Working with Alternate PS_CFG_HOME Locations
Domains can exist on the same physical machine or a different physical machine than where the PS_HOME directory resides. That is, multiple domains on different machines can leverage a single installation of the PeopleSoft binary files (PS_HOME) installed on a location accessible through your network.
This section discusses how to specify and work with alternate PS_CFG_HOME locations.
The value of the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable determines where PSADMIN installs a domain. If you accept the default location of PS_CFG_HOME, this environment variable does not need to be specified. However, if you intend to install your domains in a different location, you need to override the default by setting the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable prior to launching PSADMIN.
For UNIX and Linux, you can:
Set the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable in the psconfig.sh file. However, if you hard code the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable in psconfig.sh other users will not be able to use the same PS_HOME for different PS_CFG_HOMEs. All users of the same PS_HOME would invoke the same psconfig.sh, and therefore see their domains in the same PS_CFG_HOME.
Set PS_CFG_HOME in the startup script for the platform/shell, resulting in the automatic inheritance of the environment variable when a user signs on.
For Windows, you can set PS_CFG_HOME through the Control Panel in the user variables interface, or issue a SET command prior to starting PSADMIN. For example,
C:\>SET PS_CFG_HOME=n:\psftdomains
C:\>cd pt850\appserv
C:\pt850\appserv>psadmin
In this case, any domains created during this PSADMIN session would be created in n:\psftdomains\appserv.
Note: If you elect to operate in the same fashion as previous PeopleTools releases (where the configuration files and the binary files exist within the same directory structure) set PS_CFG_HOME = PS_HOME.
Use the %V meta variable if you wish to keep all of your PS_CFG_HOMEs together without needing to set PS_CFG_HOME each time you install a new PeopleTools version.
For example, you could set the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable as follows:
PS_CFG_HOME=C:\PeopleTools\installs\%V
If using the %V meta variable, assume you have installed two versions of PeopleTools: PT8.50 and PT8.51. In this case, PSADMIN automatically maps the %V to the PeopleTools version, creating the following PS_CFG_HOME locations:
C:\PT\installs
\8.50-00
\8.51-00
Use the %K variable if you wish to store PS_CFG_HOMEs by patch level. That is, while %V stores the files by version (8.50–00, 8.51–00), %K stores files down to the patch level. For example, using %K, a PS_CFG_HOME may look similar to:
C:\PT\installs
\8.53
\8.53-01
\8.53-03
When using PSADMIN with alternate locations of PS_CFG_HOME, make note of the requirements discussed in this section.
Working with Remote PS_HOME Locations
If you intend to install your domains on a separate machine from where PS_HOME resides, keep these items in mind:
The network location to where PS_HOME resides must be mapped to from the machine where PS_CFG_HOME resides.
If a domain references a PS_HOME on a mapped drive, problems may arise if the drive letter or path is changed after initially creating the domain. If a drive mapping changes, the domain definitions may reference invalid path information. In the event of mapped drive changes, shut down the existing domains and reconfigure (or recreate) the domains.
If PS_HOME resides on a remote server, the operating system of the PS_HOME server and the PS_CFG_HOME server must match. PeopleTools binaries are native to a platform.
Installing Necessary Components
While you can leverage a single, remote installation of PeopleTools, the server on which PS_CFG_HOME resides must have any additional components installed locally, such as Tuxedo, database drivers, ODBC connectivity information, and so on, depending on your implementation.
Ensuring that PS_CFG_HOME is Set Appropriately
Only domains installed within the current PS_CFG_HOME directory can be administered by PSADMIN. That is, the list of domains to administer that PSADMIN displays depends on the value of the PS_CFG_HOME variable. PSADMIN does not aggregate a domain list across multiple locations.
Assume that you have domains installed under these two PS_CFG_HOME directories:
N:\psftdomains\appserv
M:\psftfomains\appserv
Assume also that on server N domain 1 and domain 2 are installed, and on server M domain 3 and domain 4 are installed.
If you launch PSADMIN from server N, where PS_CFG_HOME, by default, is set to N:\psftdomains\appserv, you will only be able to view and administer domain 1 and domain 2.
Domains created on machine N, can only be configured on machine N. There are settings in the domain PSTUXCFG file that bind a domain to its host. You can not boot or configure a domain from a different machine.
Note: The user creating and configuring domains in PSADMIN must have write access to the PS_CFG_HOME location.
Note: You can have multiple PS_CFG_HOME locations on the same host server, but you will need to make sure the PS_CFG_HOME is set appropriately prior to starting PSADMIN, or my using the Switch Config Home PSADMIN option.