Managing the Global Directory Agent

Configure the GDA using the DCE configuration program; the GDA requires little management once it is configured. (See OSF DCE Administration Guide - Introduction for details on configuring the GDA.)

The GDA is typically started and stopped automatically by scripts that execute as part of normal system startup and shutdown procedures. Sometimes, however, you may want to use commands to stop and restart a GDA. Once you have configured GDA with the DCE configuration program, you can use these steps to start and stop GDA.

The GDA runs as a process called gdad. To start the gdad process, follow these steps:

1. Make sure that a CDS server is already running somewhere within the cell.

2. Log into the system as superuser (root).

3. Enter the following command to see if the dced process is already running:

# ps

If the dced process appears on the list of active processes, proceed to step 5. If the dced process does not appear on the list of active processes, enter the following command to start the process:

# dced

4. Enter the following command to start the cdsadv process:

# cdsadv

5. Enter the following command to start the gdad process:

# gdad

To stop the GDA, enter the following command:

# kill pid

where pid is the process identifier of the gdad process.