Caching Proxy is designed to run continuously as a background process with minimal operator intervention. Typically, the proxy server starts during the boot cycle of the machine and is stopped only when maintenance is required. The proxy server may be manually started when necessary. The proxy server can also be passed a restart instruction, which effectively stops then starts the proxy server without disrupting active client connections.
On Linux and UNIX systems, an ibmproxy initialization script and associated symbolic links are placed in the appropriate /etc/ directories when Caching Proxy is installed. These scripts are then integrated into the startup and shutdown routines of the operating system. You can change the configuration settings for automatic restart by editing the ibmproxy script and changing the ibmproxy command options.
It is possible that the Caching Proxy initialization script can fail to set the desired maximum number of file descriptors due to the Solaris systemwide limit on file descriptors. If the systemwide maximum is less than the setting in the Caching Proxy initialization script, then the systemwide limit is used. You can change the file descriptor limit to avoid proxy performance problems that can result from too low a value (less than 1024). Issue the ulimit command to view the number of descriptors that are currently available. If the value is less than 1024, increase the file descriptor limit. To increase the file descriptor limit to 1024, add the following line to the /etc/system file:
set rlim_fd_cur=0x400
Disabling automatic startup and shutdown
To disable automatic startup and shutdown:
On SUSE Linux, remove the following links to ibmproxy:
Regardless of the startup method, the ibmproxy command is eventually invoked, either directly from the command prompt or from within a script. For a detailed description of the ibmproxy command, refer to ibmproxy command. Examples of only the most commonly used arguments follow.
startsrc -s ibmproxy
startsrc -s ibmproxy -e "LC_ALL=locale"
ibmproxy
/sbin/init.d/ibmproxy start
/usr/sbin/ibmproxy
/usr/sbin/ibmproxy -nobg
/etc/rc.d/init.d/ibmproxy start
/usr/sbin/ibmproxy
/usr/sbin/ibmproxy -nobg
squidConfig.file -r /etc/errors_icons.conf
where the errors_icons.conf file identifies the icons to use for designated file types when browsing directories.
/etc/init.d/ibmproxy start
/usr/sbin/ibmproxy
/usr/sbin/ibmproxy -nobg
If Caching Proxy is installed as a Windows service, it is started like any other Windows service:
If Caching Proxy is installed as a service, it can be configured to start up automatically when Windows starts. In that case, you do not have to log on before the proxy can serve requests. To have your proxy start automatically:
Refreshing the PATH environment variable
If Caching Proxy is marked as Started in the Services window, but the proxy is not working, the machine might not have been restarted after the proxy was installed. If the Caching Proxy service is set to interact with the desktop, failure to restart can also cause the following error message to appear in a pop-up box: Message catalog error: the message catalog could not be loaded or is invalid
The machine must be restarted so that the value of the PATH environment variable is refreshed in the Windows registry. If the registry is not refreshed, it is possible for the PATH variable to show the correct Caching Proxy and GSK7 paths but to function incorrectly.
The problem can occur if the path for the file system service appears before the path for the Caching Proxy service in the Windows PATH environment variable. Altering the PATH variable to put file system services near the end of the setting can solve this problem.
This problem does not affect remote drives controlled by applications that do not run as Windows services. For example, Caching Proxy can access shared drives on other Windows machines that are visible through a local area network (LAN).
When Caching Proxy is installed as a Windows application, the installation procedure creates a Caching Proxy entry as a submenu of the Start menu. To start Caching Proxy as an application, click Start -> Programs -> IBM WebSphere -> Edge Components -> Caching Proxy.
This startup procedure runs the proxy server with the current configuration settings. If you want to specify other settings at startup time, use the command startup procedure (see the next section).
To start the server from any Windows or DOS command prompt, use the ibmproxy command. If you have not shut down and restarted Windows since you installed the server, enter the full path name for this command, as follows, (by default):
C:\Program Files\IBM\edge\cachingproxy\cp\bin\ibmproxy.exe
The ibmproxy command starts the server with the current configuration settings. If you have not changed the server configuration since installation, the current configuration is based on the information you entered during installation and on the default options.
The ibmproxy command starts the server as an application, even if you have installed Caching Proxy to run as a service. To force the server to run as an application, you can also specify the command option -noservice. Other command options change the configuration settings at run time.
Multiple instances of the proxy server can run concurrently, but each binding IP address and listening port pair (HostName/IP, PORT) must be unique. You must also enable the BindSpecific directive in the configuration files. Additionally, when multiple instances of the proxy are running on a single system, you must define the following directives for each proxy instance:
On AIX systems, only one instance can be started with SRC. Unique configuration files must be specified for all instances of the server because the configuration file identifies a port number, and this number must be different for each server on a particular machine. To start an additional instance of the server (when at least one is already running), enter the following command:
ibmproxy -r other_config_file
ibmproxy -noservice -r other_config_file
where other_config_file is a unique configuration file.
When starting multiple instances of the server, record the process ID that is displayed for each instance. These IDs are required to stop specific instances of the server.
You can run IBM Caching Proxy as a non-root process on a UNIX system, but there are some configuration changes that you need to make so Caching Proxy can work correctly. To set up Caching Proxy to run as a non-root user:
To stop the server:
Start method | Stop method |
From /etc/inittab (On AIX) | Enter stopsrc -s ibmproxy |
From /sbin/init.d (On HP-UX) | Enter /sbin/init.d/ibmproxy stop |
From /etc/init.d (On Linux) | Enter /etc/init.d/ibmproxy stop |
ibmproxy |
To stop all servers on this machine: Enter killall ibmproxy |
ibmproxy -nobg | Enter ctrl-c |
ibmproxy -r -other_config_file(On AIX) | Enter stopsrc -s ibmproxy -p process_id |
ibmproxy -r -other_config_file(On Linux) |
|
ibmproxy -unload
To stop the server at a root prompt, enter:
You can experience the following limitations when using the shutdown commands:
On AIX, HP-UX, and Linux systems, the commands to stop the Caching Proxy system sometimes shut down only the Caching Proxy process. The AIX command that results in this behavior is the stopsrc -s ibmproxy command. The HP-UX and Linux command that results in this behavior is the ibmproxy -stop command.
The PACD process, which is used by the LDAP server, might be left running after shutting down the proxy server. The PACD process can be safely shut down by using the kill command as follows:
kill -15 PACD_process_ID
Issuing the ibmproxy -stop command on a Solaris system does not have the same effect as the command does on other operating systems. Because of a limitation in Solaris code, the Server Termination plug-in step is not executed when ibmproxy -stop is used on Solaris platforms.
This limitation has implications for the proxy server software as well as for customer-implemented plug-ins.
It is possible for the PACD process, which is used by the LDAP server, to continue running after the proxy server is shut down. The PACD process can be safely shut down by using the kill command as follows:
kill -15 PACD_process_ID
You can stop the Caching Proxy server in the same ways that you stop other Windows programs.
If the proxy is installed as a service:
If the proxy is not installed as a service, do any of the following to stop Caching Proxy:
After changing the server configuration (by using the Configuration and Administration forms or by editing the ibmproxy.conf file), you must restart the server before the changes take effect. In most cases, you can restart the server without stopping it first. But some settings are not refreshed by a simple restart. For more information, see Table 6.
To restart the server without stopping it first, click the Restart button on any Configuration and Administration form, or type the following: ibmproxy -restart