Managing a Portable PS_HOME

After the initial installation of a single PS_HOME, that PS_HOME can be referenced, shared, and used as PS_HOME for any host server requiring the PS_HOME binaries for running PeopleSoft servers. Using a single, shared PS_HOME is the simplest, most efficient, and recommended approach.

However, the PS_HOME file system is portable, meaning the PS_HOME directory structure is self-contained and the content within it functions independent of a specific host or file path location. For example, if a system administrator elects to have a PS_HOME on each PeopleSoft server host, that PS_HOME file system can be moved or copied to additional locations on the network where it can be referenced by new PS_CFG_HOMEs, without requiring any additional setup program runs or manual configuration within the PS_HOME file system.

Using this portability, system administrators only need to run the PeopleTools installation program once to create the initial PS_HOME and then copy that PS_HOME to other required locations throughout the network. Likewise, PeopleTools maintenance can be applied only to one PS_HOME file system, which can then be copied to other locations.

Note: For efficient copying, PS_HOME can be compressed (zipped) to reduce network traffic.

For example, assume a PS_HOME has been installed on Host_A. A system administrator can copy that PS_HOME to a local directory on Host_B. The system administrator can launch PSADMIN, and begin configuring and booting application server domains, Process Scheduler domains, and PIA domains, without making any changes to the copied PS_HOME. When those domains are configured, the system automatically registers that PS_HOME location in PS_CFG_HOME/peopletools.properties

When the time comes to apply maintenance, the EMF agent crawling process discovers the PeopleSoft Home and database information from the domain configuration. Specifically, the PS_CFG_HOME/peopletools.properties file associates that PS_CFG_HOME with the appropriate PS_HOME installation (which is the PS_HOME from which the administrator launched PSADMIN to create the PS_CFG_HOME). The system stores the PS_HOME location in the installlocation key of the PS_CFG_HOME/peopletools.properties file. For example:

installlocation=C\:\\PT8.58

For UNIX, because the location of PS_HOME is relative, you need to make PS_HOME the current working directory prior to launching PSADMIN (PS_HOME/appserv/psadmin). For example, you need to make the current working directory PS_HOME prior to sourcing psconfig.sh, which does not contain a hard-coded path to PS_HOME. The psconfig.sh script derives the location of PS_HOME from the context in which it runs.

Note: The same physical PS_HOME may be mounted at different file system locations from different contexts (from different hosts and PS_CFG_HOMEs), which means the PS_HOME path appears differently for each of the mount contexts.

A single PS_HOME can be shared in situations where the system administrator decides new application server or Process Scheduler domains need to be created on a host, but the system administrator does not want to install PeopleTools again to create a local PS_HOME.

  1. On Machine X, the system administrator installs PeopleTools to /u01/product/psft/pt/8.58.

  2. On Machine Y, the system administrator creates a mount point to the remote PS_HOME that resides on Machine X. This mounted PS_HOME is at /mnt/psft/pt/8.57.

  3. On Machine A a domain administrator logs in, opens a shell, changes directory to PS_HOME at /mnt/psft/pt/8.57 and sources psconfig.sh.

  4. On Machine A a domain administrator starts PSADMIN and creates, configures and starts application server, Process Scheduler, or PIA domains.

  5. The steps 2-4 are repeated on any other host where PeopleSoft servers are to be created.

If you intend to use the Environment Management Framework for applying updates to your system, you will need to set PS_AGENT_HOME. For more information on PS_AGENT_HOME, see Configuring an Environment Management Agent.