Controlling Server Operation
The conventional notion of a DCE application server assumes that a server is running, waiting for client requests to service. While this is an effective model for some general server operations, it does not offer the flexibility needed by DCE applications. Commercial environments will likely have many kinds of servers. Some may need to be constantly available while others may be needed only at certain times of the day. Still others may be needed on an infrequent or unpredictable basis.
An application programmer or administrator could solve these kinds of problems by writing a script or application that monitors server operation, automatically starting or restarting servers when necessary. Such solutions frequently rely on host utilities like startup and shutdown programs or schedulers like cron. However, this often requires administrators to log into separate system administration accounts on each host. Moreover, this approach places more burden on developers and administrators to devise independent server control mechanisms which may not be portable, especially in heterogeneous environments.
DCE solves some of these problems by providing a server control facility which offers a variety of ways to control DCE application servers. The server control facility is part of the DCE daemon (dced) so servers can rely on it wherever the dced runs. Additionally, the facility's administration functions are accessible via dcecp so administrators can use consistent (portable) methods to manage servers from any host where dcecp is available. Furthermore, access to the server control facility is authenticated, preventing unauthorized or accidental tampering of server control information.
The following topics show some common configuration needs and describe ways to configure and unconfigure servers, how to start and stop servers, and how to view server information.
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Common Server Configuration Needs
Listing and Retrieving Server Configuration Information
Disabling and Enabling Services
Extending Server Configurations
Changing Server Configurations
Checking Whether Servers Are Running