5 Installing Eloquence on the Linux platform
Configuring the eloqsd server
Eloquence A.06.00 no longer has an eloqd server. Beginning with this release, the former eloqd has been renamed to eloqsd. This has been done to improve the interoperability of Eloquence A.06.00 with previous releases on the same system.
The eloqsd server is an important part of Eloquence. It is responsible for the following task:
- Eloqsd coordinates the TASKID values.
- Eloqsd provides file sharing capabilities for the new graphical Eloquence development environment.
- Eloqsd is used to start eloqcore processes in the background.
- Eloqsd is used to count active users and does validate it against available user licenses.
- Eloqsd optionally provides a HTTP interface so server status information can be queried with a web browser.
Eloquence A.06.00 implements file sharing capabilities for the new graphical development environment through the eloqsd server. This makes it independent of the availability of specific network file systems (NFS/ SMB) and overcomes inappropriate limitations.
Running an eloqsd server on your system is not mandantory unless you are using eloq (providing virtual terminal capabilities). However, when no eloqsd process is active, TASKID values are no longer unique and are set to 1 by default.
In order to run the eloqsd server it is required to adapt your system configuration. This involves the following steps:
- Configuring the eloqsd TCP service
- Configuring the default eloqsd account and group
- Configuring the eloqsd server startup
- Configuring the eloqsd server
Configuring the eloqsd TCP service
You may want to define the eloqsd service names in your /etc/services file. This is optional, as you can specify the port number directly in the eloqsd.cfg configuration file.
Please add a line like below to your /etc/services file:
eloqsd 8100/tcp # Eloquence A.06.00 eloqsd server
the first column specifies the service name (eg. eloqsd) and the second column the associated port number and protocol (eg. 8100/tcp). The selected port numbers may not already be in use by another programs.
NOTE: All systems must use the same port numbers in order to communicate.
Configuring the default eloqsd account and group
The eloqsd server requires you to specify an account and group name in the configuration file. Whenever eloqsd is started with root capabilities it will switch to the specified account/group instead. This is required, because for one it is generally not a good idea to run programs with root capabilities unless necessary, on the other hand this is used as the default account and group for users accessing files through the eloqsd or starting a background process.
While you can specify any user or group account in the configuration file, we recommend to create a specific user account and group for Eloquence which is used by the eloqsd server.
We recommend to create the user account eloqsd and the group eloqsd which should have the account eloqsd as a member. You should "disbale" the eloqsd account (by putting an asterisk in the password) to prevent logins using the eloqsd account.
Configuring the eloqsd server startup
You can start the eloqsd server from your startup configuration script when the operating system is starting up.
# Start Eloquence eloqsd server
/opt/eloquence6/bin/eloqsd
Configuring the eloqsd server
The eloqsd server is configured by editing the eloqsd.cfg, eloqsd.user and eloqsd.share configuration files. They are located in the Eloquence configuration directory. All configuration files provide complete inline documentation and are included at the end of this section for your reference.
The Eloquence configuration files are located in the directory /etc/opt/eloquence6. Each configuration file is responsible for a specific part of the eloqsd configuration:
- eloqsd.cfg
- This is used for the general configuration of the server.
- eloqsd.user
- Eloqsd provides its own user configuration. This makes it possible to define eloqsd users without the need to have a system account for each individual user. Instead eloqsd users are associated with system accounts and groups.
- As passwords are defined in this file we consider it good practice to make this file unreadable for regular users. You should chown it to root and chmod id to 400.
- eloqsd.share
- This configuration file is used to define resources which can be accessed through the eloqsd server.
The eloqsd command line options
The eloqsd server supports the following command line options which can be used to temporarily override configured settings in the eloqsd.cfg configuration file.
usage: eloqsd [options]
options:
-help = show usage (this list)
-c name = configuration file
-d flags = debug mode
-l name = log file name (or console/syslog/default)
-f = run in foreground
-s name = service name (tcp/ip transport)
-F facility = syslog facility (USER/DAEMON/LOCAL0..LOCAL7)
-I ident = syslog identifier
| Option | Description | Equiv.* |
| -c name | Specifies the configuration file name | |
| -d flags | Specifies the server log flags. | LogFlags |
| -l name | Specifies the server log file. | LogFile |
| -f | Run in foreground. This is used for debugging the eloqsd server. | |
| -s name | The service name (as defined in /etc/services) or the port number where the server should listen for requests. The default value is eloqdb6. | Service |
| -F facility | When logging to the syslog daemon, you can define a syslog facility (USER/DAEMON LOCAL0..LOCAL7) | SysFacility |
| -I ident | When logging to the syslog daemon, you can define a syslog syslog identifier. The default is eloqsd | SysIdent |
*Equivalent configuration file directive.
The eloqsd HTTP status display
When the ServiceHttp is defined in the eloqsd.cfg configuration file, you can use a WEB browser such as Netscape to view the configuration and state of the eloqsd process in your network.
To access the eloqsd server, you need to provide a URL like below:
http://server:port/
where server is the host name or IP number of the system running the eloqsd server and port is the port number used for serviceHttp in the eloqsd.cfg file.
Eloquence Installation and Configuration - 19 DEC 2002