7.7  Editing the Desta Registry

The Desta Registry contains information gathered about the user and the system during the installation process. Additionally, you can configure WEBES and SEA by making changes to the registry using the desta dri commands.

Note


In Windows, the WEBES registry is stored in the DESTA.REG file in the svctools installed directory tree, and should not be confused with the Windows Registry.


The desta dri commands allow you to add, view, edit, and remove registry keys.

Note


In OpenVMS, key names and parameters are always put in quotes in order to preserve mixed-case names and values. For example:
desta dri get "KeyName"


Adding a Registry Key

The desta dri add command creates the key within the registry. This command does not assign any values to the key, but you must create it before you can edit it. To add a key to the registry, enter the following:

desta dri add key_name

Viewing a Registry Key

The desta dri get command displays the current value assigned to a key. If the key returns a value of "null" (for example, CA.WUI.OLMsgWait=null) it does not exist, and you will need to add it before attempting to make any changes. To view a key, use the get command:

desta dri get key_name

Editing a Registry Key

The desta dri set command allows you to enter one or more values for an existing registry key. Multiple values can be assigned by entering a comma-separated list in quotation marks. To edit a key, use the set command:

desta dri set key_name parameter_value

When entering a comma-separated list:

desta dri set key_name "value1,value2,..."

Removing a Registry Key

The desta dri del command deletes all of the assigned values, and removes the key from the registry. To remove a key, use the del command:

desta dri del key_name

7.7.1  Configuring the Message Wait Timeout

The CA.WUI.OLMsgWait key allows you to set the message wait timeout value for the web interface. For example, you may be experiencing timeouts when loading the list of log files using the Other Logs link. By default, the value is 45 seconds. To reset the timeout to 90 seconds, add and set the key in the Desta Registry.

Windows, Tru64 UNIX, HP-UX, and Linux

  1. Add the key to the registry if it does not already exist:
desta dri add CA.WUI.OLMsgWait

  1. Set the value of the key to 90 seconds:
desta dri set CA.WUI.OLMsgWait 90

  1. View the new value of the key:
desta dri get CA.WUI.OLMsgWait
The system displays the following:
CA.WUI.OLMsgWait=90

  1. To implement the change, restart the Director (See sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director).

OpenVMS

  1. Add the key to the registry if it does not already exist:
desta dri add "CA.WUI.OLMsgWait"

  1. Set the value of the key to 90 seconds:
desta dri set "CA.WUI.OLMsgWait" 90

  1. View the new value of the key:
desta dri get "CA.WUI.OLMsgWait"
The system displays the following:
CA.WUI.OLMsgWait=90

  1. To implement the change, restart the Director (See sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director).

7.7.2  Configuring Additional Log File Directories

In order to add saved log files to the web interface's navigation tree, files can be saved under the svctools directory, or in one or more directories you specify by editing the Desta registry.

To add log files which are saved in directories outside of the svctools path, you must first add the full path of each directory to the CA.WUI.OLDirs key. Multiple directories are added using a comma separated list.

For more information on Log Files, see Section 4.4.4.

Windows, Tru64 UNIX, HP-UX, and Linux

Follow these steps:

  1. Add the key to the registry if it does not already exist:
desta dri add CA.WUI.OLDirs

  1. Set the new value for the key using the full path of each directory:
desta dri set CA.WUI.OLDirs "directory1,directory2,..."
For example, in Windows you would enter:
desta dri set CA.WUI.OLDirs "c:\morelogs,d:\evenmorelogs"
  1. View the new values for the key:
desta dri get CA.WUI.OLDirs
In Windows, the system displays the following:
CA.WUI.OLDirs=c:\morelogs,d:\evenmorelogs

  1. To implement changes, restart the Director (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director).

To delete the key and remove all directories from the search list, enter:

desta dri del CA.WUI.OLDirs

OpenVMS

Follow these steps:

  1. Add the key to the registry if it does not already exist:
desta dri add "CA.WUI.OLDirs"

  1. Set the new value for the key using the full path of each directory:
desta dri set "CA.WUI.OLDirs" "directory1,directory2,..."

