field Properties window, save
the change, reselect the field for indexing, and save the change.
Note: After upgrading FTS from version 6.0 or earlier, you must reindex FTS
to complete the FTS index upgrade process.
Note: After modifying the Ignore Words List and before reindexing,
automatic index optimization will not work because the search engine
detects that the Ignore Words List has changed. This does not affect the
integrity of the index, but error messages will be produced by the search
engine and recorded in the error log. Do not take any actions as a result of
these errors, other than reindexing.
FTS Temp Directory—The location in the file system where search engine
temporary files are stored. This directory needs to be periodically cleaned
of the temporary files that accumulate.
Indexing Failure Recovery Interval—Defines the number of minutes the
server waits between periodic attempts to index entries that failed to index
for an unexpected reason in a prior attempt. The default value is 60
minutes.
Temporary Table Threshold—During the processing of search results, the
server will create a temporary table if the number of FTS matches reaches
this value. If the number of FTS matches is under this value, the server will
use the SQL IN operator for a query on an existing table. The default value
is 200.
Complex Search Threshold—During the processing of search results, the
server will combine results from sub-queries to arrive at the final result set.
If the number of rows created during processing exceeds this value, the
server will return an error message indicating the search is too complex.
The default value is 1,000,000.
Indexer Optimization Threshold—The number of additions,
modifications, or deletions that must occur before the server will optimize
an index. The default value is 1000. The minimum value is 10.
Optimization improves the time it takes to search with an index, but can
be an intensive operation.
Case Sensitivity—Defines whether full text searching is case sensitive or
case insensitive. This setting affects all fields indexed for full text search
and affects how the indexes are built. Therefore, changes to this setting
will trigger an automatic reindex. The default value is case insensitive.
Search Options—Defines how the server modifies qualifications received
from the client. The choices are:
Force Leading & Trailing Wildcards
Ignore Leading & Trailing Wildcards
Ignore Leading Wildcard
Remove Leading & Trailing Wildcards
Query Unchanged (default)
Debugging FTS
All debug tracing for full text indexing is logged in the <ar_install_dir>/db/
arftindx.log file. See “Full text index logging” for information about how
to turn on this logging. Entries in this log file represent the operations
performed by the full text dispatcher and indexing threads, including the
commands sent to the search engine for modifying the indexes.
All debug tracing for full text searching is logged in the <ar_install_dir>/
db/arsql.log file, sharing the file with database logging. See “SQL logging”
on page 272 for information about how to turn on this logging. Entries in this
log file that represent search engine activity are prefixed with FTS:. All other
entries represent database
FTS logging
There are two types of logging you can use to help you analyze FTS-related
processing: full text index logging and SQL logging.
SQL logging
AR System SQL logging records all full text searching operations, but not full
text indexing operations. When you enable SQL logging, descriptions of all
FTS operations are recorded to the SQL log file.
5 Click OK.
Upgrading FTS
Upgrading of the full text search option from AR System version 6.0 and
earlier is a complete replacement that involves the following tasks:
Installing the new search engine and designating key directories for search
engine files.
Obtaining new full text search licenses of types BMC Remedy AR FTS
Fixed and BMC Remedy AR FTS Floating.
Determining if any attachment fields are appropriate for full text search
and selecting those fields for indexing.
Reviewing the fields already selected for indexing. After the search engine
is installed and licenses are in place, a list can be generated by turning on
Full Text Indexer logging, restarting the AR System server, and viewing
the configuration information at the beginning of the log file. A review is
important to verify that existing selections add searching value to your
system. Those that do not should not be text-indexed, to save system
resources.
Building new indexes that are compatible with the new search engine by
reindexing all fields selected for full text search. This might take a
considerable amount of time.
Removing files associated with the previous search engine. The following
files and directories from your previous FTS installment can be removed.
arftp.lst
arftinp.lst
loc_xlt.*
xlt_fn.*
vdk200.*
arservftd or arfts.exe
3 Select the Full Text License Type option for the type of FTS license that you
want the user to have, whether fixed or floating.
4 Click Save.
If you issued the user a fixed FTS license, a confirmation message appears.
5 Click OK to acknowledge the message.
If you do not have an available FTS license, or you do not have FTS capability,
you will receive an error message.
Note: The Index For FTS check box does not appear for servers that are not
licensed for the FTS option or for field types that are not valid for full text
search.
4 Select the Literal Index check box if the field is defined for literal (whole field)
searching. The search engine builds a different type of index for this type of
searching, so it must be specified at design time. The literal index option is
available only for character fields of 32767 or fewer characters.
5 Save your changes.
AR System begins to index the field for FTS.
The FTS index for a field is automatically updated and does not require
manual administration when you create, delete, or modify requests.
The Weight field displays the weighted value of retrieved AR System requests
when you create a results list in BMC Remedy User. If sorted by descending
weight, the requests are listed in order, based in a relevance factor calculated
by the search engine.
8 Save the form.
Note: Do not change the next available ID to a number lower than the
greatest existing ID. The Request ID field value must be unique within
AR System, and resetting the ID to a lower number could conflict with
existing Request ID field values. If you try to submit a request with an
existing ID, AR System will return an error and prevent the request from
being submitted until the conflict is resolved.
If you must change the next available ID, make the change when the system
is not in use to avoid conflicts with users who are submitting new requests.
SQL>Commit;
commit complete
SQL>exit
Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase database example
% isql -Usa
Password: <password>
1>use ARSystem
2>go
1>select name, nextId from arschema where name = 'ZZZ'
2>go
name nextId
ZZZ 1291
------------------------------ ----------
(1 row affected)
1>update arschema set nextId = 25000 where name = 'ZZZ'
2>go
(1 row affected)
1>exit
Note: The length of the Request ID field must be either 1 or between 5 and
15 characters, inclusive. If you specify 1, leading zeroes are stripped from
the value the Request ID field. If you specify a prefix for the Request ID
field, the field must be at least five characters greater than the prefix.
Note: This command contains 8 zeros. Five of these represent the difference
between the original length of 15 characters and the new length of 10
characters. The other 3 zeros represent the spaces to be replaced by ABC.
Tip: Create a practice table in your database and practice the commands you
will issue to make sure that you are issuing the correct commands. Make
sure you back up your database or all the relevant tables.
Note: When you change the length of the Request ID field in a database table,
all related database tables, such as status history tables (H Tables), and
Attachment tables (B Tables and BC Tables) must also be updated.
Step 3 Construct the name of the table using the schema ID and field ID you found
in the previous steps.
This query returns a list of schema IDs and associated form names.
To find the correct field ID (after you know the schema ID)
Perform the following query. This example assumes that the schema ID is
43:
Select FieldId, FieldName from field where SchemaId = 43
This query returns a list of field IDs and associated field names.
DB2 database To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
examples update T43 set C1 = 'HD' || RIGHT(C1, 6)
Oracle To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
database update T43 set C1 = 'HD'||substr(C1,10,6);
examples
To add a prefix to the B<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
update B43 set C1 = 'HD'||substr(C1,10,6);
Microsoft SQL To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
Server and update T43 set C1 = "HD"+ RIGHT(C1, 6)
Sybase
database To add a prefix to the B<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
examples update B43 set C1 = "HD" + RIGHT(C1, 6)
DB2 database To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
examples updcolate T43 set C1 = RIGHT(C1, 8)
Informix For Informix databases, you must log in as the root user.
database
In the following examples, the Request ID is being shortened from 15 to 8
examples
characters. The request ID will consist of the last 8 characters in the string,
consisting of positions 8 through 15.
To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
update T43 set C1 = C1[8,15]
Oracle To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
database update T43 set C1 = substr(C1,8,8);
examples
To add a prefix to the B<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
update B43 set C1 = substr(C1,8,8);
Microsoft SQL To add a prefix to the T<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
Server and update T43 set C1 = RIGHT(C1, 8)
Sybase
database To add a prefix to the B<schema_ID> table, use the following syntax:
examples update B43 set C1 = RIGHT(C1, 8)
Note: The maximum length allowed for the Request ID field is 15 bytes.
Informix
% update T43 set C1 = '00000' || C1
Oracle
% update T43 set C1 = '00000' || C1
If you want to add a prefix, specify the prefix as part of the string to be added.
For example, if you want to expand to 15 characters and add a prefix of ABC,
use 'ABC00' instead of '00000' in the preceding example.
ar
Description The ar file contains the list of AR System servers to which the client tools
(BMC Remedy User, BMC Remedy Administrator, BMC Remedy Alert, and
BMC Remedy Import) connect if no servers are specified on startup. The
ARGetListServer function uses this file to return a list of available servers.
The format of this file consists of two fields separated by a space or tab:
<server-name> <server-information-list>
The <server-name> parameter is the name of the server machine. The name
is resolved to a network address by using the name resolution strategy of the
local machine. The <server-information-list> parameter identifies the server
as an AR System server (AR) as well as the TCP port and RPC program
numbers, as applicable.
Lines with a pound sign (#) in column 1 are treated as comments and are
ignored.
Synopsis UNIX—$ARCONFIGDIR/ar
Windows—<ar_home_dir>\ar
Environment ARCONFIGDIR
UNIX only—Specifies the directory where the ar.conf file and other
AR System configuration files are stored. This directory defaults to
<ar_install_dir>/conf if you do not set this variable.
Examples The following directory file registers two server machines as AR System
servers:
# Directory file for AR System servers
remedy AR
server2 AR;;3030;;390600
The example includes the TCP port and RPC program numbers for server2.
ar.conf (ar.cfg)
Description The ar.conf (UNIX) or ar.cfg (Windows) file contains AR System server
configuration changes and is dynamically created when you install
AR System server. When you make a server configuration change in BMC
Remedy Administrator, the configuration parameters and their new values
appear in the configuration file.
Any process can retrieve configuration information from the ar.conf (ar.cfg)
file by using the ARGetServerInfo function. You can modify the information by
using the ARSetServerInfo function. Updates made using ARSetServerInfo
take effect immediately. Manual changes to the file do not take effect until the
AR System server process is restarted or signaled to reread the configuration
file with arsignal -c.
Synopsis UNIX—<ar_install_dir>/conf/ar.conf
Windows—<ar_install_dir>\Conf\ar.cfg
Options The format of this file consists of two fields separated by a space or tab:
<parameter> <value>
Option Description
Active-Link-Dir The directory where active link server run processes are stored. Only commands
located in the specified directory can be run. This is a security feature that makes
sure clients or API programs can use only a safe set of server processes.
Active-Link-Shell (UNIX only) A shell that will be the parent of any active link server process. This
parameter causes the server to start the shell with the specified process as a
parameter. This is a security feature. The specified shell might be a security shell
that verifies a path, or runs with a user ID other than the one that the server uses.
For example, if the server runs as root and an administrator specified a shell that
runs as a lower user privilege, an active link will invoke the shell that runs as a
user, instead of as root.
You can also set this parameter in the Advanced tab of the Server Information
dialog box. See “Configuring AR System servers” on page 124 for more
information about the Server Information dialog box.
Admin-Only-Mode A setting indicating that only administrators and subadministrators can access
the server. Valid values for this option are T and F. The default is F (not in admin-
only mode).
Alert-Check-Users Tells the AR System server to check all registered alert user connections at startup
time. This might slow the startup process, but it removes all inaccessible
connections. Valid values for this option are T and F. The default is F (do not check
alert users).
Alert-Log-File The name of the file to use if alert tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
Alert-Outbound-Port The specific TCP port to which the AR System server binds when sending alerts.
If more than one worker thread is running in the alert queue, this setting
represents the starting port number in a range of consecutive port numbers that
are assigned in sequence to the threads.
Alert-Send-Timeout Sets the time limit (in seconds) allowed for making contact with alert clients. Two
attempts are made to deliver an alert and if the second attempt fails, the alert
registration is removed. The default time limit is 7 seconds.
Allow-Backquote-In- Allows the server to run a process with a backquote in the process name or in its
Process-String arguments. Valid values are T and F. The default is F.
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Allow-Guest-Users A flag indicating whether the AR System server accepts guest users. Guest users
are users not registered with AR System in a User form. If allowed, guest users
have no permissions but can perform some basic operations. Guest users can
submit requests to forms for which permission has been given to the Public group
and fields have been defined as allowing any user to submit. If not allowed,
unregistered users have no access to the system. Valid values for this option are T
and F. The default value is T (allow guest users).
Allow-Unqual-Queries A flag indicating whether the AR System server allows unqualified searches.
Unqualified searches are ARGetListEntry or ARGetListEntryWithFields
calls in which the qualifier parameter is either NULL or has an operation value of
zero (AR_COND_OP_NONE). These searches can cause performance problems
because they return all requests for a given form. (This operation is especially
problematic for large forms.) Valid values for this option are T and F. The default
value is T (allow unqualified searches).
Alternate-Approval- Specifies whether the Approval Server will listen for the AR System server's signal
Reg2 directly (F) or listen for the application dispatcher to signal (T).
Only one server process should be listening for the signal from the AR System
server. By default, the Approval Server knows to listen for the AR System server's
signal. When you are running the application dispatcher, you want the dispatcher
to listen for the AR System server, and you want the dispatcher to send a different
signal to the Approval Server.
If your application that relies upon the application dispatcher, make the following
changes:
Set Alternate-Approval-Reg to T.
Add apsvcdsp to the armonitor.cfg/armonitor.conf file so the dispatcher
is started.
API-Log-File The name of the file to use if API tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
Application-Enable2 A flag that indicates whether to create the Application Pending form to support
Application-Command syntax even if there is no Approval Server license. Valid
values are T and F. The default is F (no Application Pending form is created).
Approval-Defn-Check- The interval (in seconds) at which the Approval Server will check for changed or
Interval2 updated data in the data definition forms.
Approval-Log-File2 Full path of the Approval Server log file.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Approval-Notify2 Specifies the approval notifications configured from the Server Settings dialog
box. There is an Approval-Notify entry for each ID. The syntax is as follows:
Approval-Notify: <ID> <value>
Do not be make these changes in the ar.cfg (ar.conf) file. From the
AP:Administration form, click the Server Settings link to open a dialog box with
configuration settings for the Approval Server.
Approval-RPC-Socket2 Specific RPC Program Number the Approval Server uses when contacting
AR System. This allows you to define a specific AR System server that the
Approval Server can use privately.
Approval-Web-Doc-Dir2 Virtual path to web document directory for the Approval Server.
ARDBC-LDAP-Base-DN2 Specifies a base DN to be used instead of the root DN as the starting point for
discovering vendor tables when you are designing vendor forms. For example:
ARBDC-LDAP-Base-Dn: CN=Users, DC=ldapesslab,DC=com
ARDBC-LDAP-Cache-TTL2 Specifies the time limit (in seconds) that data will remain cached. Set to 0 for no
time limit. The default value is 60 seconds.
ARDBC-LDAP-Cache- Specifies the size limit (in bytes) for the cache. Set to 0 for no size limit. The
MaxSize2 default is 32768 bytes.
ARDBC-LDAP-Cert-DB2 The directory name of the certificate database. The cert7.db and key3.db
certificate database files are located in this directory. If the directory is not
specified, the LDAP plug-in will look under the AR System installation directory
for these files.
The path in this option is used only when ARDBC-LDAP-UsingSSL is set to T.
ARDBC-LDAP-Cert-Name2 For future use. This option is not yet implemented.
ARDBC-LDAP-Connect- Specifies the number of seconds that the plug-in will wait for a response from the
Timeout2 directory service before it fails. The minimum value is 0, in which case the
connection must be immediate. The maximum value is the External-
Authentication-RPC-Timeout setting.
If the ARDBC-LDAP-Connect-Timeoutsetting is not specified, the default value is set
to the value of External-Authentication-RPC-Timeoutsetting (the default is 40
seconds).
For example, to set the connection timeout for the ARDBC LDAP plug-in to 5
seconds:
ARDBC-LDAP-Connect-Timeout: 5
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
ARDBC-LDAP-Drop- This option is obsolete in version 7.0 and later.
