KBI 310173 UNIXSSH.INI File Not Being Read

Version

Argent XT 8.0A-0901-B or above

Date

5 October 2009

Summary

The UNIXSSH.INI file no longer appears to be read.

Previously, this file was able to be customized so customers could customize the pscp and plink commands used to execute UNIX monitoring scripts.

E.g. manually specifying commands to optimize SSH connections, allow use of private keys for authentication, etc.

Technical Background

After Argent XT 8.0A-0901-B, an enhancement was made that speeds up UNIX and SSH script execution.

Instead of four steps and copying temporary files into the /tmp folder of a UNIX machine, it became one — the entire script would be piped in a single connection.

The side effect was this rendered UNIXSSH.INI useless — in other words, the file is not read at all.

Resolution

Luckily, customers can choose to revert back to the “old“, but slower execution method by changing the registry entry:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Argent\ArgentGuardian\MonitoringEngine\SSH_NO_COPY_SCRIPT — set the value to 0 (ZERO) to revert to using UNIXSSH.INI

This needs to be done on every single monitoring engine where the old method wants to be used.

Again — note the side effect is that scripts will run slower than before, and /tmp folders will be populated with temporary scripts during monitoring execution.

See Also: Optimizing SSH