Setting options for the access methods

An options file is a text file located in the methods directory of the HCL Workload Automation installation, containing a set of options to customize the behavior of the access method. The options must be written one per line and have the following format (with no spaces included): 
option=value
All access methods use two types of options files: a global options file and one or more local options files. The names of the local options files are generically referred to as XA_Unique_ID_accessmethod.opts on extended agents and DYNAMIC_AGENT_FILE_accessmethod.opts on dynamic agents. The file names specified for the local options files for both types of agents must respect the following rules:
  • Both XA_Unique_ID and DYNAMIC_AGENT_FILE in the file name must be uppercase alphanumeric characters. See specific requirements about XA_Unique_ID in XA_Unique_ID.
  • Double-byte character set (DBCS), single-byte character set (SBCS), and bidirectional text are not supported. For information about acceptable values for the extended agent workstation name, See How to complete the extended agents definition.
Dynamic agents and HCL Workload Automation agents
Global options file
A common configuration file created by default for each access method installed, whose settings apply to all the dynamic agent workstations defined for that method. When the global options file is created, it contains only the LJuser option, which represents the operating system user ID used to launch the access method. You can customize the global options file by adding the options appropriate for the access method.
The name of the global options file is accessmethod.opts, which, depending on your operating system, corresponds to:
For PeopleSoft
psagent.opts
For SAP R/3
r3batch.opts
Local options file
One or more configuration files that are specific to each access method. The name of this file is optionsfile_accessmethod.opts and they are saved to the path TWA_DATA_DIR/methods.
In a distributed environment
  • If you are defining a job to run the access method by using the Dynamic Workload Console, it is the options file you specify in the New > Job definition > ERP > Access Method XA Task tab.
  • If you are defining the SAP R/3 job to run the access method by using the Dynamic Workload Console, it is the options file you specify in the New > Job definition > ERP > SAP Job on Dynamic Workstations XA Task tab.
  • If you are defining the job to run the access method by using composer, it is the options file you specify in the target attribute of the job definition.
If you do not create a local options file, the global options file is used.

If you do not specify an option in the optionsfile_accessmethod.opts file, while the access method is running, the product uses the values specified for that option in the global options file. If you do not specify options either in the optionsfile_accessmethod.opts or in the global option file, the product issues an error message.

If the SAP R/3 access method is installed for AGENT1 workstation, with unique identifier, S4HANAR3BW, but you have two external SAP systems on which to schedule jobs, then in the TWA_DATA_DIR/methods directory, you create the following options files:
  • SAP1_S4HANAR3BW_r3batch.opts
  • SAP2_S4HANAR3BW_r3batch.opts
Each file contains the options specific to each external SAP system, for example, the connection information.
For pools and dynamic pools containing n agents, you must create an options file for the dynamic pool and copy it in the TWA_DATA_DIR/methods of each agent of the pool so that all members of the pool have a local options file with the same name. Then you must create another options file for the specific agent in the same directory. For example, if the SAP R/3 access method is installed for AGENT1 and AGENT2 which belong to the dynamic pool DYN_POOL, create in the TWA_DATA_DIR/methods directory of each agent the following options files:
AGENT1
  • FILEOPTS_AGENT1_r3batch.opts
  • FILEOPTS_DYN_POOL_r3batch.opts
AGENT2
  • FILEOPTS_AGENT2_r3batch.opts
  • FILEOPTS_DYN_POOL_r3batch.opts
Extended agents
All access methods use two types of options file:
Global options file
A common configuration file created by default for each access method installed, whose settings apply to all the extended agent workstations defined for that method. When the global options file is created, it contains only the LJuser option, which represents the operating system user ID used to launch the access method. You can customize the global options file by adding the options appropriate to the access method.
The name of the global options file is accessmethod.opts, which, depending on your operating system, corresponds to:
For PeopleSoft
psagent.opts
For SAP R/3
r3batch.opts
For custom access methods
netmth.opts
Local options file
A configuration file that is specific to each extended agent workstation within a particular installation of an access method. The name of this file is XA_Unique_ID_accessmethod.opts, where:
XA_Unique_ID
The unique identifier of the workstation in the plan. Since the folder feature was introduced, workstations can be defined in folders, therefore, the workstation name alone, is not sufficient to identify a workstation in the plan, but instead, the name and folder combination is mapped to a unique identifier. In the localopts file, the value of the this_cpu option is the unique identifier of the workstation. You can also verify the unique identifier for a workstation by submitting the composer list command with the ;showid filter. Should this result in blank, XA_Unique_ID corresponds to the workstation name. You can also retrieve the unique identifier submitting the conman showcpus command with the ;showid filter. For example, if the installation of the r3batch access method includes two extended agent workstations, with unique identifiers S4HANAR3BW and 07756YBX76Z6AFX2, then the names of the local options files are S4HANAR3BW_r3batch.opts and 07756YBX76Z6AFX2_r3batch.opts.
accessmethod
Is the name of the access method.

If you do not create a local options file, the global options file is used. Every extended agent workstation, except for z/OS®, must have a local options file with its own configuration options.

The options files must be located in the TWA_DATA_DIR/methods directory. They are read when the supported agent is started. Options are specific to each access method. For details about how to configure each access method, see the following sections:

PeopleSoft
Configuring the PeopleSoft access method.
SAP R/3
Configuring the SAP access method.