Large-Values2
ARDBC-LDAP-Hostname2 The host name of the system on which the directory service is running. If the host
name is not specified, the ARDBC LDAP plug-in will use localhost as the host
name. For example:
ARDBC-LDAP-Hostname: server1.eng.remedy.com
2 For future use. This option is not yet implemented.
ARDBC-LDAP-Key-DB
ARDBC-LDAP-Key- For future use. This option is not yet implemented.
Password2
Option Description
ARDBC-LDAP-Use-Cache2 Activates caching of search requests. The values are T and F.
After a cache is enabled, search requests issued via the ARDBC Plugin will be
cached. Subsequent matching search requests will be satisfied from the cache.
ARDBC-LDAP-User-DN2 The distinguished name (DN) of the user account that the ARDBC LDAP plug-
in will use to search and modify the contents of the directory service. For
example:
ARDBC-LDAP-User-DN: server1\admin
2
ARDBC-LDAP-UsingSSL Establishes a secure socket layer (SSL) connection to the directory service. The
values are T and F.
If you use LDAP over SSL, then you must also specify the file name of the
certificate database used to establish the connection.
AREA-LDAP-Bind- The password of the user account that the AREA LDAP plug-in will use to find
Password2 the user object using the User Search filter. If the Distinguished Name is not
specified, the AREA LDAP plug-in will use an anonymous login to find the user
object.
If the target directory service does not allow anonymous access, then you must
specify a Distinguished Name and Password; otherwise, the plug-in will be unable
to determine the distinguished name of the user.
AREA-LDAP-Bind-User2 The distinguished name (DN) of the user account that the AREA LDAP plug-in
will use to find the user object using the User Search filter. If the DN is not
specified, the AREA LDAP plug-in will use an anonymous login to find the user
object.
If the target directory service does not allow anonymous access, then you must
specify a Distinguished Name and Password; otherwise, the plug-in will be unable
to determine the distinguished name of the user.
An example of this option is:
AREA-LDAP-Bind-User: ldapesslab\admin
2
AREA-LDAP-Cert-DB The directory name of the certificate database. The cert7.db and key3.db
certificate database files are located in this directory. If the directory is not
specified, the LDAP plug-in will look under the AR System installation directory
for these files. This path is used only when ARDBC-LDAP-UsingSSL is set to T.
AREA-LDAP-Chase- Enables automatic referral chasing by LDAP client. By default, referrals are not
Referral2 chased. The options are T and F. This option is for Microsoft Active Directories
only.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
AREA-LDAP-Connect- Specifies the number of seconds that the plug-in will wait to establish a
Timeout2 connection with the directory service. The minimum value is 0, in which case the
connection must be immediate. The maximum value is the External-
Authentication-RPC-Timeout setting.
If the AREA-LDAP-Connect-Timeout setting is not specified, the default value is
set to the value of External-Authentication-RPC-Timeout setting (the
default is 40 seconds).
For example, to set the connection timeout for the AREA LDAP plug-in to 5
seconds, enter:
AREA-LDAP-Connect-Timeout: 5
2
AREA-LDAP-Email The name of the attribute that specifies the email address of the user. This
attribute corresponds to the Email Address field in AR System User form. If the
attribute is not specified, the specified default or a system default is applied.
AREA-LDAP-Email- The value that the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-Email parameter
Default2 is not specified nor has no value for the user.
AREA-LDAP-Group-Base2 The base of LDAP directory to search the groups from.
The following keywords are used to substitute runtime parameters into this
option. Note that the backwards slash (\) is necessary.
$\USER$—The user's login name.
$\DN$—The user's distinguished name. This applies only to the Group Base
Name and Group Search Filter. It does not apply to the User Base name and
User Search filter.
$\AUTHSTRING$—The value that users enter into the Authentication String
field at the time they log in.
$\NETWORKADDR$—The IP address of the AR System client accessing the
AR System server.
AREA-LDAP-Group- Default groups to which the user belongs if no group information is available
Default2 from the directory service. If there are multiple groups, use a semicolon to
separate one from another.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
AREA-LDAP-Group- The LDAP search filter used to locate the groups to which this user belongs.
Filter2
The following keywords are used to substitute runtime parameters into this
option. Note that the backwards slash (\) is necessary.
$\USER$—The user's login name.
$\DN$—The user's distinguished name. This only applies to the Group Base
Name and Group Search Filter. It does not apply to the User Base Name and
User Search Filter.
$\AUTHSTRING$—The value that users enter into the Authentication String
field at the time they log in.
$\NETWORKADDR$—The IP address of the AR System client accessing the
AR System server.
AREA-LDAP-Hostname2 The host name of the system on which the directory service is running. If left
blank, the AREA LDAP plug-in will use localhost as the host name.
AREA-LDAP-Lic2 The name of the attribute that specifies the type of write license issued. This
attribute corresponds to the License Type field in the AR System User form. If the
attribute is not specified, the specified default or a system default is applied.
AREA-LDAP-LicApp2 The name of the attribute that specifies the type of Application license issued. If
the attribute is not specified, the specified default or a system default is applied.
AREA-LDAP-LicApp- The value the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-LicApp attribute is not
Default2 specified or has no value for the user.
AREA-LDAP-Lic- The value the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-Lic attribute is not
Default2 specified or has no value for the user.
AREA-LDAP-LicFTS2 The name of the attribute that specifies the type of Full Text Search (FTS) license
issued. This attribute corresponds to the Full Text License field in the AR System
User form. If the attribute is not specified, the specified default or a system default
is applied.
AREA-LDAP-LicFTS- The value the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-LicFTS attribute is not
Default2 specified or has no value for the user.
1
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2
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Option Description
AREA-LDAP-LicMask2 The attribute that specifies the license mask. The bits of the binary format of the
specified integer indicate how to mask the license information returned from the
AREA LDAP plug-in. The integers are:
0—No licenses returned from the AREA LDAP plug-in are used.
1—Write license from the plug-in is used.
2—Full Text Search (FTS) license from the plug-in is used.
3—Write license and FTS license from the plug-in are used.
4—Reserved license from the plug-in is used.
5—Reserved license and Write license from the plug-in are used.
6—FTS License and Reserved license from the plug-in are used.
7—Write license, FTS license, and Reserved license from the plug-in are used.
If the license is not used from the plug-in, then the license information in the
user's User entry is used.
AREA-LDAP-LicMask- The value the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-LicMask attribute is
Default2 not specified or has no value for the user.
AREA-LDAP-LicRes12 The name of the attribute that specifies the type of Reserved license issued. If the
attribute is not specified, the specified default or a system default is applied.
AREA-LDAP-LicRes1- The value the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-LicRes1 attribute is
Default2 not specified or has no value for the user.
AREA-LDAP-Notify- The name of the attribute that specifies the default notification mechanism for
Meth2 the user. This attribute corresponds to the Default Notification Mechanism field
in the AR System User form. If the attribute is not specified, the specified default
or a system default is applied.
AREA-LDAP-Notify- The value the AREA LDAP plug-in uses if the AREA-LDAP-Notify-Meth
Meth-Default2 attribute is not specified or has no value for the user.
AREA-LDAP-Port2 The port number on which the directory service is listening for clients.
2
AREA-LDAP-Use-Groups Retrieves the group information from the LDAP server. If this parameter is not
set, the group information from AR System Group form is used.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
AREA-LDAP-User-Base2 The user base in the LDAP directory to search for the user.
The following keywords are used to substitute runtime parameters into this
option. Note that the backwards slash (\) is necessary.
$\USER$—The user's login name.
$\DN$—The user's distinguished name. This only applies to the Group Base
Name and Group Search Filter. It does not apply to the User Base Name and
User Search Filter.
$\AUTHSTRING$—The user enters into the Authentication String field at the
time they log in.
$\NETWORKADDR$—The IP address of the AR System client accessing the
AR System server.
AREA-LDAP-User- The LDAP search filter used to locate the user in the directory from the base that
Filter2 the AREA-LDAP-User-Base option specifies.
The following keywords are used to substitute runtime parameters into this
option. Note that the backwards slash (\) is necessary.
$\USER$—The user's login name.
$\DN$—The user's distinguished name. This only applies to the Group Base
Name and Group Search Filter. It does not apply to the User Base Name and
User Search Filter.
$\AUTHSTRING$—The value that the user enters into the Authentication
String field at the time they log in.
$\NETWORKADDR$—The IP address of the AR System client accessing the
AR System server.
AREA-LDAP-UseSSL2 Establishes a secure socket layer (SSL) connection to the directory service. The
values are T and F.
If you use LDAP over SSL, then you must also specify the file name of the
certificate database used to establish the connection.
1
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2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
ARF-Java-Class-Path2 The path to .jar files. If you install JRE after the AR System server, add the
following lines to your ar.cfg (ar.conf) file:
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\arapi51.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\axis.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\log4j-core.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\websvc51.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\wsdl4j.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\xercesImpl.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\xmlParserAPIs.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\commonslogging.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\jaxrpc.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\tt-bytecode.jar;
ARF-Java-Class-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\saaj.jar;
#ARF-Java-VM-Options: -Dhttp.proxySet=true -Dhttp.proxyHost=zermatt -
Dhttp.proxyPort=3129
Plugin: WebService.dll
Also, if you install JRE after the AR System server, add the JRE directory to your
PATH, for example:
C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\JRE\1.3.1_03\bin\hotspot
ARF-Java-VM-Options2 The Java command options for a virtual machine (VM). The options are
documented in the Javadocs.
Arfork-Log-File The name of the file to use if arforkd tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode”
on page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name. This file is not
subject to the maximum file size specified in the Max-Log-File-Size option.
Authentication- This parameter enables the administrator to use more than one type of
Chaining-Mode authentication on the same system.
The values for Authentication-Chaining-Mode are as follows:
0—Use the default behavior as in releases prior to 6.3.
1—Use internal authentication as the primary method; then use external
authentication via the AREA plug-in as the secondary method.
2—Use external authentication via the AREA plug-in as the primary method;
then use internal authentication as the secondary method.
If the Authentication-Chaining-Mode is set to a value of 1 or 2, the Authenticate-
Unregistered-Users parameter will be ignored.
If the Crossref-Blank-Password parameter is enabled, and Authentication-
Chaining-Mode is set to a value of 1 or 2, users who have a blank password in their
User record will be permitted to log in to the system without a password (that is,
a NULL password).
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Cache-Mode Enables a cache mode that is optimized for developing applications and where
user operations might be delayed when changes are made to forms and workflow.
A value of 1 turns on development cache mode; a value of 0 (zero) turns off
development cache mode; the server is in production mode. If there is no entry in
the ar.cfg (ar.conf) file, development cache mode is off. The following example
shows development cache mode on:
Cache-Mode: 1
Cancel-Query-Option2 Allows control over whether cancel query functionality of user tool is enabled.
Valid settings are 0 (inactive) and 1 (active). The default is 1.
Changed-By-Another- A setting indicating whether the system will check if an entry has been changed by
Check another user since you retrieved the entry. If you attempt to save modifications to
an entry, you will receive a warning and must confirm the save. Valid values for
this option are T and F. The default is T (perform the check and issue a warning).
Clustered-Index A setting indicating whether indexes for the database are clustered. Valid values
for this option are T and F. The default is T (use a clustered index). You must set
this configuration before you start the AR System server.
Create-Entry- Number of times to retry an ARCreateEntry() during deadlock situations.
DeadLock-Retries2 Integer value.
Create-Entry- Delay, in seconds, between each retry of a deadlocked ARCreateEntry(). Integer
DeadLock-Retries- value.
Delay2
Crossref-Blank- A flag indicating how the system responds when a user’s login name is not
Password assigned a password in the User form. Valid values for this option are T and F. The
default value is F (blank passwords not cross-referenced). If set to T, the system
attempts to validate the password in the Windows server domain (or through the
External Authentication API if external authentication is turned on) or against
the UNIX server /etc/passwd file. This option enables you to manage group
membership and other support information with AR System, while still
managing passwords with the /etc/passwd file (UNIX) or the server domain
security model (Windows).
Currency-Ratio- Number of seconds between each refresh of Currency Field values.
Client-Refresh-
Interval2
DB2-Database-Alias The DB2 database alias name for the AR System database.
1
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2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
DB2-Free-Lob-Locator- Indicates how often DB2 frees the LOB locator (Large OBject locator). The
Frequency2 default value is 50, which results in the LOB locator being freed after every 50
LOBs have been loaded. The recommended value for AR System
application is 5.
DB2-Server-Name The name of the DB2 database server.
Dbhome-directory1 UNIX only—The home directory for the underlying database (applicable for SQL
databases only). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
Db-Case-Insensitive1 Oracle Only. Enables certain case-insensitivity functionality within Oracle
database. Requires you to restart the AR System server.
Important: If this option is set to True, AR System on Oracle performs a full-table
scan and does not use indexes, even if you search only for the request ID (C1-
field). Almost every statement from AR System makes a full table scan in the
Oracle database, which can cause performance problems.
Db-Character-Set2 Initializes an internal variable that the server uses for various purposes, such as
adjusting the database's short column size so that the number of characters in a
datum does not exceed the number of bytes in the database field. Another use for
the variable is to inform the ARGetServerInfo request
AR_SERVER_INFO_DB_CHAR_SET. (The installer sets the Db-Character-Set value.)
The values of this field are as follows:
Unicode (UTF-16)—UTF-16 UCS-2
Unicode (UTF-8)—UTF-8
Db-Connection- Number of times the AR System Server will retry a lost connection to the
Retries2 database. The default is 100.
Db-Max-Attach-Size2 The maximum size (in bytes) for attached files in the Oracle RDBMS. The default
value is 2 GB. The maximum value allowed is limited by your server operating
system and configuration.
Db-Max-Text-Size2 The maximum size allowed for long character text data in Oracle, SQL Server, and
Sybase databases. For Oracle databases, this value is also used for memory
allocation during the processing of long text data; therefore, you must use it
conservatively. The default for an Oracle database is 1 MB. For SQL Server and
Sybase, the default is 2,147,483,647 bytes. The maximum value allowed for either
database is 2,147,483,647 bytes.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Db-name1 For Oracle, the name of the tablespace that ARServer will use.
For all other supported databases, the name of the underlying SQL database. The
default value is ARSystem.
Db-password The database password associated with the ARSystem database and table space
(applicable for Sybase, MS SQL, and Oracle DB2 databases only). The password
can be modified by using the ARSetServerInfo function and is stored in encrypted
form. If you change the password manually, specify this option by using clear text,
and change the password by using BMC Remedy Administrator to encrypt it.
Db-user1 The user name that AR System uses to access the underlying database (Oracle,
Sybase, or MS SQL). The default is ARAdmin.
Debug-GroupId The group name to which a user must belong to allow logging options such as
API, Database, and Filter logging to be turned on in AR System clients. Logging
options are disabled for users who are not members of the specified group. The
group names can be Public, Administrator, Sub Administrator, or Browser. You
can also set this option in the Client-Side Logging Group field on the Log Files
tab.
Debug-mode A bitmask indicating the server debug modes. Each bit has a corresponding value.
To activate one bit, supply its value for the Debug-mode option. To activate two or
more bits, add the values, and supply the total. (For example, to activate bits 1 and
3, use the number 5 because bit 1 has a value of 1, and bit 3 has a value of 4.) To
deactivate a bit, subtract its value from the Debug-mode total.
Bit 1 (Value=1)—Turns on SQL tracing for the arserverd process (applicable
for SQL databases only). The default file for SQL tracing is arsql.log (located
in the directory specified for the Server-directory option). You can override
this default by using the SQL-Log-File option.
Bit 2 (Value=2)—Turns on filter tracing for the arserverd process. The
default file for filter tracing is arfilter.log (located in the directory specified
for the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
Filter-Log-File option.
Bit 3 (Value=4)—Turns on user tracing for the arserverd process. The
default file for user tracing is aruser.log (located in the directory specified for
the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
User-Log-File option.
