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.