Network Deployment (Distributed operating systems), v8.0 > Reference > Sets
File synchronization service settings
Overview
Use this page to specify that a file set on one node matches that on the central dmgr node and to ensure consistent configuration data across a cell.
We can synchronize files on individual nodes or throughout your system.
If your installation includes mixed release cells, a large numbers of nodes, and runs a large number of applications, you might want to use the Generic JVM Arguments field, on the Java Virtual Machine Settings page of the administrative console, to enable the hot restart sync feature of the synchronization service. This feature indicates to the synchronization service that the installation is running in an environment where configuration updates are not made when the dmgr is not active. Therefore, the service does not have to perform a complete repository comparison when the dmgr or node agent servers restart.
Do not routinely disable the synchronization process as various portions of the application server run time depend on synchronization. For example, the security run time depends on node synchronization to propagate updated certificates during automated replacement processes. Also, the security runtime also depends on it for LTPA key changes. Other portions of the run time are dependent on synchronization. However, a complete list is not available. If you permanently disable synchronization, nodes might not be synchronized and an outage will result. The only exception is the configuration save operation.
To avoid synchronizing the configuration when the configuration repository is being updated by a save operation, it might be beneficial to temporarily disable the synchronization process, save the configuration, and then re-enable the synchronization process. This process ensures that changes are fully committed to the configuration repository before the node synchronization.
From the console...
System administration > Node agents > node_agent_name > File synchronization service
Enable service at server startup
Whether the server attempts to start the file synchronization service. This setting does not cause a file synchronization operation to start. This setting is enabled by default.
Disabling synchronization is not recommended. Various portions of the run time have dependencies on synchronization being enabled. For example, in a multiple-server product, the security environment depends on node synchronization to propagate updated certificates during automated replacement and for LTPA key changes. If synchronization is disabled, the nodes might get out of synchronization, resulting in an outage.
Information Value Data type Boolean Default true
Synchronization interval
Number of minutes that elapse between synchronizations. Increase the time interval to synchronize files less often. Decrease the time interval to synchronize files more often.
Information Value Data type Integer Units Minutes Default 1 The minimum value that the application server uses is 1. If you specify a value of 0, the application server ignores the value and uses the default of 1.
We can change the node synchronization interval to a greater number of minutes. However, before you make the change, carefully consider the impact because some functions critically depend on node synchronization. Before changing the value to any value other than the default value, it is advisable that you complete careful, large-scale testing in the environment.
Automatic synchronization
Whether to synchronize files automatically after a designated interval. When this setting is enabled, the node agent automatically contacts the deployment manager every synchronization interval to attempt to synchronize the node's configuration repository with the master repository owned by the dmgr.
If the Automatic synchronization setting is enabled, the node agent attempts file synchronization when it establishes contact with the dmgr. The node agent waits the synchronization interval before it attempts the next synchronization.
Remove the check mark from the check box to control when files are sent to the node.
Information Value Data type Boolean Default true
Startup synchronization
Whether the node agent attempts to synchronize the node configuration with the latest configurations in the master repository prior to starting an application server.
The default is to not synchronize files prior to starting an application server. Enabling the setting ensures that the node agent has the latest configuration but increases the amount of time it takes to start the application server.
Note that this setting has no effect on the startServer command. The startServer command launches a server directly and does not use the node agent.
Information Value Data type Boolean Default false
Exclusions
Specifies files or patterns that should not be part of the synchronization of configuration data. Files in this list are not copied from the master configuration repository to the node, and are not deleted from the repository at the node.
The default is to have no files specified.
To specify a file, use a complete name or a name with a leading or trailing asterisk (*) for a wildcard. For example:
Name Information cells/cell name/nodes/nodename/filename Excludes this specific file */filename Excludes files named filename in any context dirname/* Excludes the subtree under dirname Press Enter at the end of each entry. Each file name appears on a separate line.
Since these strings represent logical document locations and not actual file paths, only forward slashes are needed no matter the platform.
Changes to the exclusion list are picked up when the node agent is restarted.
Remote files services for file transfer and file synchronization
Information Value Data type String Units File names or patterns
Configure remote file services
Java virtual machine settings
Custom property collection