1
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2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Debug-mode Bit 4 (Value=8)—Turns on escalation tracing for the arserverd process. The
(continued) default file for escalation tracing is arescl.log (located in the directory specified
for the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
Escalation-Log-File option.
Bit 5 (Value=16)—Turns on API tracing for the arserverd process. The
default file for API tracing is arapi.log (located in the directory specified for
the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
API-Log-File option.
Bit 6 (Value=32)—Turns on thread tracing for the arserverd process. The
default file for thread tracing is arthread.log (located in the directory specified
for the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
Thread-Log-File option.
Bit 7 (Value=64)—Turns on alert tracing for the arserverd process. The
default file for alert tracing is aralert.log (located in the directory specified
for the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
Alert-Log-File option.
Bit 8 (Value=128)—Turns on arforkd tracing for the arserverd process.
The default file for arforkd tracing is arforkd.log (located in the directory
specified for the Server-directory option). You can override this default by
using the arfork-Log-File option.
Bit 9 (Value=256)—Turns on server group tracing for the arserverd process.
The default file for server group tracing is arsrvgrp.log (located in the
directory specified for the Server-directory option). You can override this
default by using the Server-Group-Log-File option.
Bit 16 (Value=32768)—Turns on distributed server tracing for the arservdsd
process (applicable for Distributed Server Option only). The default file for
distributed server tracing is ardist.log (located in the directory specified for
the Server-directory option). You can override this default by using the
Distrib-Log-File option.
Bit 17 (Value= 65536)—Turns on Approval Server tracing. Specify the location
for the log file arapprov.log using the AP: Admin-Server Settings form, accessed
from the Approval Menu > Server Settings command.
Bit 18 (Value=131072)—Turns on plug-in tracing for the arserverd process.
The default file for plug-in tracing is arplugin.log (located in the directory
specified for the Server-directory option). You can override this default by
using the Plugin-Log-File option.
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Default-Allowable- Default allowable currency types used for Currency fields in clients.
Currencies2
Default-Functional- Default functional currency types used for Currency fields in clients.
Currencies2
Default-Order-By2 The default value to order search results. Valid values are T and F. T indicates that
there is a default order, which is to sort by entry ID. F indicates that there is no
default order and no order clause is added to the command if there is not a
specific sort order specified. The default is T (apply default sort order).
Default-Web-Path The URL to the directory path for the default web server pointing to the
AR System server.
Delay-Recache-Time2 The number of seconds before making the latest cache available to all threads.
Valid values for this option are 0 to 180 seconds. The minimum is 0, which means
every API call will get the latest cache (that is, the cache will be copied for every
administrator call). Setting the option to 0 causes slower performance for cache
operations. The default value is 5 seconds.
Disable-Admin-Ops A flag that indicates whether administrator operations are allowed on the server.
The values for this option are 0 (disabled) and 1 (enabled). The default is 0.
If the Server Groups check box is selected, this setting is ignored. Server groups
can be configured in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form to
make sure that only one server performs the operation. See “Running servers as
part of a group” on page 185.
Disable-Alerts Prevents alerts from being sent when alert events are created. Valid values for this
option are T and F. The default is F (alerts are enabled). If the parameter is set to
T, no threads are started in the alert queue and no alerts are sent. Changes to this
setting do not take effect until the server is restarted.
Disable-Archive2 Allows archive to be disabled (T) or enabled (F) when the server starts up.
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Disable-Client- Restricts time-consuming operations (such as reporting) during busy times,
Operation2 improving the overall performance. This option can be set to certain times of the
day. It can also exclude users of specific groups so that they are not blocked from
performing the specified operation. For example, you can allow only the
administrator to perform reporting during busy hours.
The syntax for this option is:
Disable-Client-Operation: <tag_number_to_disable> [[<start_time>]-
[<stop_time>]] [<group_ID_list>]
The tag number is defined in the ar.h file. To specify start and stop times, enter
them in 24-hour format (hh:mm). The times are include times. For example, 00:00-
13:59 disables from midnight until 1:59 p.m.
The group_ID_list is a list of none, one, or multiple group IDs delimited by
spaces. To specify the groups to exclude, enter the group ID. For example:
Disable-Client-Operation: 1 13:00-17:59 1
The second and third sections are optional and are delineated by spaces. For
example, if you did not specify a start or stop time, the syntax would look like this:
Disable-Client-Operation: 2 18:00- 10
To start disabling operations from midnight until 6:00 a.m. excepting group 10,
enter:
Disable-Client-Operation: 2 -6:00 10
If there is no argument for the second section, the option disables the operations
from the client all the time. If there is no argument for the third section (users to
exclude), then all users from that client cannot run the operations.
You can specify multiple Disable-Client-Operation lines.
1
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2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Disable-Client- Following are the Disable-Client-Operation tag numbers
Operation2 1—AR System clients prior to the 5.0 version
(continued) 2—BMC Remedy Administrator
3—BMC Remedy User
4—BMC Remedy Import
5—Distributed Server Option
6—AR System ODBC
7—Approval Server
8—AR System web server (waserver)
9—Mid tier (version 5.0 and later)
10—Palm Pilot
11—Flashboards
12—Flashboards mid tier
13—Enterprise integration
14—arreload
15—arcache
16—ardist
17—runmacro
18—armaild, armailex (pre-5.1)
19—arimportcmd
20—Report creator plug-in
21—BMC Remedy Alert
4000—Driver (sample program)
4001—Distributor of application
4002—arhelp
4003—arjanitor
4004—armenu
4005—arstruct
4006—artext
4007—arsqled
4008—archgsel
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Disable-Escalations A flag that indicates whether escalations are allowed on the server. The values for
this option are T and F. The default is F.
If the Server Groups check box is selected, this setting is ignored. Server groups
can be configured in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form to
make sure that only one server performs the operation. See “Running servers as
part of a group” on page 185.
Disable-User-Cache- Prevents unauthorized users from attempting to use User Cache commands.
Utilities Valid values for this option are T and F. The default is F (cache utilities are
enabled). If the parameter is set to T, then the arreload and arcache utilities are
disabled for the AR System server.
Distrib-Log-File The name of the file to use if distributed server tracing is turned on (see “Debug-
mode” on page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
Distributed-RPC- The specific AR System server to use for the distributed server. By default, the
Socket distributed server runs in the queues like any other user.
DSO-Cache-Check- Sets the number of seconds between DSO checks for changes to the source and
Interval2 target forms.
DSO-Error-Retry- Determines the behavior within the DSO process for retrying after an error. The
Option2 settings are as follows:
0 (the default): Retry standard connection and transmission errors.
1: Never retry after any type of error.
2: Always retry regardless of the type of error.
3: Retry standard connection and transmission errors plus database errors.
For example:
DSO-Error-Retry-Option: 2
2
DSO-Host-Name The name for the current machine for DSO use. This setting allows for an alias for
the current machine within Distributed Mapping distributions.
DSO-Local-RPC-Socket2 The RPC program number that DSO uses. This setting is optional.
DSO-Mark-Pending- A flag indicating if the DSO will stop the processing of a pending list in case it fails
Retry-Flag2 to contact a busy AR System server after retrying one time. Valid values are T and
F.
DSO-Max-Pending- Defines the limit for the number of Distributed Pending form records that DSO
Records-Per-Query2 will read in a single database query. The lower limit is 1, and there is no upper
limit. If this configuration item is not present, the default value is 1000.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
DSO-Merge-DupID- Defines what action the server will perform if a duplicate entry ID is found on the
Overwrite2 target AR System server. Valid values are T and F. If set to T, mapped fields are
updated, and unmapped fields are set to NULL.
DSO-Polling-Interval2 Defines the intervals (in seconds) at which the DSO will check the Distributed
Pending form for pending distributed operations. This is used as a backup in case
there are no signals from AR System workflow. The value can be an integer
between 15 and 7200. If you set the value to 0, DSO will set the polling interval to
15 seconds (the lowest value); if you set the value at an integer greater than 7200,
DSO will set the polling interval to the maximum of 7200 seconds. The DSO
polling interval feature is disabled as a default. For more information about
Distributed Server Operations (DSO), see the Administering BMC Remedy DSO
guide.
DSO-Target-Connection Defines the information for the target AR System server. The following format is
used:
DSO-Target-Connection: <server_name>:<RPC_number> <port_number>
DSO-Target-Password The password used to access the target AR System server through the distributed
server. The following format is used:
DSO-Target-Password: <server_name>:<encrypted_password>
2
DSO-Timeout-Normal Defines the timeout the DSO applies during communication with the AR System
server. It overrides the default timeout value and can be an integer between 60
and 21600 (in seconds), representing a range from 1 minute to 6 hours. If the
value is set out of range, the closest integer to that value will be applied. If no value
is entered, the default value (120 seconds) is used.
DSO-User-Password The password for the local distributed server user.
Email-Import-Form-By- Specifies whether email forms are imported by default when the AR System server
Default2 is started up. Valid values are True (T) and False (F). A value of T means that email
forms will be imported by default when the AR System server is restarted; a value
of F means that the forms will not be imported by default. The default is T.
Email-Notify-From2 The sender name to use for filter-generated email notifications where no subject
is specified. This value is limited to 29 characters.
Email-Timeout2 Sets the maximum amount of time that arserverd waits for a return value from
sendmail. This parameter was valid in versions 4.5.1 through 5.0.1, but was made
obsolete with the introduction of the Email Engine in version 5.1.0 of AR System.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Encrypt-Data- An integer value indicating the encryption algorithm. If you switch to a new
Encryption-Algorithm2 algorithm, client connections using the old algorithm automatically perform a
key exchange to create keys that correspond to the new algorithm. The default is
0 (zero), RCA encryption, 128-bit key.
Encrypt-Public-Key- The encryption algorithm of the public key. BMC Remedy Encryption products
Algorithm2 use the RSA algorithm for public key cryptography. RSA is a public-key
cryptosystem that uses modular arithmetic and elementary number theory to do
certain computations.
The public key is used in the data encryption key negotiation. This key
negotiation occurs at the beginning of the API session and when the data
encryption keys expires.
The settings are:
4—A 512-bit RSA key. This is the default for standard security.
5—A 1024-bit RSA key. This is the default for performance security.
6—A 2048-bit RSA key. This is the default for premium security.
All lower-level encryption technologies are available in higher security level
products. For example, the Premium Security product includes the encryption
algorithms of Performance Security and Standard Security.
Encrypt-Public-Key- An integer value (in seconds) indicating the amount of time for the duration of
Expire2 the public key. After expiration, the server creates a new public key. The default
is 86400 seconds (24 hours).
Encrypt-Security- An integer value indicating whether encryption is on or off. The values are as
Policy2 follows:
0: Encryption between the client and server is allowed, but not required.
1: Encryption between the client and server is required; unencrypted
communication is not allowed.
2 (the default): Encryption between the client and server is disabled.
Encrypt-Session-Hash- The size of the hash table that holds the encrypted session information. The
Entries2 default is 509, there is no maximum.
Encrypt-Symmetric- An integer value (in seconds) indicating the amount of time for the duration of
Data-Key-Expire2 the data encryption key. After expiration, if necessary, a new key exchange occurs.
The default is 2700 seconds (45 minutes).
Escalation-Log-File The name of the file to use if escalation tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode”
on page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
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Option Description
External- A bit mask that allows you to specify the return data capabilities for the current
Authentication- AREA plug-in. This setting does not control the AREA plug-in, it merely
Return-Data- describes the behavior of the plug-in, allowing for server optimization.
Capabilities2 Acceptable values are as follows:
Bit 1 (Value=1)—No email address will be provided.
Bit 2 (Value=2)—No notify mechanism will be provided.
Bit 3 (Value=4)—No group identifiers will be provided.
Bit 4 (Value=8)—No license information will be provided.
Bit 5 (Value=16)—No notification user validation should occur.
The default is 0, meaning the server will attempt to retrieve this information from
AREA. A value of 7 will allow the server to potentially reduce the number of
AREA related calls during notification processing.
A value of 16 will allow the server to avoid using AREA for notification user
validation and information retrieval. Use this setting for sites using a form of
AREA that applies user names as email addresses and where there is no benefit to
accessing an authentication database.
External- The RPC socket number on which an external authentication server awaits
Authentication-RPC- requests for authentication. The default value is 0 (external authentication will
Socket not be used).
The RPC program number for the arplugin service is 390695.
External- The RPC timeout (in seconds) used when making calls to the authentication
Authentication-RPC- (AREA) server. The default value is 30 seconds.
Timeout
External- The internal timeout (in seconds) the AR System server uses to periodically
Authentication-Sync- invoke the external authentication server’s AREANeedToSyncCallback()
Timeout function, which instructs the AR System server to renew its internally stored user
information in the event there are changes made to the source used to
authenticate users. A 0 value means that the AR System server will not invoke the
call to the external authentication (AREA) server. The default value is 300
seconds.
Filter-Api-Timeout Indicates the time limit (in seconds) allowed for the Filter API RPC to respond to
the server’s request before returning an error. The minimum value is 0, and the
maximum is 300. The default is 60 seconds.
Filter-Log-File The name of the file to use if filter tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
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Option Description
Filter-Max-Stack The maximum number of levels of recursion allowed for a given operation. The
data modification performed by an AR_FILTER_ACTION_FIELDPfilter action might
trigger a second set, or level, of filters, one of which might trigger filters a third
level down and so on. This option limits the number of times such recursion can
happen, preventing the server crash that would occur if the recursion continued
indefinitely. The default value is 25.
Filter-Max-Total The maximum number of filters that the server will execute for a given operation.
The default value is 10000.
Flush-Log-Lines A flag to indicate whether you want the logged lines to be buffered instead of
written directly to disc. Valid values are T and F. Set to F if you want to buffer the
logged lines. The default value is T (the logged lines will be written to disc).
GetListEntry-Server- Returns the GetListEntry date formatted on the server instead of on the client.
Date-Format2 This option is used mainly for backward compatibility purposes. Valid values are
T and F. The default value is F (format dates on client).
Guest-Restricted-Read Defines whether guest users will receive a restricted read license when they log in
to AR System. If this option is not selected, guest users will receive a read license.
The values are true (T) and false (F).
GUID-Prefix2 The character string used as a prefix for GUID strings that are generated by filters.
Homepage-Form The path to a Home page to be used system wide as the default Home page for the
current server when a user logs in.
This default Home page will only be used if:
The current server is designated as the server for the Home page in the
AR System User Preference form, or
The current server is designated as the Home page server on the General
Settings page in BMC Remedy Mid Tier Configuration Tool (see the Installing
and Administering BMC Remedy Mid Tier guide for more information) and
No Home page is specified in the AR System User Preference form (you can
also set this in the Options dialog box in BMC Remedy User).
Note: If the Home page is deleted, this field is cleared, and the default Home page
will need to be re-entered.
Informix-DBServer- The name of the server where the underlying database is located (applicable for
Name1 Informix databases only).
Informix-Relay- Specifies the environment setting for the path for the Informix relay module
Module1 (applicable for Informix databases only).
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2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Informix-TBConfig1 The name of the configuration file for the underlying database (applicable for
Informix databases only). The default name is onconfig.
Init-Form 2 Specifies a form that will be opened every time any client logs into the system.
Workflow might be specified to record details of the login or to deny access based
on various parameters. Without this parameter, it would be necessary to attach
the workflow to every single form defined on the system.
Internal-User-Info- The number of shared, linked lists that hold all user-related information. This
Hash-Lists2 number must be represented in a power of 2. The default setting is 128, the
minimum number is 2, and there is no maximum number defined.
Note: AR System does not check to make sure that the number defined in the
ar.conf/ar.cfg file is in a power of 2; therefore, unexpected behaviors of the
AR System server might occur if the number is not in a power of 2.
Internal-User- The amount of time the AR System server waits before terminating expired user
Instance-Timeout2 instances. The default setting is 1 hour, the maximum is 2 hours, and the
minimum is 30 minutes.