  1. View the new value for the key:
desta dri get "CA.WUI.OLDirs"

  1. To implement changes, restart the Director (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director).

To delete the key and remove all directories from the search list, enter:

desta dri del "CA.WUI.OLDirs"

7.7.3  Enabling Text Entry in Other Logs Pane

When enabled, the text entry field in the Add Logs screen allows users to add log files by entering the path and filename for an event log located anywhere in the file system (Figure 7–3. For more information, see Section 4.4.4 and Figure 4–16).

Figure 7–3 Add Log Files Tab with Text Entry Field Enabled

Click for Larger Image

When entering a file name into the text entry field (Figure 7–4), the log file must have a .sys, .evt, .zpd, or .errlog extension. If you wish to add a file with a different extension, you will need to rename the file so it uses an acceptable file extension.

Figure 7–4 Text Entry Field

Click for Larger Image

The text field can only be enabled for users you specify in the CA.WUI.OLText key. It cannot be enabled for all users unless you list each user individually.

Note


The list of usernames assigned to the CA.WUI.OLText key corresponds to the user profile entered by the user at the SEA Logon screen (see Section 4.2). SEA profiles and usernames are not related to the id a user enters to log onto a machine, and they are not authenticated by SEA during the logon process. It is therefore the responsibility of those with knowledge of text entry enabled user profiles to protect them from unauthorized use (i.e., not allowing open access to event logs anywhere on the system).


Windows, Tru64 UNIX, HP-UX, and Linux

Follow these steps:

  1. Add the key to the registry if it does not already exist:
desta dri add CA.WUI.OLText

  1. Set the values for the key by entering a single username, or a comma-separated list of usernames:
desta dri set CA.WUI.OLText "username1,username2,..."
For example, in Windows you would enter:
desta dri set CA.WUI.OLText "bill,ted"

  1. View the new values for the key:
desta dri get CA.WUI.OLText
In Windows, the system displays the following:
CA.WUI.OLText=bill,ted

  1. To implement the change, restart the Director (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director).

To delete the key and remove the text field for all users, enter the following:

desta dri del CA.WUI.OLText

OpenVMS

Follow these steps:

  1. Add the key to the registry if it does not already exist:
desta dri add "CA.WUI.OLText"

  1. Set the values for the key by entering a single username, or a comma-separated list of usernames:
desta dri set "CA.WUI.OLText" "username1,username2,..."

  1. View the new values for the key:
desta dri get "CA.WUI.OLText"

  1. To implement the change, restart the Director (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director).

To delete the key and remove the text field for all users, enter the following:

desta dri del "CA.WUI.OLText"

7.7.4  Controlling Memory Usage

The WEBES Director and Analyzer subprocesses run within a Java environment on all the supported operating systems. WEBES can override the default maximum amount of memory used by the Director process and any Java subprocesses that the Director spawns.

WEBES controls the memory usage by setting the following two DESTA registry entries:

In Java, the heap is the main block of memory that is allocated by the process. Setting the maximum size of the heap controls how much memory the process can allocate.

The following examples show the registry entries with values set:

Note


WEBES is installed with default heap settings. It is only necessary to adjust the values if you are having problems with out-of-memory errors.


7.7.4.1  Circumstances Requiring Memory Changes

If the Director hangs or terminates unexpectedly, check the Director log files (see Section 1.12 for more information on log files). If the log files contain errors mentioning "out of memory" conditions, one of the following conditions may apply:

If the Java memory limits are responsible for the problem, you can raise the memory limits applied to the Director process and its subprocesses. After the limits have been increased, you can restart the Director and perform the actions that caused the out of memory error. The limits can be set as high as necessary, and are only constrained by the memory and paging space available on the system.

To determine which registry entry to change, find the "out of memory" message in the Director log file. All messages from the subprocesses start with a ">" character at the beginning of the line. If the "out of memory" messages begin with ">" characters, as in the following example, then the subprocess heap limit needs to be raised.

