Working With Mapped Drives, UNC Paths, and TM_TUXIPC_MAPDRIVER

This page explains mapped drives (Windows share drives) and the use of UNC paths for PeopleTools application server and Process Scheduler server. When a PeopleTools domain is started on a Windows machine, it runs under the user for whom the ProcMGR Windows service has been configured. As such, the domain processes inherit the privileges of that user and not the user logged on to the system.

By default, the ProcMGR runs as the Local System account. While the Local System account has most privileges on the local host, it can't usually access UNC paths or mapped drives.

Note:

ProcMGR is the Windows service that is responsible for allocating resources to Tuxedo domains.

Accessing UNC Paths and Mapped Drives

To allow PeopleTools domain processes to access UNC paths or mapped drives, it is necessary to start the ProcMGR service using an account that has access to these resources. This is typically a Windows domain account. A domain account refers to an account that logs a user ID on to both a machine and the corporate network. This account has been created by the network administrator. An example of such an account would be COMPANY_NAME\psftuser.

The ProcMGR should be configured to start as the domain account. On the Log On tab of the service configuration dialog, select the option This account: and enter the credentials of the domain account.

UNC Paths

If you plan to use UNC paths to access PS_HOME you must start PSADMIN using a UNC Path. For example:

\\ptinstalls\pt853\APPSERV\psadmin.exe

With the ProcMGR service set to a domain account, you can use PSADMIN to create and configure domains as if PS_HOME were on the local file system.

Mapped Drives

Additional steps are required if you plan on using a mapped drive for your PS_HOME or PS_CFG_HOME. These additional steps are required because Windows services do not recognize mapped drives. However, Oracle Tuxedo provides a mechanism by which the ProcMGR service is permitted to access network drives, which involves defining any mapped drives using an additional environment variable, TM_TUXIPC_MAPDRIVER. If this environment variable has not been set, the domain processes will be unable to recognize the network drives.

To make sure that the TM_TUXIPC_MAPDRIVER variable is visible to the ProcMGR service, it is necessary to set it globally, as a System environment variable. For example, set TM_TUXIPC_MAPDRIVER to:

N:=\\198.51.100.123\PTInstalls

Important:

The mapped drive cannot point directly to PS_HOME. The mapping must point to the parent directory above PS_HOME. For example, if PS_HOME is N:\\198.51.100.123\PTInstalls\pt850, TM_TUXIPC_MAPDRIVER should point to N:\\198.51.100.123\PTInstalls. PTInstalls is the parent directory of \pt850, which would resolve to N:\pt850.

Note:

When mapping network drives to the PS_HOME is located, make sure to select Reconnect at logon.

Note:

The working directory for psadmin.exe, must always be mapped to a letter drive, such as C:, D:, N:, and so on. When starting psadmin.exe, you must do so from the command line (or script) by referencing the full mapped working directory, such as \\ptinstalls\pt851\APPSERV\psadmin.exe. Launching psadmin.exe outside the current working directory (as in, using Start, Run) will cause psadmin.exe to function incorrectly. This restriction is imposed by Tuxedo.