The IP-Name parameter can be used for servers with variable length domains or for
servers on machines with multiple internet addresses. For example, to allow
connection to a machine named tix as tix, tix.company.com, or
tix.eng.company.com, an administrator would have three IP-Name entries,
one for each of the connection names.
To allow connection to a machine with multiple internet addresses like
tix.company.com, tix.biggercompany.com, and tix.evenbigger.com, an
administrator would create an IP-Name entry for each of those names.
1
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2
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Option Description
IP-Name A parameter used to specify that a server has multiple names. The parameter can
appear in the ar.conf (ar.cfg) file more than one time.
When checking workflow and connections against itself, the server will compare
its server name, host name, IP aliases, and any names given by the IP-Name
parameter to the name passed to it. If the name matches any of those, the server
will conclude that the workflow or connection is for itself.
The IP-Name parameter can be used for servers with variable length domains or
for servers on machines with multiple internet addresses. For example, to allow
connection to a machine named tix as tix, tix.company.com, or
tix.eng.company.com, an administrator would have three IP-Name entries,
one for each of the connection names.
To allow connection to a machine with multiple internet addresses like
tix.company.com, tix.biggercompany.com, and tix.evenbigger.com, an
administrator would create an IP-Name entry for each of those names.
License-Timeout The number of hours the AR System server waits before disconnecting inactive
users. If a user is holding a floating write license token, the system also frees the
token at this time. The default value is two hours.
Localized-Server Indicates whether the server is running in localized support mode. If it is not, the
server does not search for or use localized strings. If localized support mode is
running, localized messages are used, if present. The values for this option are T
and F. The default is F (not localized).
Locked-Workflow-Log- Causes the server to record locked workflow actions in workflow logs. These
Mode2 actions are always written as encrypted strings.
Log-File-Append A flag that indicates whether to create a separate *.bak file or to append to the
existing log file. Valid values for this option are T and F. A value of F creates a
*.bak file; T indicates that new log information be appended to the existing file.
The default is F.
1
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2
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Option Description
Map-IP-Address2 The specific IP address mappings for alerts to work through firewalls where
Network Address Translation is enabled (NAT). You must set up a mapping for
each client machine that has access through the firewall where the client IP
address is translated from an internal address to a valid external address. In
addition, a mapping is required for the ARServer IP address if the host where
ARServer resides is also translated.
For example, the following figure maps AR System server and BMC Remedy
Alert. The Alert client comes through the firewall and the address changes from
10.5.119.83 to a valid public IP address of 123.45.67.89. The server address
changes from 123.45.55.90 to 10.26.55.65 on the other side of the firewall.
AR System
server
Firewall Firewall table
of IP addresses
123.45.67.89 10.5.119.83
ALERT
Client
123.45.55.90 10.26.55.65 10.5.119.83
123.45.55.90
Internal table of
IP address mappings
Map-IP-Address: 10.5.119.83 123.45.67.89
Map-IP-Address: 123.45.55.90 10.26.55.65
Max-Entries-Per-Query The maximum number of requests returned by a single search. Because users can
also specify the maximum number of requests returned (through Search
Preferences in the AR System User Preferences form or the Options dialog box in
BMC Remedy User), the actual maximum is the lower of these two values. The
default value is no (server-defined) maximum.
1
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2
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Option Description
Max-Log-File-Size The maximum size in bytes for system log files. If the maximum is reached, the
logging cycle starts over at the beginning of the file, overwriting existing
information. The default value is 0 (no limit). This option does not apply to the
Arfork-Log-File.
Max-Notify-Mail-Line- Maximum number of bytes that can be used in a single line of a mail notification.
Len2
Max-Password-Attempts Sets the maximum number of consecutive bad password retries a user is allowed
to make. If this option is set to 3, the user has 3 chances to log in. If all 3 attempts
have bad passwords, the user account will be marked as INVALID.
The allowed values for this option are 0 and all positive integers. A value of 0 turns
feature off, and any positive integer sets the limit.
Mid-Tier-Service- Specifies the password that administrators will need to access the mid tier.
Password
Minimum-API-Version Specifies the oldest API version with which the server will communicate. The
default value is 0, which means that the server will communicate with all API
versions. If the client’s API version is less than the specified value, the server will
refuse to talk with the client, and the client will receive a decode error. The API
version for release 7.0 is 12.
Multiple-ARSystem- A flag indicating whether you want to run multiple servers on one host machine.
Servers Valid values for this option are T and F. To run multiple servers, you must set this
option to T in the configuration file for each server you are running. The default
value is F (you are not running multiple servers on one machine).
Note: If you set this option to T and are running previous versions of AR System
applications, such as DSO or the Approval Server, those applications will not
work. You must upgrade your applications if you want them to work with this
option.
Multiple-Assign- Defines whether multiple assignee groups will be stored in row-level security
Groups2 Field 112. This enables users from multiple groups to access the same entry. In the
past, only one group could be stored in Field 112. Valid values for this option are
T and F. The default value is T (allow multiple groups).
Next-ID-Commit2 When the system generates the next ID number for a record in the database, it
performs a new commit transaction if this parameter is set to True. If the
parameter is set to False, the transaction to generate the next ID is included as
part of the create entry transaction. Set the value to True to increase efficiency and
for debugging. The default is False.
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2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Next-ID-Block-Size Allocates next IDs in blocks rather than one at a time. Allocating in blocks
increases performance during a create operation.
Edit the Next-ID-Block-Size value to a positive number (up to 1000), for example:
Next-ID-Block-Size: 50
The default value is 1. If 0 or a negative number (for example, -1) is used, the
server will use the default value of 1.
You do not need to restart the server for the change to take effect. The option is
started immediately.
To disable this option, set the value of Next-ID-Block-Size to 1, or remove the
parameter from the configuration file.
Note: This setting is always disabled on the Distributed Pending form so that DSO
can operate correctly.
Warning: The use of this configuration setting might result in unpredictably
large NextID sequence gaps. The likelihood of this occurring increases with the
use of multiple servers that share a database. The AR System server will not
malfunction due to this gap and should not be considered a defect.
Oracle-Bulk-Fetch- Defines the number of the rows of data fetched at a time from the result set when
Count2 querying an Oracle database. The minimum is 1, the maximum is 100, and the
default is 50. The higher the value, the more memory is used during data retrieval.
Oracle-Cursor- Specifies the database setting that matches the setting in the Oracle initialization
Sharing2 file (initARS.ora if the AR System database SID is ARS).
If the initARS.ora file includes the line CURSOR_SHARING=FORCE, use FORCE as
the value for this option also to indicate an Oracle setting to the AR System server.
If your Oracle database is set for SIMILAR, use the similar option:
Oracle-Cursor-Sharing: SIMILAR
1
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2
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Option Description
Oracle-Dblink- Enables the support of remote databases with different character sets. You can
Character-Set2 enter this parameter any number of times in the configuration file for multiple
view forms on different remote databases with different link names. The syntax is
as follows:
Oracle-Dblink-Character-Set: <linkname> <charset>
For example:
Oracle-Dblink-Character-Set: eng.remedy.com shift-jis
The <linkname> should exactly match LINK in the phrase
OWNERNAME.TABLENAME@LINK in the table name of the View form on the remote
database.
Supported character sets are utf-8, utf-16, ucs-2, euc, and shift-jis.
For more information about view forms, see the Form and Application Objects
guide.
Oracle-Search-On- Defines whether CLOBs can be searched. Valid values are T and F. If the option is
Clob2 set to T, when the search is performed, the qualification can include all the diary
fields and character fields that are stored in the database as CLOB columns.
Including these fields affects performance, and indexes cannot be used for this
type of query. If the option is set to F, these fields are not included. CLOBs can use
the operator LIKE, but not =. The default is F (do not allow search on CLOBs).
Oracle-SID1 The system ID for the underlying database (applicable for Oracle databases only).
Oracle-Clob-Storage- Controls the Oracle CLOB storage. The default value of this setting is F, and new
In-Row CLOBs will be “out of row.”
If the setting is set to T, all CLOBs to be created are “in row.”
1
Oracle-Two-Task The two-task environment setting for the underlying database (applicable for
Oracle databases only).
Per-Thread-Logging A flag indicating whether you want to create per-thread log files. Valid values are
T and F. If set to T, per-thread log files will be created. The default value is F (off).
Plugin2 File name of one or more plug-ins that the plug-in service will load. The file name
of the DLL or shared object is provided. The file name might be an absolute file
name or might be relative to the AR System installation directory. You can have
as many Plugin: lines in the ar.conf (ar.cfg) file as needed, but only one file
name can be listed for each occurrence of the option.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Plugin-ARDBC-Threads2 The number of threads that are dedicated to handling ARDBC requests from the
AR System server. Optionally, you can specify a maximum number of threads, as
shown in the following example:
Plugin-ARDBC-Threads: <minimum number of threads>
[<maximum number of threads>]
To specify a minimum of 3 threads and a maximum of 10, the syntax is:
Plugin-ARDBC-Threads: 3 10
By default, 1 thread is initiated if this option is not specified. The plug-in service
will increase the number of threads for a given plug-in if there is sufficient
demand up to the “maximum number of threads.”
Plugin-AREA-Threads2 One can specify the number of threads that are dedicated to handling AREA
requests from the AR System server. Optionally, you can specify a maximum
number of threads, as shown in the following example:
Plugin-AREA-Threads: <minimum number of threads>
[<maximum number of threads>]
To specify a minimum of 3 threads and a maximum of 10, the syntax is:
Plugin-AREA-Threads: 3 10
By default, 1 thread is initiated if this option is not specified. The plug-in service
will increase the number of threads for a given plug-in if there is sufficient
demand up to the “maximum number of threads.”
Plugin-Disable- Specifies whether the plug-in service will accept calls from a remote server. Valid
Remote2 values are T and F. If the option is set to T, the plug-in service accepts calls only
from an AR System server running on the local machine. The default is F (allow
calls from a remote server).
Plugin-Filter-API- One can specify the number of threads that are dedicated to handling AR System
Threads2 Filter API requests from the AR System server. Optionally, you can specify a
maximum number of threads, as shown in the following example:
Plugin-Filter-API-Threads: <minimum number of threads> [<maximum
number of threads>]
To specify a minimum of 4 threads and a maximum of 10, the syntax is:
Plugin-Filter-API-Threads: 4 10
By default, 1 thread is initiated if this option is not specified. The plug-in service
will increase the number of threads for a given plug-in if there is sufficient
demand up to the “maximum number of threads.”
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Option Description
Plugin-Log-File The name of the file to use if plug-in tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
Plugin-Log-Level A setting that determines the level of detail for log messages. Valid values are as
follows. The values represent the amount of log information that is printed. The
lower the value, the more information that is included.
ARPLUGIN_OFF (Value=10000)—No log information is printed.
ARPLUGIN_SEVERE (Value=1000)—Only severe messages are printed. This is
the default value if no log level is specified.
ARPLUGIN_WARNING (Value=900)—Severe and warning messages are printed.
ARPLUGIN_INFO (Value=800)—Status, severe, and warning messages are
printed.
ARPLUGIN_CONFIG (Value=700)—Configuration, status, severe, and warning
messages are printed.
ARPLUGIN_FINE (Value=600)—Internal exceptions.
ARPLUGIN_FINER (Value=500)—Trace logs that log tasks as they are executed
within the system.
ARPLUGIN_FINEST (Value=400)—Code-level information.
ARPLUGIN_ALL (Value=100)—All log information is printed.
Plugin-Loopback- The RPC socket number for the private server queue to which loopback plug-in
RPC-Socket2 API calls should be directed. The acceptable values are in the following ranges:
390621–390634, 390636–390669, and 390680–390694.
Loopback plug-ins (like the Report Creator plug-in) that make calls back into
AR System, will use this value to determine the queue to request. By default, the
API calls that the plug-in makes are directed to a queue that corresponds with the
call type. To be effective, the server must be configured to have the designated
private queue for this setting.
Plugin-Password If this option is specified, arplugin will accept connections only from AR System
servers that have been configured to use the same password by way of the
Server-Plugin-Target-Password attribute.
If this option is not specified, arplugin will accept connections from AR System
servers that have not been configured to use a password.
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Option Description
Plugin-Path2 Specifies the search path used to load a plug-in. The path will be appended to the
current value of LD_LIBRARY_PATH (AIX, Linux, Solaris), SHLIB_PATH (HPUX),
or PATH (WINNT). You can list more than one Plugin-Path; each path is
appended in the order it appears in the configuration file. The syntax is:
Plugin-Path: <path-name>[<delimiter><path-name>]
with no spaces between the delimeter and the path.
For example:
UNIX
Plugin-Path: /usr/ar/bin:/usr/ar/common/xyz
Windows
Plugin-Path: C:\Program Files\AR System\arserver;C:\Program
Files\AR System\common\xyz
Plugin-Port2 The port number on which the plug-in service will wait for incoming requests.
Preference-Server- Specifies if users are forced to use centralized preferences. Following are the
Option preference server settings:
1—Users can choose to use a preference server, if a preference server is
available.
2—Users must use the specified preference server.
3—Users must use a preference server, but they cannot use this server as a
preference server. If users choose a server that is not a preference server, a
warning is returned.
Private-RPC-Socket The specific RPC program number that determines the type of queue to which
requests will be routed, as well as the number of threads running on that queue.
RE-Log-File-Location2 The location of the Reconciliation Engine's log file.
Read-Only-Tran-Off2 Causes AR System not to create database transactions when only reading data.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Record-Server-Events Specifies the server events that you want to log. When you enter a value for
specific server events, those events are logged in the Server Events form, thereby
making server-related changes available to workflow and API programs. Enter the
values separated by semicolons as in the following example:
Record-Server-Events: 4;8;9;12;14;
For information about the Server Events form, viewing recorded server events,
and using server events in workflow, see Chapter E, “Working with the Server
Events form.”
Enter the following values for the events you want to record:
1—Form
2—Field
3—Menu
4—Filter
5—Import
6—Active Link
7—Escalation
8—View
9—Container
10—User
11—Group
12—Server Setting
13—Alert Client Registration
14—Archive
15—Server Group Actions
Register-With- This setting can be used to prevent the AR System server from registering with a
Portmapper portmapper. This feature is to be used in conjunction with setting specific ports
to enable you to run servers on machines that do not have a portmapper. Valid
values are T and F. The default is T (register with portmapper).
No more than one server should attempt to register with AR System Portmapper
in an environment with multiple servers on one machine.
Remedy-App-Service- Specifies, in encrypted form, the password that AR System application services
Password such as AR System Approval Server will use to access the AR System server.
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Option Description
RPC-Non-Blocking-IO2 This parameter enables the AR System on compliant systems to receive remote
procedure calls in a non-blocking mode. Without this setting, the server must
receive an entire RPC header before processing a different one. With this setting,
the system can process multiple headers at the same time. Set this parameter to T
(TRUE) and then restart your AR System server to run in RPC non-blocking
mode. The default for this parameter is F (FALSE); use the following syntax to set
to TRUE:
RPC-Non-Blocking-IO: T
This functionality is not supported on Windows and Linux operating systems.
The advantages of RPC-Non-Blocking-IO mode are as follows:
Prevents remote attackers from disabling RPC services.
Prevents invalid or corrupt packets from temporarily disabling the arserverd
service.
Important: The following patches must be installed to enable your system to use
this feature. If these patches are not installed, you will see either an error message,
or most of your RPC calls will be blocked.
HP
PHNE_29210 - HPUX 11.0
PHNE_29211 - HPUX 11i
Solaris
108993-38 - Solaris 8
113319-19 - Solaris 9
IBM
Does not specify a specific patch number. There might be multiple file sets
required. (If you do not obtain an IBM patch, there is a possibility that your server
could crash.)
Fix for Authorized Problem Analysis Report (APAR) IY61602 - AIX 5.3
Fix for APAR IY61409 - AIX 5.2
Fix for APAR IY61598 - AIX 5.1
Fix for APAR IY71557 - AIX 5.2
Fix for APAR IY71632 - AIX 5.3
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Save-Login A value indicating whether users must log in to client tools. Allows users to save
a previous login of their choice.
