UNIX Start-up

To start AcuConnect on a UNIX server, you use the "acuconnect -start" command. If you have an unrestricted user license, you can run this command without consideration of special licensing software. If you have a license for a limited number of users or processes, you must make sure that a utility called "acushare" is running or accessible before starting AcuConnect. Read the section below that applies to you.

Unrestricted Sites

To start AcuConnect on a UNIX server with an unrestricted user license, first log on as the DEFAULT-USER and then use the "su" command to gain root or superuser privileges. Once you have root or superuser privileges, you can issue the "acuconnect -start" command using any of the optional arguments discussed in "acuconnect Command Formats".

Note: we do not recommend being logged on as root or superuser when you start AcuConnect, because runtimes subsequently spawned on the server inherit the environment of the user who started AcuConnect. By logging on as DEFAULT-USER and using the "su" command, you ensure that any users mapped to the DEFAULT-USER account do not have more privileges than you intend.

When you issue the "acuconnect -start" command, acuconnect is started in the background. If acuconnect is already running, AcuConnect will output the message:

acuconnect is already running on hostname

A new acuconnect process will not be started. If you want to start AcuConnect with new options, you must stop and restart acuconnect.

To start acuconnect whenever the server boots, add the "acuconnect -start" command to the system boot file. Your entry might be similar to the following:

In C Shell:

#

# If the acuconnect executable is present,

# start acuconnect

if  -f  /acucobol/acuconnect  then

   echo Starting acuconnect > /dev/console

   /acucobol/acuconnect -start \

    -e /acucobol/acuconnect.log

endif

In Bourne Shell:

#

# If the acuconnect executable is present,

# start acuconnect

if  (test -f  /acucobol/acuconnect)  then

   echo Starting acuconnect > /dev/console

   /acucobol/acuconnect -start \

    -e /acucobol/acuconnect.log

fi

Restricted Sites

For sites with a restricted user license, AcuConnect relies on acushare to monitor and enforce the site license. If you modified the root user's PATH environment variable to contain the directory where you installed AcuConnect (acucobol4x/bin by default), then acushare starts automatically when required by AcuConnect. You can follow the instructions for an unrestricted site to start AcuConnect.

If you did not modify the root user's PATH variable, then you must start acushare manually before starting AcuConnect. To do this, change to the directory where you installed AcuConnect and issue the "acushare -start" command. On UNIX systems, acushare runs as a background server process that responds to requests from various runtimes. If desired you can include the following option:

acushare -start [ -e errorfile ]

Typically, you will want to have acushare automatically start each time you boot your system. To do so, add lines similar to the following to your system startup file:

  if [ -f /acucobol4x/bin/acushare ]; then
	 echo Starting acuconnect shared-code and license daemon > /dev/console
	 /acucobol4x/bin/acushare -start > /dev/console
   fi

Once you have acushare running or accessible to your system, you can issue the "acuconnect -start" command as described in the previous section.

Note: There is usually no reason to stop acushare. In fact, you are advised not to kill acushare with conventional methods. You should halt acushare only with its own "-kill" option or with the UNIX "kill -9" command. The "-kill" option is highly recommended because it causes acushare to perform an orderly shutdown, so you avoid manual cleanup. The only time "kill -9" can be used safely is during system shutdown.

If you kill acushare with "kill -9", then you have a disorderly shutdown, and you will need to manually clean up shared memory and the message queues. You can do this with the UNIX utility "ipcrm". Use "ipcs" and acushare's key, "0x01DCF4C9", to determine acushare's id number (id#) in the message queue and in the shared memory queue. Then type the command "ipcrm -q id#" to clear the message queue, and then "ipcrm -m id#" to clear the memory queue.

See Also

The acuconnect Command