The ISS configuration step records several parameter settings which other scripts and programs in the ISS system will use. Since the configuration at a particular site of each particular project will differ, the ISS configuration step creates a project directory and a site subdirectory into which all of the configuration parameters are grouped. The link /iss/configs/site points to the site directory and hence the site configuration currently in effect for the ISS workstation. If the project and site being configured already exist, then the current parameter settings for the site will be the defaults for all of the configuration questions.
Ordinarily the configuration step will start automatically as part of the installation process. If the configuration ever needs to be run manually, just enter iss config. See the section called Manual Configuration.
There are two main parts to the ISS configuration, the root part and the iss part. The root part includes the ISS modules which must run as root and which manipulate or interface with the rest of the system, such as networking, automounting, file permissions, and Samba services. The iss part corresponds to the modules which the iss user account runs and which only affect the ISS subsystem.
The configuration scripts themselves, whose source files are located in /iss/scripts, are likewise split into the same parts. The sys_config script runs as user root and modifies the host system as needed by the iss subsystem. For example it sets the correct ownership and permissions for the home directories and the /iss directory tree. It then calls the appropriate configuration script depending upon the host operating system, either config_linux or config_solaris. Each operating system implies a little bit different directory layout and different methods for enabling and disabling system services the way the ISS subsystem expects them.
Since the root configuration part must run as the root user, the setuid gateway program iss switches to the root user before running the configuration scripts. Otherwise, if the iss_config script is run directly as user iss, the script will ask whether the root configuration steps should be skipped:
This script is not running as root. You can skip the root configuration steps and only configure the iss modules, or else you can quit. Skip the root configuration, or quit? (s/q) [s] |
Just press enter to run only the iss part of the configuration. This can be very convenient since usually the root configuration only needs to run once, while the ISS configuration may need to change several times.