Configuring Existing TSD Data Sources


Overview

Tasks

Included with

Tivoli Service Desk

Overview

Guidelines for configuring data sources

When you configure a data source, depending on the DBMS and the driver type (ODBC or X/Open) only certain options are available for configuring.

Warning: It is possible, with case-sensitive databases, that option values may be case sensitive. Contact your database administrator (DBA) if in doubt about a particular option.

Source Setup dialog box

Use the Source Setup dialog box to configure a selected data source. The most common configuration options are presented here. You also use the Source Setup dialog box to select the Tivoli Service Desk logon method and to configure parameters for user passwords.

To access the Source Setup dialog box:

Change Password Suffix dialog box

Use the Change Password Suffix dialog box to change the password suffix for the data source as part of the logon security.

To access the Change Password Suffix dialog box:


Tasks

Configuring an existing TSD data source

After you create a data source, you must configure it before using it with Tivoli Service Desk. For more information, see Guidelines for Configuring Data Sources and Configuring TSD Data Sources.

Note: The name of the data source in the Source Setup dialog box, in the Source box, is read-only and contains the data source name you specified when creating it. To change a data source name, see Renaming a data source.

ODBC data sources: TDT provides direct database interfaces that you can use, based on your DBMS requirements. These direct database interfaces are the default method of database connectivity for TDT. ODBC drivers are not provided with TDT. If you want to use ODBC and not take advantage of the direct database interfaces, see Configuring ODBC Data Sources.

Intelligent Miner for Text (IM4T) configuration: Tivoli Service Desk (TSD) uses an IBM text retrieval product called Intelligent Miner for Text (IM4T) to create indexes for tables in your database. The indexes it creates can be used by your service desk analysts to quickly find particular entries (pre-existing data files or documents) in the database that contain certain words or combinations of words. For information on configuring a data source to be used with IM4T, see IM4T Text Retrieval in the online Tivoli Service Desk 6.0 Developer's Toolkit Script Language Reference.

To configure a data source:

  1. In the Source Setup dialog box, in the Qualifier box, type the name of the table qualifier.
    Note: A table qualifier is usually the table creator or owner used to access the data. This should match the qualifier specified when creating your tables in TSDBuild, such as dbo or EXAV.
  2. In the Server box, type the name of your actual DBMS server.
    Note: This is the name of the server to which client requests are sent. This name is typically specified during the installation of your DBMS, and may be different than your file server name. This entry is used only for the TSD-written drivers (XOOR, XOCT, XOINF, and XOSS). This entry is stored in sai_sql.cfg as "SRVR=xxx".
    ODBC drivers: ODBC drivers get this information from ODBC.INI. Choose ODBC Setup to configure an ODBC source; also see Configuring an ODBC data source.
    DB2 drivers: This entry is not used for DB2 family drivers.
  3. In the Database box, type the name of the database used at your site (not the DBMS name).
    Note: This entry is stored in sai_sql.cfg as "DB=xxx". It is not used for Oracle
  4. In the Driver box, accept the default driver name or type the name of the driver DLL file used by TDT to connect to the database.
    Note: You may specify the complete path to the DLL file, such as "c:\sai\winase\xoord50.dll" or, in the preferred way, specify just the module name without the extension and TDT version number, such as "XOOR". This entry is stored in sai_sql.cfg as "DRV=xxx". For more information, see TSD database drivers.
  5. In the ODBC DSN box, type the ODBC Data Source Name (DSN).
    Note: This entry only applies to ODBC drivers. Do not confuse ODBC data sources with TDT data sources; although similar in concept, they are different, and BOTH are required to be configured when using ODBC drivers from TDT. The ODBC data source does not have to have the same name as the TDT data source. This entry is stored in sai_sql.cfg as "DSN=xxx". Follow the instructions in Configuring ODBC Data Sources to configure your ODBC source.
  6. From the DBMS list, select the name of the DBMS application.
    Note: Normally, TDT can infer the DBMS from the driver; however, for ODBC sources, you must inform TDT what the DBMS is. For a complete list of DBMS entries, refer to your TDT manuals. This entry is stored in sai_sql.cfg as "DBMS=xxx".
  7. Do one of the following,
    • Select the Default check box to make this data source the default data source. If no source name is given when connecting, this data source used. Any previous default source is no longer the default, because you can have only one default source specified at a time.
    • Clear the Default check box to make this a non-default data source.