> java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
> at sun.misc.Resource.getBytes(Resource.java, Compiled Code)
> at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java, Compiled Code)
...

The contents of the error message can vary widely. The important element is the OutOfMemoryError, which can be claimed by Java or other parts of the runtime system.

If the messages do not contain ">" characters at the beginning of the line, as in the following example, then the Director heap limit needs to be raised.

EXCEPTION java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
at com.compaq.svctools.ca.services.eventreaders.ReaderContext.readEvent (ReaderContext.java, Compiled Code)
at com.compaq.svctools.ca.services.eventreaders.ReaderContext.getEvent (ReaderContext.java, Compiled Code)

7.7.4.2  Changing Memory Settings

Before you begin changing the memory settings, check the current registry values to establish a baseline for your changes.

You can view the current values for the Director heap registry entry with the following commands:

desta dri get desta.director.maxHeapSize
desta dri get "desta.director.maxHeapSize"

You can view the current values for the subprocess heap registry entry with the following commands:

desta dri get desta.subprocess.maxHeapSize
desta dri get "desta.subprocess.maxHeapSize"

Once you have established a baseline value, you can modify the memory settings using the procedure for setting the heap size. The procedure varies slightly depending on your operating system.

Tru64 UNIX

To designate the maximum heap size for the Director set the value of the registry key:

  1. Set the value of the registry key by entering the following command at the command prompt:
# desta dri set desta.director.maxHeapSize XXm
Where XX is the desired heap size in megabytes.
  1. Restart the Director so the desta startup script will find the new heap setting and use it for the Director process. (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director.)

To set the maximum heap size for subprocesses, use the following procedure:

  1. Set the value of the registry key by entering the following command at the command prompt:
# desta dri set desta.subprocess.maxHeapSize XXm
Where XX is the desired heap size in megabytes.
  1. Reset the subprocess command line in the desta registry by entering the following command at the command prompt:
# desta setsub

  1. Restart the Director so the startup script will find the new heap setting and use it for all subprocesses. (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director.)

OpenVMS

Java on Windows and Tru64 UNIX uses more memory as needed up to the imposed limits. However, on VMS Java allocates the entire maximum heap size at startup for the lifetime of the process. Besides using the following commands to raise the heap sizes, you can also use them to reduce the heap sizes if the defaults are too resource-intensive for your system. Be aware that reducing the values limits the event processing that the Director can perform, and reducing them too much can cause the Director to fail during normal operation.

To designate the maximum heap size for the Director set the value of the registry key:

  1. Set the value of the registry key by entering the following command at the command prompt:
$ desta dri set "desta.director.maxHeapSize" "XXm"
Where XX is the desired heap size in megabytes.
  1. Restart the Director so the desta startup script will find the new heap setting and use it for the Director process. (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director.)

To set the maximum heap size for subprocesses, use the following procedure:

  1. Set the value of the registry key by entering the following command at the command prompt:
$ desta dri set "desta.subprocess.maxHeapSize" "XXm"
Where XX is the desired heap size in megabytes.
  1. Delete the subprocess command line registry key by entering the following command at the command prompt:
$ desta dri del "desta.Subprocess.CommandLine"

  1. Restart the Director so the startup script will find the new heap setting and use it for all subprocesses. (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director.)

Windows

To set the maximum heap size for the Director process, adjust the value of the registry entry:

  1. Set the value of the DESTA registry key with the following command:
C:\> desta dri set desta.director.maxHeapSize XXm
Where XX is the desired heap size in megabytes.
  1. Restart the director so the desta service will find the new heap setting and use it for the director process. (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director.)

To set the maximum heap size for subprocesses, use the following procedure:

  1. Set the value of the registry key by entering the following command at the command prompt:
C:\> desta dri set desta.subprocess.maxHeapSize XXm
Where XX is the desired heap size in megabytes.
  1. Restart the Director so the Java code will find the new heap setting and use it for all subprocesses. (See Sections 1.7 and 1.8 for information on stopping and starting the Director.)