0—Controlled by user (default setting).
1—Do not force a login that is controlled by the administrator.
2—Force login that is controlled by the administrator.
This option does not apply to the mid tier.
SCC-Comment-Checkin An integer value (0 or 1) indicating whether a source code control integration
requires you to enter a comment at checkin time. The default value is 0 (no
comment is required).
SCC-Comment-Checkout An integer value (0 or 1) indicating whether a source code control integration
requires you to enter a comment at checkout time. The default value is 0 (no
comment is required).
SCC-Enabled An integer value (0 or 1) indicating whether a source code control system is being
used with AR System. The default value is 0 (source code is disabled).
SCC-Integration-Mode An integer value (0 or 1) indicating the level of source code control integration.
A 0 value means Advisory. A 1 value means Enforced. The default is 0. For more
information about these modes, see “Server information—Source Control tab”
on page 171.
SCC-Provider-Name The name of the Source Code Control Provider name; for example, Visual Source
Safe.
SCC-Target-Dir A character string for the source code control system target directory. If none is
present, this value is NULL. This string is limited to 255 characters.
Server-Connect-Name2 An option for changing the name of a server in a server group. By default, a server
in a server group uses a fully qualified server name with domain to identify itself.
Others servers in the group use this name to communicate. Add the following line
to change the server name:
Server-Connect-Name: myservername
If a common server alias is specified, the Server-Connect-Name option is
required.
This name must be resolvable by DNS and is used exactly as specified. For more
information, see “Running servers as part of a group” on page 185.
Server-directory1 The data directory for AR System, expressed as a full path name. This directory
contains support files and log files for the AR System server.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Server-Group-Email- Establishes the port number (RMIPort) for email administration in BMC
Admin-Port2 Remedy Email Engine. If the port number in BMC Remedy Email Engine is
changed from the default, set this AR System server configuration to the same
port number to allow the server to communicate email administration
information to BMC Remedy Email Engine during server group processing.
For example:
Server-Group-Email-Admin-Port: 2020
Server-Group-Log-File The name and location of the server group trace log file. The default is
arsrvgrp.log. For example, the file location might be:
c:\temp\servgroup.log.
Server-Group-Member A flag that indicates whether the server is a member of a server group. Valid values
are T and F. The default is F.
Server-Group-Signal- Indicates the method that a server uses to notify other servers in the group that
Option2 definition cache changes have occurred. If the value for this option is set to T, the
server uses arsignal to cause cache (definition) changes in other server group
members. If the value for this option is set to F (the default), a server indicates that
definition changes have occurred by posting signals in the database. The signal is
read by other servers in the group at their preset check intervals. Because of an
intentional delay used to avoid multiple recaches, the servers will not recache
until after a check interval cycle in which there are no new recache signals. The
database posting method reduces server activity, but does not react as quickly as
the arsignal method. For more information, see “Running servers as part of a
group” on page 185.
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Server-Name An alias that is always interpreted as the current server. The option is used in
multiple server installations to differentiate servers. If you specify a value for
Server-Name, type that value after the -h option when you use the arreload
command-line utility.
If you have a value for Server-Name, and you use arreload without the -h
option and the Server-Name value, arreload will use the default server name
rather than the name specified by Server-Name.
The Server-Name value is not fully qualified. For example, type alpha instead of
alpha.remedy.com.
Note: If you are running in a server group and you use a common server alias, you
must also define the Server-Connect-Name option. See “Server-
Connect-Name2” on page 335.
Server-Plugin-Alias2 When the AR System server performs a call to a plug-in service, it must determine
if the plug-in name is an alias. Aliases can be used to direct the AR System server
to access a plug-in service that is running on a different host or is listening at a
specific port number. The syntax for this option is as follows:
Server-Plugin-Alias:
<alias_name>
<real_name>
<host_name>[:<port_number>]
Workflow (that is, references to AR Filter API and ARDBC plug-ins) references a
plug-in name. This name can be an alias to a real plug-in running on a specific
host at a given port number. This allows you to locate a plug-in on a remote host
or to run more than one instance of a plug-in on one host. For example, to run
the RMDY.ARDBC.XML plug-in on the remote host foo at port number 12345, you
would add the following text to your ar.cfg:
Server-Plugin-Alias: RMDY.ARDBC.XML RMDY.ARDBC.XML foo:12345
Note that the alias and real plug-in names can be identical if you are simply
locating the plug-in on a remote host. If you want to run more than one instance
of the plug-in on the same or different hosts, you would create different aliases
that reference the same plug-in running on their respective hosts.
Server-Plugin- The number of seconds within which the plug-in service must respond to the call
Default-Timeout before an error is returned. The minimum value is 0, and the maximum is 600.
The default is 60 seconds.
Server-Plugin-Target- The AR System server uses the specified password whenever communicating with
Password a plug-in service running at the host name and port number specified. The syntax
for this option is as follows:
Server-Plugin-Target-Password: <host_name>:<port_number>:
<encrypted_password>
1 Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2 Options you cannot set or view using
BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Server-Side-Table- For server-side table fields, this number determines the number of entries (or size
Chunk-Size of the chunk) that the server will retrieve at one time from the database and store
in memory to process during filter or filter guide actions. The server then
retrieves, stores, and processes the next chunk until all the rows have been
processed. Entering a value of zero (0) will cause the server to retrieve an
unlimited number of rows. The default is 1000 rows.
Entering a low value in this field causes the server to process smaller chunks,
which keeps the server memory usage down but results in slower processing
because the server will need to access the database many times, especially for large
tables. Entering a high value will cause the server to retrieve and process large
chunks of data and access the database fewer times. This results in higher
performance at the cost of memory use.
Server-Stats-Rec- Defines (in seconds) how often the server will record server statistics. The default
Interval is 60 seconds.
Server-Stats-Rec-Mode The server statistics recording mode determines what is written to the server
statistics form. There are three modes designated by the following numerical
values:
0—Indicates that recording is off. (This is the default.)
1—Indicates that the server records only the cumulative queue statistics.
Cumulative statistics are the sum of all the individual queue statistics.
2—Indicates that the server records both the cumulative queue statistics and
the individual queue statistics. One entry will be written for the cumulative
statistics and a separate entry will be written for each queue.
You can read the statistics in the Server Statistics form, which is installed when
you install AR System. For more information, see the Optimizing and
Troubleshooting AR System guide.
Set-Process-Timeout The number of seconds the AR System server waits before ending a Set Fields
process that has not completed. Valid values for this option are 1 through 60. The
default value is 5 seconds.
SQL-Log-File The name of the file to use if SQL tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
SQL-Secure-Connection A flag that indicates what type of authentication to use to connect AR System to
an MSSQL database. Set this flag to T to use Windows Authentication or to F to
use SQL Authentication. This flag is valid only if you are using an MSSQL
database.
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
SQL-Server-Set-ANSI- Causes the server to issue a SET ANSI_NULLS ON command.
Defaults2
Submitter-Mode A setting indicating whether the Submitter field can be changed and whether the
submitter of a request must have a write license to modify it. Valid values for this
option are 1 (locked) and 2 (changeable). The default value is 2.
In locked mode, the Submitter field cannot be changed after submission, and, if
the Submitter group has change permission, the request can be modified by
submitters with a read or write license, but not by users with a restricted read
license.
In changeable mode, the Submitter field can be changed after submit, but the
submitter must have a write license to modify the request (if the Submitter group
has change permission).
Suppress-warnings2 A series of zero or more message numbers (separated by spaces) that identify the
informational or warning messages that the system should suppress. Can be used
to suppress server warnings and notes only.
Sybase-Character-Set1 The alternate character set to use for communications between AR System and
the underlying database (applicable for Sybase databases only).
Sybase-Server-Name1 The logical server name of the underlying database (applicable for Sybase and MS
SQL databases only). The default name is SYBASE.
System-Logging- A bit mask that sets logging options for the operating system. Acceptable values
Options2 are as follows:
Bit 1 (Value=1) Suppress logging to the system log file.
A value of 0 indicates normal system logging and is the default.
TCD-Specific-Port The specific TCP port to use for the arserver process. The dispatcher is randomly
assigned to an available port if you do not specify this option. Note that TCD
stands for transaction control daemon.
Thread-Debug-mode Turns on thread logging.
Thread-Log-File The name of the file to use if thread tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Option Description
Two-Digit-Year- An integer that specifies the cutoff year for interpreting a two-digit year as a four-
Cutoff2 digit year. For example, if the two-digit cutoff year is 2040, a two-digit year would
fall between 1941 and 2040. A date of 1/1/55 would be interpreted as 1/1/1955 and
a date of 1/1/30 would be interpreted as 1/1/2030.
If a two-digit year cutoff is not specified, a rolling two-digit year is used. Two-
digit years would then be interpreted as the years between the current year plus
29 years and the current year minus 70 years. For example, if the current year is
2002, two-digit years would be interpreted as years between 1922 and 2031.
Use-Password-File For Windows—A flag indicating whether the Windows domain service is used to
validate users not registered with AR System. If so, users in the Windows domain
are considered valid users of AR System and are assigned to the Public group.
Valid values are T and F. The default value is F (do not use domain service). This
is set in the Configuration tab of BMC Remedy Administrator using the
Authenticate Unregistered Users check box.
For UNIX—A flag indicating whether the /etc/passwd file is used to validate users
not registered with AR System. If so, users in /etc/passwd are considered valid
users of AR System and are assigned to a group identified by the UNIX group ID.
Valid values for this option are T and F. The default value is F (use password file).
User-Log-File The name of the file to use if user tracing is turned on (see “Debug-mode” on
page 314). This argument is expressed as the full path name.
XML-VUI-Export- A flag indicating whether to export localized views when forms are exported in
Default-Is-Localized2 XML definition format. Valid values for this option are T and F. The default is F.
1
Options you can view (but not set) using BMC Remedy Administrator.
2
Options you cannot set or view using BMC Remedy Administrator.
Environment ARCONFIGDIR
UNIX only—Specifies the directory where the ar.conf file and other
AR System configuration files are stored. This directory defaults to
<ar_install_dir>/conf if you do not set this variable.
The location of the data directory for this server is /usr/ar/db. The location of
the SQL database files is /usr/SQL-DB.
ardb.conf (ardb.cfg)
Description The ardb.conf (ardb.cfg) file contains SQL clauses that an administrator can
append to the SQL statements issued by AR System when a form, field, or
index is created or modified.
Create the ardb.conf file in your configuration directory, which is the conf
directory of the ar_install_dir. On UNIX, the directory can be changed by
setting the ARCONFIGDIR environment variable.
When you create a form, field, or index, AR System references the ardb
configuration file for clauses to append to the SQL statement. If it finds no
matching information, AR System creates the form, field, or index as it
would normally. If it finds matching information, it appends the specified
clause to the SQL statement that creates the form, field, or index.
WARNING: AR System does not verify that the SQL clauses specified in your
ardb configuration file are correct or safe. AR System merely attaches the
SQL clause to the statement used when a form or index is created. Because
you can append any valid SQL clause (the entire clause must exist on one
line in the file because no new-line characters are allowed) to the CREATE
statement for a form, field, or index, use this feature wisely.
1 Type a line for the name of the form and a line for the clause you want added
to the CREATE statement, as follows:
Form: <form_name>
Clause: <clause>
Note: When you use BMC Remedy Administrator to change the name of a
form, the ardb configuration file is edited automatically to match the new
name.
d Place the closing brace on its own line below the clause line.
3 Include index clause information.
a Add an index line with an open brace.
Index {
If an index contains multiple fields, add several field ID lines before the
clause for that index.
c Add a line for the SQL clause.
Clause: <clause>
Clauses you specify for the tables of a form are not attached automatically
to any index you create for that form. You must specify the clause in the
index clause. For example, if you specify that a form is to reside in a
specific part of your database, and you want an index for that form to
reside in the same space, you must specify the clause for both the form and
index.
d Place the closing brace in a line of its own below the clause line for the
index.
The file looks something like this:
Form: <form_name>
Clause: <clause>
Field {
Id: <field_ID>
Clause: <clause>
}
Index {
Id: <index_ID>
Id: <index_ID>
Clause: <clause>
}
Leading spaces in the ardb configuration file are ignored, so you might want
to add them to keep your file organized.
When you create or update the ardb.conf file, the changes do not take place
immediately—changes occur when the table (or index) is restructured.
Synopsis Windows—<ar_config_dir>\Conf\ardb.cfg
Examples The following example shows ardb configuration file information for the HD-
Answer form on an Oracle database. The tables for the HD-Answer form will
build on segment two. The indexes include the Submitter (ID 2), Status (ID
7), and Assigned To (ID 4) fields. The clauses for the indexes instruct the
database to leave 70 percent of each index free for updates and insertions.
Form:HD-Answer
Clause:TABLESPACE seg2
Field {
Id:536870913
Clause: NOT FOR REPLICATION
}
Index {
Id:2
Id:7
Clause:PCTFREE 70
}
Index {
Id:4
Clause:PCTFREE 70
}
armonitor.conf (armonitor.cfg)
Description The armonitor.conf (armonitor.cfg) file is read by the armonitor
(armonitor.exe) binary, which executes the commands listed in the
configuration file.
Synopsis UNIX—/etc/arsystem/<server_name>/armonitor.conf
Windows—<ar_install_dir>\Conf\armonitor.cfg
Options The format of this file consists of two types of entries. One type of entry is two
fields, separated by a space or tab:
<parameter> <value>
Option Description
Environment- Defines environment values established for armonitor. You can include many
variable instances of the Environment-variable option in the armonitor.conf
(armonitor.cfg) file. Before initiating any processes, armonitor will set any
values specified through this option in its environment. Then, any processes that
armonitor initiates will inherit these values. This is a platform-independent way of
defining environment variables.
An example of the format for this option is:
Environment-variable: ARDATEONLY=MM/dd/yyyy
Monitor-directory Defines the directory of the armonitor. Initially, the installer creates this value, and
the value is the same as the installation directory.
SNMP-Agent-Enabled This setting permits the armonitor to start the Remedy SNMP Agent and to
establish a link to it. Set to T to enable the Remedy SNMP Agent.
armonitor (armonitor.exe)
Description The armonitor process starts and restarts the AR System server, AR System
plug-in server, distributed server, and processes specified in the
armonitor.conf (UNIX) or armonitor.cfg (Windows) file. On Windows, it is
typically started from the Services panel. If you need to start armonitor
manually, you must specify -m as a command line argument.
If a process terminates, armonitor restarts the server. If the server dies more
than four times within 30 seconds, armonitor will give up restarting that
server.
Options You can specify the following options on the command line:
-c
-s
arplugin (arplugin.exe)
Description The arplugin process executes the plug-in service, which implements and
deploys several server-side APIs. The armonitor process initiates arplugin.
Options You can specify the following options on the command line:
-i
Environment ARINSTALLDIR
The directory where the AR System server was installed. The -i option takes
precedence over this environment variable.
UNIX—The default is /usr/ar.
Windows—The default is taken from the Windows Registry. If the install
location was not added to the Windows Registry when the AR System server
was installed, the default is then C:\arservdb.
ARCONFIGDIR
The directory where the ar.conf (ar.cfg) configuration file is stored. The
default is in the conf subdirectory of the AR System server installation
directory (/usr/ar/conf on UNIX and C:\Program Files\AR System\Conf
on Windows).
arserverd (arserver.exe)
Description The arserverd process (UNIX) or arserver.exe executable (Windows)
represents the main part of AR System. It handles all interactions between
clients and the database, making all access to the system dependent on this
process.
Although this process can be started manually on both platforms, it is most
often started with armonitor. On the UNIX platform, arserverd can be
started manually by using the command <ar_install_dir>/bin/arsystem
Start. On Windows or UNIX, if the process is shut down (whether
accidentally or purposely), you can restart it at any time.