    For more information, see Designating a default data source

  8. After you set up the data source, do some or all of the following, as necessary:
    • Choose OK to save the data source configuration.
    • Choose Advanced to configure advanced options for this data source. For more information see Adding advanced options.
    • Configure database logon security for this data source. For more information, see Configuring logon security.
    • Choose ODBC Setup to edit your ODBC configuration if you are configuring a datasource for an OBDC driver. See Configuring ODBC Data Sources.

Configuring logon security

You can select the Tivoli Service Desk logon method and configure parameters for user passwords for an existing TSD data source. You control the following options related to password security:
  • Allowing users to change their passwords
  • Using the same or different user IDs and passwords to log on to both Tivoli Service Desk and the database
  • Defining password suffixes
  • Defining minimum and maximum password lengths

To configure logon security:

  1. In the Source Setup dialog box, under Logon Method, select one of the following:
    • Select C/E to use the user ID and password supplied in the TSD Log On dialog box only to log on to Tivoli Service Desk. The user ID and password specified in the SQL Configuration Editor dialog box is used to log on to the DBMS. See Configuring an Existing TSD Data Source
    • Select C/2 to allow the user ID and password supplied in the TSD Log On dialog box to log on to both Tivoli Service Desk and the DBMS.
      Note: If you choose this option, you must establish the DBMS user ID EXAV for the TSD administrator. The TSD administrator should add additional user IDs by creating them in both the DBMS and Tivoli Service Desk. Then, the TSD administrator should use the Grant Permissions database scripts of the TSDBuild utility to grant the user logon privileges. For more information about granting rights, see the Tivoli Service Desk Installation Guide.
  2. Under Logon Security, in the UID box, type the user name to be used when logging into the specified database.
    Note: Be sure to use the correct case.
  3. In the PWD box, type the user password to be used when logging into the specified database.
    Note: The password is not displayed on the screen. Use the correct case.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Select the Allow Users to Alter Individual Passwords check box to allow users to change both their database and TSD passwords.
    • Clear the Allow Users to Alter Individual Passwords check box to prevent users from changing their passwords.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • If you selected C/2 as the logon method, go to the next step.
      Note: Password suffixes and length restrictions apply only to the C/2 logon method. Defaults are based on the type of database you are configuring.
    • If you selected C/E, go to the last step.
  6. Under C/2 Security, in the Maximum User Password box, type a number to define the maximum combined length of user password and suffixes.
    Note: The default is the maximum length this type of database allows. When users change their passwords, the length of the new password plus the length of the suffix specified in the Password Suffix box must be less than the number specified here.
  7. In the Minimum User Password box, type a number to define the minimum number of characters in a user password.
    Note: The default is the minimum length this type of database allows.
  8. To automatically append a suffix to the user password during login, choose Change Suffix. See Changing the password suffix.
  9. Do one of the following:
    • To reset logon security to TSD default settings, choose Reset Defaults.
    • To save the current logon security configuration, choose OK.

Changing the password suffix

If you select a C/2 logon method, you can specify a set of characters to be appended to the password that users enter in the TSD Logon dialog box. The purpose of the password suffix is to prevent users from logging on the database directly to update data.

When you select the C/2 logon method, the user ID and password used to logon to Tivoli Service Desk are also used to logon to the DBMS. If you specify a password suffix, it is appended to the password sent to the database. Only database administrators should know this suffix.

Example: The database administrator creates user IDs (XXX) and passwords (YYYZZZ). The database administrator tells users that their passwords are YYY. You record the suffix (ZZZ) in the Change Password Suffix dialog box. When users login to Tivoli Service Desk, TSD checks for the XXX user ID in the User table and connects to the database with the XXX user ID and YYYZZZ password. If TSD finds the XXX user ID and the database login is successful, the user is allowed into Tivoli Service Desk.

  1. In the Source Setup dialog box, choose Change Suffix.
  2. In the Change Password Suffix dialog box, in the Old Suffix box, type the password suffix currently in use, if there is one.
    Note: If your database passwords are case-sensitive, the entry here is also case-sensitive.
  3. In the New Suffix box, type the new password suffix.
  4. In the Confirm New Suffix box, confirm your entry in the New Suffix box by typing the password suffix again.
  5. Choose OK.