Base

2.5.0

none

none

Fri Mar 7 11:32:18 MET 2008

sbin/desksrv(4.1.0u0710)

hpia64 linux linuxppc macosx macosx86 rs6000 sol4 solx86

desksrv performance and desktop file location enhancements

Performance enhancement for running dt tool scripts

The desktop server has a new option to relocate the .Desktop
database outside of the volume directory. This has the
following advantages:
- Avoid problems when the volume runs out of free disk space.
- Performance enhancement using the desktop database on an
idle disk.
- Performance enhancement when using ZFS, moving the desktop
database to UFS avoids timeout errors due to heavy disk
flushing of ZFS.

The desksrv preference "desktoplocation" must be set to
change the location of the .Desktop file. The location can be
an absolute or (HELIOSDIR) relative path to the new area,
where a subfolder tree with the name of the original volume
path will be created automatically, containing the .Desktop
file.

After the preference is set, the desksrv must be restarted.

There will be no automatic volume rebuilds. All volumes will
keep their existing volume desktop databases, unless a rebuild
is issued explicitly.

Only a rebuild in HELIOS Admin or using "rebuild -f" will
re-create the .Desktop file in its new location. The old
.Desktop will be turned into a symlink to the new location.
The symlink can also be modified to point to a different,
custom location.

Preference example with relative path:
The existing volumepath is /data/helios
# prefvalue -k Programs/desksrv/desktoplocation -t str "var/desktops"
This will create the volume .Desktop file in
$HELIOSDIR/var/desktops/data/helios/.Desktop

Preference example with absolute path:
The existing volumepath is /data/helios
# prefvalue -k Programs/desksrv/desktoplocation -t str "/desktops"
This will create the volume .Desktop file in
/desktops/data/helios/.Desktop


Notes:

NFS
---
If a volume is used also remotely via NFS by dt tools, make
sure that both volume data and .Desktop file are accessible
over NFS at the path specified. Otherwise you could end up
with a separate volume desktop which is only current on the
second system where "dt" is used to access volume data over
NFS.

Existing symlinks
-----------------
Once a volume desktop database file is relocated by a
symlink, a "rebuild -f" will honor that link, and recreate a
new desktop file at the destination of the link as long the
"desktoplocation" preference is active.

If the path of the "desktoplocation" is changed, the existing
".Desktop" symlinks must be removed manually to use
the new location, otherwise the old symlink will be used.
Make sure that the desktop database is not in use at that
time you remove the link.

If the "desktoplocation" preference is deleted, further
"rebuild -f" will not honor symlinks anymore and will create
desktops in the volume directory.