In UNIX, sending a SIGUSR1 signal causes arserverd to reread all
configuration files. Sending a SIGHUP signal causes it to reread the
configuration files and reset all cached structure information. Generally,
these signals are only sent after performing a manual repair or restore
operation. However, neither causes any damage or adversely affects users
currently accessing AR System.
Options You can specify the following options in any order on the command line:
-i
Environment ARCONFIGDIR
The directory where the ar.conf (ar.cfg) configuration file is stored. The
default is in the conf subdirectory of the AR System server installation
directory (<install_directory>/conf on UNIX and <install_directory>\conf on
Windows).
ARDATE
Files UNIX
<ar_install_dir>/conf/ar or $ARCONFIGDIR/ar
<ar_install_dir>/conf/ar.conf or $ARCONFIGDIR/ar.conf
/etc/arsystem/<server_name>/arsystem.lic
/etc/services
Windows
<ar_install_dir>Conf\ar.cfg
C:Program Files\Common Files\arsystem\licenses\<server_name>
\arsystem.lic
<win_sys_dir>\drivers\etc\services
External utilities
arcache (arcache.exe)
Description The arcache utility executes the AR System interface that lets you update an
entry in the access control cache for a user or group, and lets you distribute
your change to the specified AR System servers. This program is generally
used in a multiple server environment with centralized access control. The
program is also used for error recovery in a single server environment.
Filters that execute on submit and modify to the User and Group forms are
typically used to run this program. Changes to those forms update the local
cache automatically. The filters make sure that all changes to user or group
information are distributed across the system.
If the server is running on a specific port and arcache cannot obtain the port
information from the portmapper, you must set the ARTCPPORT variable. For
example, if the port number is 2020, type the following command at a DOS
prompt:
set ARTCPPORT=2020
Options You can specify the following options in any order on the command line:
-e
Specifies the Request ID associated with the user or group in the access
control cache (required). If you are adding a new user or group, you can
specify any value that does not already exist in the cache.
-g
Specifies the set of groups to which the user belongs (applicable for
adding or updating users only). Group membership defines the
permissions the user has in the system. Use the group ID to identify
each group (separated by semicolons). Special group IDs are 1
(Administrator), 2 (Customize), and 5 (Subadministrator). For
example, if the group ID for the Technical Support group is 43, and you
want to assign the user to the Customize and Technical Support groups,
specify this option as -g "2;43;".
-G
Specifies the type of group cache operation. Valid values for this option
are a (add new or update existing group) and d (delete existing group).
The -G and -U options are mutually exclusive.
-i
Specifies the group category. Valid values for this option are 0 (regular
group), 1 (dynamic group), or 2 (computed group). The default value
is 0.
-q
Specifies the default email address for sending messages (applicable for
adding or updating users only).
-n
Specifies the name of the user or group (required for add operations,
recommended for delete operations).
-p
Specifies the type of user cache operation. Valid values for this option
are a (add new or update existing user) or d (delete existing user). The -
U and -G options are mutually exclusive.
-x
Runs the program in debug mode. Messages that detail the progress of
each operation being performed are printed to stdout. Use this mode to
diagnose problems with the arcache process only.
-u
Environment ARCONFIGDIR
UNIX only—Specifies the directory where the ar.conf file and other
AR System configuration files are stored. This directory defaults to
<ar_install_dir>/conf if you do not set this variable.
Examples Add a new user, Sam Johnson, to the access control cache of all AR System
servers. Use 000000000000104 as the Request ID, samj@remedy.com as the
default email address, and notifier as the default alert mechanism. The
syntax is as follows:
arcache -Ua -e000000000000104 -n "Sam Johnson"-m "samj@remedy.com"
-x 1
To add a group ID, group type, and specify a computed group with a
qualification, the syntax is as follows:
arcache -Ga -e000000000000106 -n "TEMPADMIN" -i 8989 -t 2 -c 2
-q "\ "Administrator\ " OR ‘Sunnyvale’ "
Note: You can disable arcache with a setting in the ar.conf (ar.cfg) file.
When the setting is active you can still run arcache, but it has no effect on
the server, and the cache does not get flushed. For more information, see
“Disable-User-Cache-Utilities” on page 319.
Files UNIX—$ARCONFIGDIR/ar
Windows—Uses a ServerList Registry value.
arreload (arreload.exe)
Description The arreload utility executes the AR System interface that enables you to
empty the access control cache on one or more AR System servers and reload
it from a particular User or Group form.
If you experience problems with permissions or behaviors in the Group or
User form, the cache might need to be emptied and reloaded. Run arreload to
reload the cache.
This process must run on the AR System server where the source form is
located (the source machine). It deletes cached requests on the specified
target machines and reloads the cache from the form on the source machine,
synchronizing the cache with the available users and groups defined in the
User and Group forms.
If the server is running on a specific port and arreload cannot obtain the port
information from portmapper, you must set the ARTCPPORT variable. For
example, if the port number is 2020, type the following command at a DOS
prompt:
set ARTCPPORT=2020
Options You can specify the following options in any order on the command line.
Specify attributes within double quotes:
-a
-f
Deletes all user or group requests from the cache on the specified target
machines before reloading from the source machine. The arreload
utility deletes requests submitted by the source machine only if you do
not specify this option. In multithreaded server environments where
access control is being managed remotely (using arcache), the existing
cache requests might have been submitted from different machines.
Specifying this option causes requests submitted from any server other
than the source machine to be lost from the cache of the target
machines because all requests are deleted from the cache, regardless of
their source. Specifying this option has no effect if access control is
being managed locally (that is, the local machine is the only server
submitting requests to the cache), unless the server has been renamed
or moved to a different machine. In that case, this option is useful for
clearing out obsolete definitions that are no longer recognized as being
related to the local server, and would otherwise not be removed. This
helps avoid duplicate records that can corrupt the cache.
-g
Specifies the name of the source form for reloading group requests
(required if you do not specify the -u option).
-h
Specifies the name of the server if you have added a Server-Name value in
the ar configuration file. If you have a value for Server-Name, and you use
arreload without the -h option, arreload will use the default server name
rather than the name specified by Server-Name.
-p
Specifies the password for the user specified by the -a option (required
if a password is defined for that user).
-s
Specifies the name of the source form for reloading user requests
(required if you do not specify the -g option).
-d
Runs the program in debug mode. Messages are printed to stdout and
detail the progress of each operation being performed. Use this mode
to diagnose problems with the arreload process only.
Environment ARCONFIGDIR
UNIX only—Specifies the directory where the ar.conf file and other
AR System configuration files are stored. If you do not set this variable, this
directory defaults to <ar_install_dir>/conf.
Examples Connect as Admin (using the password fun4me) and delete all user requests
from the access control cache of all AR System servers. Reload the cache on
all machines from the User form on the current machine. An example
follows, the attributes are enclosed in double quotes:
arreload -u “User” -a “Admin” -p “fun4me” -f
Reload the cache on all machines from the Group form and the User form on
the current machine. An example follows, the attributes are enclosed in
double quotes:
arreload -u “User” -g “Group” -a “Admin” -p “fun4me” -f -d
Note: You can disable arreload with a setting in the ar.conf (ar.cfg) file. When
the setting is active you can still run arreload, but it has no effect on the
server, and the cache does not get flushed.
Files UNIX—$ARCONFIGDIR/ar
arsignal (arsignal.exe)
Description The arsignal utility forces an AR System server to load or reload
information. The process can be run on any machine.
Causes the server to reload group and data dictionary information from
the database.
-l
Causes the server to update internal Alert user information using the
details provided in sigArgument. For more information, see the BMC
Remedy white paper, “Using a Hardware Load Balancer with AR System
<version number> Servers.” White papers are available from the
Customer Support website at http://supportweb.remedy.com.
MM/dd/yy Month, Day, Year (leading zero for single-digit months, leading 01/01/05
zero for single-digit days, two-digit year) 01/15/05
MM/d/yyyy Month, Day, Year (leading zero for single-digit months, four- 01/1/2005
digit year) 01/15/2005
MM/d/yy Month, Day, Year (leading zero for single-digit months, two- 01/1/05
digit year) 01/15/05
M/dd/yyyy Month, Day, Year (leading zero for single-digit days, four-digit 1/01/2005
year) 1/15/2005
M/dd/yy Month, Day, Year (leading zero for single-digit days, two-digit 1/01/05
year) 1/15/05
dd/MM/yy Day, Month, Year (leading zero for single-digit days, leading zero 01/01/05
for single-digit months, two-digit year) 15/01/05
dd/M/yyyy Day, Month, Year (leading zero for single-digit days, four-digit 01/1/2005
year) 15/1/2005
dd/M/yy Day, Month, Year (leading zero for single-digit days, two-digit 01/1/05
year) 15/1/05
d/MM/yyyy Day, Month, Year (leading zero for single-digit months, four- 1/01/2005
digit year) 15/01/2005
d/MM/yy Day, Month, Year (leading zero for single-digit months, two- 1/01/05
digit year) 15/01/05
yyyy/MM/d Year, Month, Day (four-digit year, leading zero for single-digit 2005/01/1
months) 2005/01/15
yyyy/M/dd Year, Month, Day (four-digit year, leading zero for single-digit 2005/1/01
days) 2005/1/15
yy/MM/d Year, Month, Day (two-digit year, leading zero for single-digit 05/01/1
months) 05/01/15
yy/M/dd Year, Month, Day (two-digit year, leading zero for single-digit 05/1/01
days) 05/1/15
Format Example
MMMM dd, yy January 01, 05
MMMM d, yyyy January 1, 2005
MMMM d, yy January 1, 05
MMM dd, yyyy Jan 01, 2005
MMM dd, yy Jan 01, 05
MMM d, yyyy Jan 1, 2005
MMM d, yy Jan 1, 05
Day formats
The following table lists the available era formats in AR System User
Preference form.
Day Format Description Examples
EEEE Long day format. The day is Friday, Thursday.
displayed in full.
EEE Short Day format, three characters Fri, Thu.
only.
Time formats
The following table lists the available time formats available in the AR System
User Preference form.
Time Format Description Examples
h:mm:ss a Time in 12-hour format (no leading 1:23:45 AM, 10:23:45 PM
zero for single digit hours)
hh:mm:ss a Time in 12-hour format (leading 01:23:45 AM, 10:23:45 PM
zero for single digit hours)
H:mm:ss Time in 24-hour format (no leading 1:23:45, 22:23:45
zero for single digit hours)
HH:mm:ss Time in 24-hour format (leading 01:23:45, 22:23:45
zero for single digit hours)
Additional characters
If you need to include additional characters in your custom date or time
display, include them in single quotes.:
Format Example
‘Date’ MM/dd/yy Date 01/01/05
‘Time’ hh:mm:ss a Time 01:23:45 AM
The Server Events form enables you to capture server-related activities and
use them in workflow and API programs. You can select the server events
that you want to record, search and view the returned entries, and create
workflow to notify companion servers and interested clients of server
changes that could them.
The following topics are provided:
Understanding the Server Events form (page 366)
Using server events in workflow (page 384)
For information about setting Server Event options, see “Server
information—Server Events tab” on page 176.
For AR System 5.1 servers, see the Using a Hardware Load Balancer with
AR System 5.1 Servers whitepaper.
ForAR System 6.0 servers, see the Using a Hardware Load Balancer with
AR System 6.0 Servers whitepaper.
The options on the Server Events tab of the Server Information dialog box
enable you to specify which activities you want to record to the form. For
more information about selecting Server Events options, see “Server
information—Server Events tab” on page 176.
The Server Events form is similar to other AR System forms. You can add
additional fields and workflow to it, but you cannot delete the five reserved
fields, which are discussed in the following section.
800 AR_RESERV_SVR_EVENT_TYPE
801 AR_RESERV_SVR_EVENT_CAUSE
802 AR_RESERV_SVR_EVENT_DETAILS_1
803 AR_RESERV_SVR_EVENT_DETAILS_2
804 AR_RESERV_SVR_EVENT_DETAILS_3
These five fields distinguish the Server Events form from all other forms.
There can be only one Server Events form in the AR System database;
therefore, only one form contains the five reserved fields specific to the Server
Events form: 800, 801, 802, 803, 804.
There are two primary instances in which a Server Events form can be
created.
Case 1: When the server starts, the server will create the Server Events form
automatically if the form does not already exist in the AR System database.
If you delete the Server Events form, the server will automatically
regenerate the form the next time the server is started.
Case 2: If you create your own Server Events form, you will need to supply
default values with the correct data type for the required core fields. If the
Server Events form already exists and you try to create a form with the five
reserved fields, the server will return an error when you try to save the
form. Error checking will not allow the existence of more than one Server
Events form.
The Server Events form can be viewed and modified using BMC Remedy
Administrator or driver. You can also rename the Server Events form.
However, if any of the five reserved fields are removed, the form will no
longer be a valid Server Events form.
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_SCHEMA 1
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_FIELD 2
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_CHARMENU 3
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_FILTER 4
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_IMPORT 5
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_ACTLINK 6
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_ESCAL 7
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_VUI 8
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_CONTAINER 9
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_USERS 10
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_GROUPS 11
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_SVR_SETTINGS 12
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_CHG_ALERT_USERS 13
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_ARCHIVE_DONE 14
#define AR_SVR_EVENT_SERVGROUP_ACTION 15
These numbers are meaningful when you are viewing the events recorded in
the Server Events form. For more information, see “Viewing the server
changes you recorded” on page 370.
User/Group changes
When users or groups are added, modified, or deleted, an event is logged in
the Server Events form.
For user changes, the user change event type is logged in the Event Type field,
the event cause (user added, modified, or deleted) is logged in the Event
Cause field, and the entry ID and name of the user is recorded in the Event
Details field.
For group changes, the group change event type is recorded in the Event
Type field, the event cause (group added, modified, or deleted) is recorded in
the Event Cause field, and the entry ID and name of the group is recorded in
the Event Details field.
For a complete list of user and group changes, see Table E-2 on page 374.
User and group changes are recorded in the following cases:
User added, modified, or deleted using the User or Group form
User or group changes using the arcache utility
User or group changes using the arreload utility
Archive activity
When an archive activity is performed, an event is logged in the Server Events
form.
For a complete list of archive changes, see “Viewing archive activity” on
page 382.
Only the numeric values for Event Type and Event Cause are returned, and
only a brief description is provided in the Event Details field. Use the tables
that follow to look up the description that corresponds to the type number
and cause number of the server event for which you need information.
In the Event Details 1 field, the object names recorded for the Set calls are the
names of the objects before the Set operation. Therefore, if an ARSetSchema call
renames the form from AA to BB, AA will be the form name recorded in the
Event Details field for the server event.
For “Set” API calls, if the name of the object is changed, the Event Details 2
field will contain the old name of the object, and the Event Details 1 field will
contain the new name. If the name is not changed by the Set call, the Event
Details 2 field will contain a NULL datatype.
In the Event Details fields, semicolons separate multiple items. There are no
spaces after the semicolon, and the spaces after the semicolon in the table
below were added for display clarity. The string recorded in the Event Details
fieldscanhavemaximumlengthsof255bytes(AR_MAX_SVR_EVENT_DETAILS),not
including the NULL. If the value to record in the Event Details fields exceed
the maximum, the value will be truncated.
Table E-1: Server object changes
8 63 ARSetVUI vui ID; vui name form name old vui name
8 64 ARCreateVUI vui ID; vui name form name
8 65 ARDeleteVUI vui ID; vui name form name
9 75 ARSetContainer container name old container
name
9 76 ARCreateContainer container name
9 77 ARDeleteContainer container name
An AR Import API call can result in many server object changes, but this
event will be recorded as one server event. Therefore, even though one
Import call can add or modify several forms, filters, and active links, the
server will record these changes as an Import object change event, and the
Cause field will contain the RPC call number of ARImport.
Table E-3: Server setting changes
Datatypes values
The following are datatype values for the Server Events form. For example,
for server setting changes, the Event Details 1 field records the datatype and
value. The datatype is recorded as 0, 2, and 4, corresponding to the datatypes
in the following table.
