This topic describes the basic steps used to create, register, and
distribute a IBM Director agent extension. To better understand the steps and
requirements of IBM Director server-to-agent communication, read the
topics listed below in "Related topics."
Subtopics
Related topics
Related sample code
You can create an agent program (agent) that runs on a IBM Director managed system
and provides services for IBM Director server tasks (server tasks).
To provide services, an agent must accept, process, and respond
to requests initiated by a server task.
An agent program is structured as follows:
Steps |
Description |
Initialization |
Create a service node, etc. |
Command processing loop |
Receives and processes requests, provides response |
Cleanup and completion |
Possibly terminates |
Refer to Communication sample or
File Explorer sample
for sample code that demonstrates how a IBM Director agent communicates with a Director
server task.
Note: If an agent service is started multiple times by the same server
or by different servers, only one instance of the program is actually started.
All other starts are use counted on the managed system where the agent resides.
Your agent service program must be able to handle this condition.
Before a IBM Director Server task can use a IBM Director agent, the
new IBM Director agent service extensions must be registered in the svcmgr.ini
file.
Make sure you save existing IBM Director agent registrations by backing up
the svcmgr.ini file in the Program Files\IBM\Director\bin directory.
Registering an agent service is a two step process:
- Step 1: Create a new file named svcmgr.ini
-
-
Run TWGSVCEE.EXE in a directory other than the one which contains
svcmgr.ini.
TWGSVCEE.EXE is installed with the IBM Director SDK in
the itdsdk21\bin directory. When you run TWGSVCEE.EXE, you will
see a window similar to the following:
-
Enter the appropriate information in the fields, save (Add) the information,
and exit. (The window shown in this document contains information for the File Explorer sample.)
-
Service Connection Name
-
Specifies the name of the service node this agent will use to receive requests.
-
Application Base Name
-
Specifies the name of the agent program (for example, myagent.exe).
-
Application base parameters
-
Specifies the command line parameters for
the agent program, if any.
Note: The agent service cannot
be sensitive to command line parameter order.
-
Auto-start and stay loaded
-
Specifies to launch the agent program when the Director
IPC is started.
The command line parameter /INIT is appended
to the command line parameters specified above.
-
Start on demand
- Specifies to launch the agent program on demand.
-
Start initially and on demand
- Specifies to launch the agent program when the Director
IPC is started, and also on demand.
-
Prevent Suspend Mode
- When checked, the IPC will endeavor to inhibit suspension
of the agent program after it is started.
-
Run base in its own session
- This option has different meanings for different operating system platforms:
- Windows
- Starts the agent program in minimized mode
- OS/2
- Starts the agent program using DosStart
- Novell
- N/A
-
Run base detached
- This option has different meanings for different operating system platforms:
- Windows
- Starts the agent program in hidden mode
- OS/2
- Starts the agent program using DosEXE
- Novell
- N/A
-
When running TWGSVCEE.EXE, a new svcmgr.ini file is created in the
same directory as TWGSVCEE.EXE.
Rename this new svcmgr.ini to newsvmgr.ini and copy it
to the directory containing the original svcmgr.ini (typically
x:\Program Files\IBM\Director\bin, where x: is the drive on which Director
server is installed).
-
Step 2:
From the \Program Files\IBM\Director\bin directory, run twgmrgsi.exe to merge
the new file with the copy of the original file.
-
The syntax is:
TWGMRGSI merge new_file.ini
where new_file is the name of the file you created from
svcmgr.ini.
In this procedure the filename used is newsvmgr.ini.
The new entry is merged into the svcmgr.ini file.
The new service entry will not be recognized until the IBM Director agent is restarted.
A new agent service can be packaged and distributed using the
Custom Package Editor feature of the IBM Director software distribution task.
The following steps demonstrate how to build an agent distribution package:
-
Create a simple batch or command file which contains the TWGMRGSI merge command,
for example, twgmrgsi merge newsvmgr.ini.
-
Create a custom software distribution package:
-
Select the Files tab and add the appropriate agent files and the batch/command
file from step 1.
Do not select the Move subdirectories with parent option.
-
Select the desired platform tab and enable distribution to the platform
type.
-
Set the Destination Directory to \Program Files\IBM\Director\bin.
-
Set Post Distribution Action to Restart Computer.
-
Set the Execute Post-Distribution program to be the merge batch/command
file created in step 1.
-
Save the software package.
-
Distribute the software package to a managed system.
When the targeted system is restarted, the new service should be available.