Installing and starting dispatchers and bridges

Each supported platform has its own dispatcher installation program, included and installed during the BMC Release Package and Deployment or BMC Release Lifecycle Management installation process. Use the procedure to install the dispatcher only if you want to install a dispatcher on another computer without using the product installation program. 

To use the BMC Release Package and Deployment 5.0 features and enhancements, you need to upgrade dispatchers and bridges to version 5.0. For more information, see Upgrading. You can also continue using the old bridges by setting an additional property under System > Settings. For more information, see Dispatchers and bridges.

This topic contains the following information: 

Before you begin

Depending on your platform, locate the appropriate installer in the Install directory:

• Windows systems dispatcher installer: 
  RLMinstallationFolder/releases/productVersion/RPD/install/dispatch_setup.exe. 
  All Windows releases use the same installer. On Windows, server updates are loaded into the console and all remote systems are updated automatically. The Windows servers support UTF8 and double-byte code pages for international languages.

• UNIX-based systems dispatcher installer: 
  RLMinstallationFolder/releases/productVersion/RPD/install/dispatcher_linux.tar.gz.
• AIX systems dispatcher installer:
  RLMinstallationFolder/releases/productVersion/RPD/install/dispatcher_aix.tar.gz.
• Solaris systems dispatcher installer:
  RLMinstallationFolder/releases/productVersion/RPD/install/dispatcher_solaris.tar.gz.

To install the dispatcher on another computer without using the product installation program, copy the appropriate setup program to the target computer and run it there.

Installing the dispatcher/bridge on Windows

1. Run the dispatch_setup.exe file.
2. Select the folder where you want to install the dispatcher. The default location is C:\Program Files\BMC Software\RLM Dispatcher.
3. Click Install.

Installing the dispatcher/bridge on UNIX

Install the bridge/dispatcher on a UNIX platform by running the install-dispatcher.sh script.

1. Log in as a superuser (root).

2. Run the following script: ./install-dispatcher.sh.

3. When the script prompts you for the user name, enter your username, or press Enter. For example, below is the example of the prompt for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6:

   Selected dispatcher binary file: dispatch-LinuxRHEL6-x86_64
   Enter the account name for the dispatcher to run as [root]:

    

   The example of the correct processing output for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6:

     Creating /opt/bmc/dispatcher
     Copying dispatch-LinuxRHEL6-x86_64 to /opt/bmc/dispatcher/dispatch-LinuxRHEL6-x86_64
     Copying nshrunner to /opt/bmc/dispatcher
     Setting permissions on /opt/bmc/dispatcher
     Setting permissions on /opt/bmc/dispatcher/dispatch-LinuxRHEL6-x86_64
     Creating /etc/init.d/bmcrlmqdispatch
     Setting permissions on /etc/init.d/bmcrlmqdispatch
     Creating /etc/sysconfig/bmcrlmqdispatch
     Enabling bmcrlmqdispatch service
     Starting bmcrlmqdispatch
     Starting dispatch-LinuxRHEL6-x86_64: [  OK  ]

The installation of the bridge/dispatcher is completed and its service is runnig. For more information on the upgrade of the new bridges for Linux, see Upgrading to the new dispatchers and bridges for Linux.

Starting and stopping the dispatcher

To start the dispatcher:

• In Windows: Navigate to Windows Services, select BMC Release Lifecycle Manager - Dispatcher, and click Start.

• In Linux: In a shell command prompt, run service bmcrlmqdispatch start. 

• In other UNIX operating systems:

  • In other UNIX systems, run the following command:
    /etc/init.d/bmcrlmqdispatch start 

  • In AIX systems, run the following command:
    /etc/rc.d/init.d/bmcrlmqdispatch start

To stop a dispatcher:

• In Windows: Navigate to Windows Services, select BMC Release Lifecycle Manager - Dispatcher, and click Stop.

• In Linux: In a shell command prompt, run service bmcrlmqdispatch stop.

• In other UNIX operating systems:

  • In other UNIX systems, run the following command:
    /etc/init.d/bmcrlmqdispatch stop

  • In AIX systems, run the following command:
    /etc/rc.d/init.d/bmcrlmqdispatch stop

Controlling the dispatcher user

By default, a dispatcher runs as a root or administrator user on the computer where it is installed. It runs commands as the particular user, and any files it creates are owned by that user.

To change the default user, you do one of the following:

• Change the service configuration for the dispatcher (use xinetd on UNIX or Services on Windows) to start the dispatcher as a specific user.
  In this case, the dispatcher always runs actions as a specified user and ignores the VL_USER property.
• (For UNIX-based systems only) On the channel template or channel, set VL_USER to the user name that the dispatcher will assume when running. The value must be a valid user on the target computer. In this case, the dispatcher starts as a root or administrator but changes to the specified account before doing any real work. If no VL_USER value is set, commands run as a root or administrator.

Because different properties can be defined on each channel, multiple connections to a physical computer can run as different users. If the dispatcher cannot validate the VL_USER account name, it cancels the command. You do not need a password. Because the dispatcher is already a root or administrator, it does not need a password to become a lesser user.