2 Integer AR_DATA_TYPE_INTEGER
If foo were running on specific port 2033, then the action would be
constructed as follows:
arsignal -g foo:2033
Overview
AR System 7.0 is introducing version 2.0 of Business Time. This version
enables you to define periods of time as available or unavailable. Business
time can be defined using time segments that can be workdays, holidays, or
any other activity that occurs in a business environment.
The AR System business time functionality is applicable to global enterprises
with multiple regional centers:
Businesses can use the availability function to block periods of time by
region. For example, a customer might want to make certain functions
unavailable for Japanese offices during Golden Week in Japan.
Businesses can use the Business Time function according to their own
rules for shift work during work days and during holidays. The customer
can define the different shifts (for example, the evening shift and the
morning shift) and the holidays to capture their work environment.
Different offices can set up different holiday and break schedules. A
central administrator can enter and manage business time and holidays
for all international locations in different time zones.
Architecture
The Business Time Segment form is the main business time form and is used
to define segments of time. These time segments can then be used to define
any kind of activity.
If you used the Business Time Holidays and Business Time Workdays forms
in prior releases, you can still use them to define holidays and workdays with
the old set of Business Time commands. However, in Business Time 2.0, all
activities (including holidays and workdays) are defined in the Business Time
Segment form. A new set of commands work off the time segments defined
in the Business Time Segment form.
The “offset” that was previously available in the Business Time Workdays
form is now available in the Business Time Segment form. The functionality
provided by the old Business Time commands (Add, Subtract, and Diff) will
also be provided by the 2.0 Business Time commands; however, all future
enhancements will happen only to Business Time 2.0.
The Business Segment-Entity Association form associates an entity to one or
more time segments in the Business Time Segment form.
Following is a summary of forms you can use to define Business Time 2.0:
Business Time Segment—Defines time segment as available or
unavailable, optionally on a one-time or a recurring basis.
Business Time Shared Entity—Stores detailed information about the
entity used in the Business Segment-Entity Association form. An entity is
a generic object such as an asset, categorization, or location.
Create an entity only if you need to associate a time segment to it. Once an
entity is created, it can be reused from there on. (You do not need to create
a new one.)
Business Segment-Entity Association—Stores associations between
entities (such as assets, change requests, and groups, individuals,
companies, and locations) and activities that apply to those objects. It
associates records in the Business Time Segment and Business Time
Shared Entity forms in a many-to-many fashion.
Business Segment-Entity Association_Join—Used for query purposes.
Acts as a join form between the following forms:
Business Segment-Entity Association
Business Time Segment
Business Time Shared Entity-Entity Association_Join_Join—Used for
query purposes. Acts as a join form between the following forms:
Business Time Shared Entity
Business Segment-Entity Association_Join
These forms contain fields with IDs that AR System recognizes. You can
change the name of the forms, but do not make copies of them because the
AR System server will not be able to find the correct form for finding business
schedules.
You can use the following forms with the old Business Time commands:
Business Time Workdays—Defines a weekly schedule with four time
segments.
Business Time Holidays—Defines holidays, which can be entire days or a
time segment within a day.
Figure F-1 shows the relationships between these forms.
Architecture 387
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Scheduling Holidays
Business Time Business Segment- Business Time
Business Time
Shared Entity form Entity Association Segment form
Holidays form
form
Note: If you upgrade your Business Time objects from version 5.0, delete the
filter BusWk:ValidateTimes02. This filter is not intended for use on
AR System versions 5.1 and later.
Step 1 Define any combination of time segments, business hours, and business
holidays.
Using the list of Time Segment IDs, Workday IDs, and Holiday IDs, the
Business Time component in AR System builds a list of available and
unavailable time windows for every day in the list of IDs.
For example, consider an entity that has a Workday schedule from 8:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m., and two activities associated with it. The first time segment
defines an available time window at a Level 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.,
and the second time segment defines an unavailable time window at Level 4
from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The Business Time component in AR System
computes the final time window list for a day as shown in the following
figure.
Level
6
Understanding levels
Levels define a priority between different time segments, and a higher level
time segment takes precedence over lower-level time segments. Levels can be
from 1 to 1000.
Levels 1 and 2 have special meaning. Level 1 time segments are “available”
and can be used to define workdays. Level 2 time segments are “unavailable”
and can be used to define holidays. Other time segments at Level 3 and above
can be either “available” or “unavailable.”
For all Business Time commands, a higher-level time segment takes
precedence over lower-level time segments, except for the Application-Bus-
Time2-Get-Free-Window command. See “Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Free-
Window” on page 404 for more information.
For time segments that are the same level, the order of overlapping activities
is not guaranteed. The business component in AR System will determine the
final list for these time segments in the order they are retrieved.
2 In the ID field, enter a unique identifier. Use this identifier to reference the
time segment in workflow.
The identifier can be non-unique in special cases. For more information, see
“Migrating Workdays and Holidays to the Business Time Segment form” on
page 419.
3 In the Description field, enter a description for the time segment.
4 In the Availability field, select Available or Unavailable.
5 For the Enable option, select Yes to enable the time segment.
Do not select Yes if you want to temporarily disable the time segment.
6 In the Level field, select a level.
Business Schedule Activities have a default level of 3, but this level can be
changed to a number from 1 through 1000.
If the schedules for two activities or business hours and holidays conflict, the
event with the highest number takes priority.
See “Creating non-conflicting segments” on page 390 for more information
about levels.
7 In the Category field, enter a description for the category.
This field helps determine what type of schedule time segment the item is (for
example, blackout, maintenance, and so on.) Although it is not a required
field, it can help you categorize your time segments.
8 In the Action field, select one of the following options:
Note: You must add items to the Non-Conflicting Activities field to find
conflicting items. If you do not, the time segment you originally entered
will be used. See step 14 on page 394 for more information.
Note: When this action is chosen, the AR System business time subsystem
finds the next free time and creates an entry in the Business Time Segment
form. If this entry is not needed, select Remove, and an escalation will
delete it.
13 In the End Date Search Range field, enter the last date to search for an
available time slot within the specified Start Date and End Date. (The default
is the End Date plus six months.)
The Start Date Search Range field is set to the Start Date and Start Time.
14 In the Non Conflicting Activities field, enter the IDs of the Business Times
Workdays, Business Time Holidays, and Business Time Segment definitions
to check for schedule conflicts.
15 To find the next available time slot, click in the Next Free Date/Time field and
press ENTER.
This field is used only with the Find Next Free action.
The next free period for the time segment appears in the Next Free Date/
Time field. If the value is the same as the Start Date and Start Time, that time
is available. If the time is different, the original time that was specified for the
Start Date/Time was not available and the value represents the earliest
available time.
16 If this time slot is not acceptable:
a Save the form.
b Select the Find Next Free option.
c Search for the next free time slot.
17 Save the form.
Note: Business Time commands work only with Date/Time fields (not Date
fields).
Parameters
The following list describes the parameters for the Business Time commands.
Each parameter must be set apart in double quotation marks.
BusinessTimeSegmentName—Identifier indicating which entry in the
Business Time Segment form contains a definition for the activity to use
for this calculation. You can specify multiple business activity names.
Omitting this value specifies that no business activity is used for this
calculation.
EndTimeRange—A date and time value that defines the end of a search for
a time window.
Entity—Can be an asset, individual, group, company, location, or
anything you want to link a schedule to.
HolidayScheduleName—For old Business Time commands, an identifier
indicating which entry in the Business Time Holidays form contains a
definition for the holiday schedule to use for this calculation. Omitting
this value specifies no holidays.
LatestEndTime—Working in conjunction with the EarliestStartTime,
specifies the time range within which the free window should exist. (The
Duration parameter must be less than this range.) The specified duration
must be less than this range. For example, if the earliest time is 4:00 p.m.
and the latest end time is 10:00 p.m., then a window is returned that is
duration seconds long and starts after 4:00 p.m., even if there is a window
exists that is before 4:00 p.m. If the duration is greater than the specified
time range, no value is returned. If the LatestEndTime is not specified, the
default of 24 hours (midnight) is used.
Level—An integer value indicating the level of the time segment to be
scheduled. The value can be an integer from 1 through 1000.
Amount—An integer value of 0 or greater that specifies an amount of time
to offset the start time by. If not specified, Amount defaults to 1. 0 can be
used to indicate the next available time. For example, if your open hours
are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and the Start Time in Application-Bus-Time2-
Add, Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Add, and Application-Bus-Time-
Add commands is 7:00 a.m., the return value is 8:00 a.m.
StartTimeRange—A date and time value that defines the start of a search
for a time window.
WindowFlag—A bitmask value with:
Application commands
Application-Bus-Time2-Add
The Application-Bus-Time2-Add command performs a business time
calculation by starting with the start time and resulting in a new time that
adds the requested offset. The command returns a timestamp representing
the time calculated. Use this command to recalculate time into the future.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Add calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Add “<StartTime>” [“<Amount>”
[“<Amount_Units>” [“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>”
“<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… ]]]
This adds one day to the value that currently resides in Field Name. Show
Field Name as StartTime. Set the offset unit to 4, representing days, and set
the offset to 1, thus adding one day into the calculation. The final syntax
looks like:
$PROCESS$ Application-Bus-Time2-Add “$8/26/2004$” “1” “4”
Application-Bus-Time2-Diff
The Application-Bus-Time2-Diff command performs a business time
calculation by computing the difference between the start time and the end
time. The return is an integer representing the difference in seconds. Use this
command to compare two different times (start time and end time) to get the
actual business time.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Diff calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Diff “<StartTime>” “<EndTime>”
[“<HolidayScheduleName>” [“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>”
“<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… ]]
Application-Bus-Time2-Subtract
The Application-Bus-Time2-Subtract performs a business time calculation
by starting with the start time and resulting in a new time that subtracts the
requested offset. The command returns a timestamp representing the time
calculated. Use this command to recalculate time in the past.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Subtract
calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Subtract “<StartTime>” [“<Amount>”
[“<Amount_Units>” [“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>”
“<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… ]]]
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Next-Window
The Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Next-Window command returns the start
of the next available or unavailable time segment that is <Duration> seconds
long. If <Duration> is 0 (the default), the command returns either the start of
available time segment or the start of unavailable the time segment.
Additionally, depending on the <WindowFlag>, the command will return one
time segment or all the time segments between <StartTimeRange> and
<EndTimeRange>.
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Free-Window
The Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Free-Window command returns the start
of the next available or unavailable free time segment at the same level or a
higher level that is <Duration> seconds long. A free time segment at Level
<Level> and Duration <Duration> is one where no other time segment at the
same or higher level as <Level> overlaps, or starts or ends in the <Duration>
of this time segment. After a free time segment is obtained, it can be created
as available or unavailable. The default value for duration is 0. If <Duration>
is 0, it returns the next available time segment.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Free-Window
calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Free-Window “<StartTimeRange>”
“<EndTimeRange>” [“<Level>”] [“<Duration>”]
[“<EarliestStartTime>”] [“<LatestEndTime>”]
[“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>” “<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… ]
Level
6
Example 2
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Window "7/12/05 11:00:00 AM" "7/15/05
3:00:00 PM" 2 3600 "11:00:00 AM" "" "" "Work1" "Act1" "Act2" "Act3"
In the example, if the Earliest Start Time for Level 2 was 11:00 a.m., then the
return value at Level 2 will be 1121292000 (July 13, 2005, 3:00 p.m.).
Example 3
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Window "7/12/05 11:00:00 AM" "7/15/05
3:00:00 PM" 2 3600 "5:00:00 AM" "2:00:00 PM" "" "Work1" "Act1"
"Act2" "Act3"
If the Earliest Start Time was 5:00 a.m. (or if it is not specified), and if the
Latest End Time was 2:00 p.m., then the return value at Level 2 will be
1121270400 (July 13, 2005, 9:00 a.m.).
Example 4
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Window "7/12/05 11:00:00 AM" "7/15/05
3:00:00 PM" 2 7200 "" "" "" "Work1" "Act1" "Act2" "Act3"
If the duration required was 2 hours, then for Level 2, "" is returned.
Example 5
Application-Bus-Time2-Get-Window "7/12/05 11:00:00 AM" "7/15/05
3:00:00 PM" 4 7200 "" "" "" "Work1" "Act1" "Act2" "Act3"
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Add
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Add
calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Add “<StartTime>” [“<Amount>”
[“<Amount_Units>” [“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>”
“<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… [-e "EntityID1" "EntityID2"… ]]]]
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Diff
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Diff
calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Diff “<StartTime>” “<EndTime>”
[“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>” “<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… [-e
"EntityID1" "EntityID2"… ]]
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Subtract
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Subtract
calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Subtract “<StartTime>” [“<Amount>”
[“<Amount_Units>” [“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>”
“<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… [-e "EntityID1" "EntityID2"… ]]]]
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Get-Next-Window
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Get-Next-
Window calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Get-Next-Window “<StartTimeRange>”
“<EndTimeRange>” “<Duration>”“<WindowFlag>”
[“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>” “<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… [-e
"EntityID1" "EntityID2"… ]]
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Get-Free-Window
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc-Get-Free-
Window calculation:
Application-Bus-Time2-Assoc--Get-Free-Window
“<StartTimeRange>” “<EndTimeRange>” “<Level>”
“<Duration>”“<EarliestStartTime>” “<LatestEndTime>”
[“<BusinessTimeSegmentName1>” “<BusinessTimeSegmentName2>”… [-e
"EntityID1" "EntityID2"… ]]
Application-Get-Next-Recurrence-Time
Recurrence is defined by a set of fields in the range from 2300 to 2341 and
contains recurrence patterns. These fields can be defined on any form, and
the Application-Get-Next-Recurrence-Time command is provided to get
the next time. For all the recurrence time calculations, ICU library functions
are used.
The Application-Get-Next-Recurrence-Time command performs a
recurrence time calculation by starting with the start time and finding
recurrence times based on the specified recurrence definition name. The
return value is a semicolon-separated list of dates (in seconds).
The command syntax is as follows:
Application-Get-Next-Recurrence-Time <FormName> <StartTime>
<RecurrenceDefinitionName>
weekly is an entry in the form that contains the recurrence fields, such as the
Business Time Segment form. The weekly entry is defined as Wednesday and
Friday, every 3 weeks.
The return value is 8456890, which corresponds to 4/16/04 10:30:00 AM.
Calling Application-Get-Next-Recurrence-Time again returns
8345345;834999, corresponding to 4/21/04 10:30:00 AM and 4/23/04
10:30:00 AM.
Scheduling workdays
The Business Time Workdays form stores the day-to-day availability of each
of your groups and individuals, and a record of your company or location’s
business hours.
Business time in AR System is calculated on the AR System server where the
start and end times on any given day must be in the range of 0–24 hours. Any
business time outside this range is considered invalid.
The General tab appears. Here you can specify a unique identifier for a
workday definition and the list of open and close times for workdays you are
defining.
2 In the Name field, enter a unique identifier. Use this identifier to reference
this schedule in all business hours calculations.
3 In the Submitter field, enter the name of the user who submitted the first
version of this schedule.
4 Use the Change History field to track structural or administrative changes to
the definition.
5 In the Help Text field, enter the purpose of the schedule.
6 (Optional) In the Offset Hours field, enter the number of hours you want to
offset from the time on the server.
Use the Offset Hours field to adjust a client business time to a server business
time. An example of a special case is a valid business time on the client that is
several time zones away from the server. The time on the client becomes
invalid on the server if it crosses midnight after the time zone adjustment.
For more information, see “Using offset hours in Business Time 2.0” on
page 399.
7 Click the Time Schedules tab.
Note: Create separate schedules for Daylight Savings Time as needed based
on locale and conventions for that locale.
Scheduling holidays
Use the Business Time Holidays form to define all scheduled holidays and
other non-working days. A holiday can be either a full day or a few hours.
Keep in mind that, due to shift work, holidays might span over midnight.
3 In the Schedule Name field, enter the unique identifier for this holiday
schedule. Use this identifier to reference this schedule in all business hours
calculations.
Important: Enter the same name that you entered in the Name field of the
Business Time Workdays.
4 In the Holidays field, list the holidays that make up the holiday schedule.
Enter holiday time as <date>,<start time>,<end time>. For example,
07/4/04,9:00:00 a.m.,5:00:00 p.m. is a holiday that starts at 9:00:00 a.m.
on
7/4/04 and ends at 5:00:00 p.m. on the same day.
Separate the dates by pressing Enter or by inserting semicolons between the
dates. There is no limit to the number of dates that can be specified in this list.
The holiday entry cannot span across midnight, and the Start time must be
less than End time. Holiday time uses the offset hours from the Workday
schedule.
Only short date/time format is currently supported in the Business Time
Holidays form. Long date formats (such as January 1, 2005) are not currently
supported.
The dates are interpreted on the server and follow the server formatting rules.
If clients are configured for other date formats and the dates entered in the
Business Time Holidays form are entered in a client format that is
incompatible with the server format, they will not be correctly interpreted as
holidays, or they might be interpreted as a different day than was planned.
For example:
7/4/04,,5:00:00 p.m.
For example:
For example:
7/26/04
In this case, the start time defaults to 12:00:00 a.m. and end time defaults to
12:59:59 p.m.
Adjusting the time across midnight
The implementation of business time calculations requires that Start Time be
earlier than End Time. However, when a holiday schedule crosses midnight,
such as when Start Time is 10:00:00 p.m. and End Time is 6:00:00 a.m., you
must adjust the holiday schedule:
To adjust using Holidays time, enter the start time as one day and enter
the end time on the next day. It would look like:
12/25/04,10:00:00 p.m.,11:59:59PM;12/26/04,12:00:00 a.m.,6:00:00
a.m.
Or:
12/25/04,10:00:00 p.m.,11:59:59 p.m.
12/26/04,12:00:00 a.m.,6:00:00 a.m.
To adjust using Offset Hours, take your original Start/End time, minus the
value from Offset Hours in the Business Time Workdays form to get the
adjusted time. You can use either a positive offset, which moves the times
earlier, or a negative offset, which moves the times later. The offset does
not have to be unique. You can choose any value as long as the adjusted
times fall into the 0- to 24-hour range. For example, if a holiday starts at
10:00:00 p.m. on 12/25/04 and ends at 6:00:00 a.m. on 12/26/04, you can
supply an offset of three hours to adjust the holiday time to start on
12/26/04 at 1:00:00 a.m. and end at 9:00:00 a.m. This adjusted time is
entered into the Holidays field following the format:
12/26/04,1:00:00 a.m.,9:00:00 a.m.
For example, a business’s Open Time is 9:00:00 a.m. and its Close Time is
5:00:00 p.m. However if the server is ahead of the client by 12 hours, the
business time of the client will be 9:00:00 p.m. and 5:00:00 a.m. The time
zone setting of the client would create an invalid business time calculation
because its schedule spans over midnight. Here you would specify a
positive offset number if the server is behind the client, or a negative offset
number if the server is ahead of the client.
In this example, use the Offset Hours feature to define a negative offset (-
12 offset hours). This action recalculates the time zone differences of the
client to an 0-24 adjusted range that is required by the AR System server.
The client’s Open Time becomes 9:00:00 a.m. and its Close Time 5:00:00
p.m.
Business hours that span midnight with different time zones.
In this circumstance, you have to derive the offset hour by considering
both factors. The goal is to specify the offset hours to adjust the Open and
Close Time to 0 to 24-hour range on server.
For example, the server is 6 hours behind the client in a different time
zones. On the client, the schedule is 8:00.00 p.m. and 4:00.00 a.m. Specify
a positive offset number (6), because the server is behind the client, to
adjust 8:00.00 p.m. and 4:00.00 a.m. on the client to be 8:00.00 p.m. and
4:00.00 a.m. on server. Then use 5 to adjust to the following calculation: 8
p.m. - 5 = 3 p.m., and 4 a.m. - 5 = 11 p.m. Considering both together, the
final calculated offset is 6 + 5 = 11.
Application-Bus-Time-Add
The Application-Bus-Time-Add command performs a business time
calculation by starting with the start time and resulting in a new time that
adds the requested offset. The command returns a timestamp representing
the time calculated. Use this command to recalculate time into the future.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time-Add calculation:
This adds one day to the value that currently resides in Field Name. Show
Field Name as StartTime. Set the offset unit to 4, representing days, and set
the offset to 1, thus adding one day into the calculation. The final syntax
looks like:
$PROCESS$ Application-Bus-Time-Add “$8/26/2004$” “1” “4”
Application-Bus-Time-Diff
The Application-Bus-Time-Diff command performs a business time
calculation by computing the difference between the start time and the end
time. The return is an integer representing the difference in seconds. Use this
command to compare two different times (start time and end time) to get the
actual business time.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time-Diff calculation:
Application-Bus-Time-Diff “<StartTime>” “<EndTime>”
[“<HolidayScheduleName>” [“<WorkdayScheduleName>”]]
Application-Bus-Time-Subtract
The Application-Bus-Time-Subtract performs a business time calculation
by starting with the start time and resulting in a new time that subtracts the
requested offset. The command returns a timestamp representing the time
calculated. Use this command to recalculate time in the past.
Use the following syntax for the Application-Bus-Time-Subtract
calculation:
Migrating Workdays and Holidays to the Business Time Segment form 419
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Select the End of Day check box to indicate the end of the day instead of
11:59:59 p.m.
The ID field on the Business Time Segment form is the same as the Tag
field on the Business Time Holidays form.
Problem Solution
You receive an error The error could be caused by a problem with the command name:
indicating that a process Check the spelling (including capitalization) of the command.
could not be run.
If running from an active link, did you specify to run the process on the
If from a filter, this error server (@servername: or @@: before the command name)?
would be logged in the
arerror.log file.
If from an active link, you
are likely getting a NULL
value or might be an error.
You are receiving errors The error could be caused by any of these problems:
about not being able to find Check the spelling of the schedule and activity names you specified, and
the workday or holiday entry make sure that corresponding names are in the Business Time Holidays,
you specified. Business Time Workdays, or Business Time Segment form.
Make sure you are using a holiday schedule name for holidays, a workday
schedule name for workdays, and an ID for scheduled activities.
Check the order of your parameters. Remember that all the parameters
are positional. You cannot omit parameters before the holiday or
workday identifiers.
Check the arguments for spaces. If there are spaces in an argument, you
must quote the value, or the value will be read as multiple arguments.
Check arerror.log to see if there is a report of a problem with the
Business Time Holidays or Business Time Workdays forms. As noted
above, the server finds these forms based on the presence of the key fields
that are present on these forms. If it finds two forms with the same fields,
it does not know which form is the correct one. You must delete the extra
copies of these forms to get back to a single instance of each.
Problem Solution
You are not getting a result Several issues could be causing this problem:
from the program or you are Make sure you are using the Set Fields $PROCESS$ syntax, not the Run
getting a result you do not Process action. There is a return from this process, so you must use the
expect. action syntax expecting a return.
Use filter or active link logging to report on the workflow. Is the filter or
active link firing? If it is, what does the command line look like? Did you
forget quotes around arguments that contain spaces? Do you have all the
arguments in the correct order? Did you leave out one or more
arguments? The arguments are positional. You can leave the optional
ones off the end, but if you supply them, they must all be present up to
the last parameter you want to supply.
Check the parameters; for example, the units parameter is a code for the
difference function. Are you using the code that matches the units you
want? Do you have the start and end time in the correct order for the
parameters? Do you have the holiday schedule name before the workday
schedule name?
Check the Offset Hours settings in the Business Time Workdays form.
Have you used the proper offset value? Are the calculated values correct
for your business? Do the results fall into a adjusted 0–24 hour range, or
do they span over midnight? For more information, see “Scheduling
workdays” on page 409.
Overview
Using processes instead of workflow, the Assignment Engine enables you to
automatically assign requests to individuals. When you install the
Assignment Engine, the following forms are installed:
Form name in BMC Remedy Form name in BMC Remedy User
Administrator
ASE:Administration Assignment Engine Administration
ASE:AssignAssoc_AssignForm ASE:AssignAssoc_AssignForm
ASE:AssignAssoc_AssignRules ASE:AssignAssoc_AssignRules
ASE:Assignment Association ASE:Assignment Association
ASE:Assignment Process Assignment Processes
ASE:Assignment Rules Assignment Rules
ASE:AssignmentDetail Assignment Details
ASE:DialogYesNo A dialog box; not listed in the Object List.
ASE:Form Information Assignment Forms
ASE:LocalizedString_MenuItems A menu; not listed in the Object List.
ASE:ProcessRuleForm ASE:ProcessRuleForm
ASE:SearchRulesDialog A dialog box; not listed in the Object List.
To set up assignments, you will need to use only a few of these forms, and
they are discussed in the following sections.
Step 1 Create a form that holds the assignees. (For simple applications, you could
use the User form to hold this information.) Add the appropriate
Assignment Engine fields on this form. (See page 428.)
Step 2 In the request form to which you want to assign users, create the fields that
the Assignment Engine will set on assignment. (See page 428.)
Step 3 Register the assignee and request forms to the Assignment Engine. (See
page 430.)
Rules—Shows all the rules that are in the Assignment Engine. If you want
to see the rules that are used by a specific process, select the process name
from the Show For Process list; all the rules used by that selected process
appear. The Rules tab also has a Related Processes table that shows the
process for the rule you select from the table. If the rule is used in more
than one process, the Related Processes table shows all the processes it is
used in.
Auto-assignment methods
The assignment method determines who is assigned to an issue when more
than one person matches the qualification and can be assigned the issue. The
following assignment methods can be specified in an assignment rule to
automatically assign an issue when more than one person matches the
qualification:
Round Robin—Assigns the issue to the person who has gone the longest
since receiving an assignment.
Load Balance by Number—Assigns the issue to the person who has the
fewest number of issues currently assigned.
Load Balance by Capacity—Assigns the issue to the person who has the
largest unused capacity. For example, if person A is currently assigned 5
issues and has a capacity rating of 10, and person B is currently assigned 8
issues and has a capacity rating of 20, person B has a relatively lighter load
and will be selected (8/20 < 5/10).
If two or more people qualify for an issue, the first person retrieved from the
database is used.
Last Assigned Time—An Decimal field used to obtain the last time an
issue was assigned to each possible assignee, and to set the last assigned
time for the successful assignee. This field is required only if you use the
Round Robin auto-assignment method.
Last Assigned Time—A Date/Time field used to obtain the last date and
time an issue was assigned to each possible assignee, and to set the last
assigned time for the successful assignee. This is an optional field.
3 Click Create to create assignee or request forms, or click Search to search for
assignment forms.
The Assignment Engine Forms dialog box appears.
4 From the Form Name menu list, select the assignee or request form for which
you want to build the assignment process.
5 In the Display Name field, enter a display name for the form you selected.
The display name will appear in the Form Name column on the Forms tab.
6 For Form Type, select Request form or Assignee form (depending on what
you chose in step 4).
The Request form is the form that is requesting the assignment, while the
Assignee form is the form contains the assignee information.
7 From the Status field menu, select Active.
If you do not want to use the form at this time, select Inactive.
8 Optionally, specify a Locale for this assignment form.
Note: If the Localize Server option (in BMC Remedy Administrator) is not
selected, then all records will appear, regardless of the client's locale.
Assuming that it is selected, some rules apply. See the Form and
Application Objects guide and the Configuring guide.
9 In the Assignee Group Permissions field, select the group to which you want
to give access.
10 On the Common Fields tab, enter the Assignee Unique ID.
This is the unique identifier for the assignee (an individual user). For
example, you might choose Request ID or Assignee ID.
11 Complete the optional fields:
a Assignee Group Unique ID—Specify the unique instance ID for the
assignee group.
b Assignee Name/Login—Login name or full name of the assignee, for
example, Login Name or Assigned Person.
c Assignee Delivery Method—Field in the assignee form used to store the
method to notify the assignee of the assignment.
If you specified Assignee Form for the Form Type, go to step 13 on page 433.
12 If you specified Request Form for the Form Type, click the Request Form
Fields tab and enter information in the fields, which are described on
page 429.
Note: Make sure that you specify a different Form Name and Display Name
for the assignee forms.
14 Click Save.
3 In the Process Name field, enter a descriptive name for the process.
4 In the Request Form field, select a form that creates the requests to which you
want to assign users.
5 Optionally, enter a description of the process.
6 Click Create to create a new rule.
See “Adding assignment rules” on page 436 for more information.
7 Specify a sequence for the rules.
The rules will apply according to the order in which they appear. See “Setting
sequencing for rules” on page 438.
Note: The order of the rule in the process matters; that is, the rules that are
most specific should be at the top of your list because the Assignment
Engine goes through the rules from top to bottom and makes an
assignment when it finds a match.
Note: Unrelating a rule from a process removes its relationship with the
assignment process, but retains the rule for use by other assignment
processes.
A alerts (continued)
access control mapping through firewalls 326
group list 110 mid tier 216
User form 108 queue 30
accrue operator registration activity, with server events 369
full text search 248 server architecture and 22
accrue searches 254 time-out 129
accruing results with FTS 249 verifying users who receive 140
active links, run process directory and shell 169 viewing 214
activity, business web-based, list 216
creating 391 alias for server name 127
viewing associations 396, 397 allowing
adding guest users 113, 137
assignment forms 430 unqualified searches 137
assignment rules 436 API
admin queue 29 architecture and 22
administrator operations, disabling 139 log file 143
Administrator Preference form 50 version 135
administrator-only mode 138 appending to existing log file 144
advisory mode, source control 174 Application Licenses field 111
aging passwords 116 application services password 155
Alert Events form 213 AR Export file 287–289
alerts ar file 300
See also Remedy Alert AR System Portmapper
alert client registration 184 overview 35
architecture 212 registering 152
configuring server 202 AR System server
disabling 139 configuring 124
escalation 214 ID 131
log file 143 scalability 27
Index 441
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
442 Index
Configuring
Index 443
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
444 Index
Configuring
Index 445
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
446 Index
Configuring
J load balance
Java API 21 by capacity assignment method 427
JSP engine 20 by number assignment method 427
load-balanced environment, using with server
K events 366
keys, license 39 local preferences 49
local server password, DSO. See DSO
L locale 75
licenses localizing error messages 169
Add/Remove Licenses window 40 log files
applying alert 143
manually 41 API 143
new 40 append to existing 144
current 106 arforkd 144
exporting 43 backup 144
fixed write 105, 131 buffer logged lines 145
floating write 105, 131 data import log 227, 244
full text search 250, 276 Distributed Server 143
Import Licenses window 45 escalation 143
importing 45 filter 143
keys 39 log per thread 145
license pools 108 options 142
Manage User Licenses window 106 plug-in 144
maximum number of forms 131 server groups 144, 189
multiserver 38 server information 141
obtaining new 40 settings 141
overview 38 SQL 143
pools 108 threads 143
read 104 trace mode 141
registered users 106 users 143
releasing floating 107 log per thread 145
restricted read 104, 111 logging in
server groups 187 authentication alias 116
server information 130 Authentication field 121
submitter mode 131 User Name field 118
tab in Server Information dialog box 130 user prompt 133
transferring server 42 logging, full text index 271
types 38, 104, 111, 131 Login dialog box, authentication alias 118
user 105 Login Name field, User form 109
limitations logins, unique 122
full text search 264
list queue 31 M
literal search 256 Manage User License dialog box 105
mandatory preference server 51
Index 447
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
448 Index
Configuring
Index 449
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
450 Index
Configuring
Index 451
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
452 Index
Configuring
V
validating passwords 165
variable, environment 36
vendor form 23
verifying alert users 140
view form 23
viewing
alerts 214
group changes 374
server changes 370
server object changes 371
user changes 373
W
web
See also mid tier
centralized preferences 102
default path 168
Remedy Configuration Tool for mid tier 21
server
definition 20
web services
architectural overview 25
Index 453
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
454 Index
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