BuildForge Help

System Configuration Settings

You can use a variety of settings to configure your Management Console. These settings are found on the Administration > System page.

When you click Administration > System, the system displays a list of settings. Click on the name of a system setting to display an edit form for the setting.

Note: For system settings that take numeric values, the Management Console accepts any value comprised of one or more integers (0 through 9). Numeric grouping characters are not supported; for example, commas (,), decimals (.), and other noninteger separators.

The form includes the following buttons:

The following table describes the available settings.

Setting

Description

Active server refresh interval

Sets the time, in seconds, between updates of Built-in and Set Value properties for server manifests on active servers: servers that are currently running projects.

Alert Email Limiting

Sets the maximum number of alert e-mails the system sends over some period of time. This value should be expressed as <number of e-mails>/<time in minutes>. For example, the value 10/60 sets the maximum to 10 messages per hour. The default value of 0/0 is interpreted by the system as no limit on messages. The system maintains a counter of messages during the limit period, and stops sending messages when it reaches the limit, until the end of the limit period, when it resets the counter.

Apply inlined steps container environment Default: No. If Yes, applies the environment of the project or library that contains an inlined step.
Apply server environment last Default: No. If Yes, applies the server environment for the step last. The server environment is applied after the step environment or project environment, if these environments are specified.

Auto-Logoff Minutes

The system can automatically log off users who are idle. This setting specifies the number of minutes of idle time that must pass before the system logs off a user. When the setting is 0, the system does not attempt to automatically log off users.

AutoClean Audit Log Days, AutoClean Error Log Days, AutoClean Info Log Days, AutoClean Warning Log Days

These values set a maximum number of days that each category of entry remains in the audit log; older entries are automatically deleted. If the value is 0, the system never deletes entries of that category. Since string values evaluate to 0 as integers, you can use a value like "Never" instead of 0.

Build Cancel Check Frequency

Specifies how often the system checks for build cancellation requests, in terms of seconds between the checks.

Bump Active Users

When set to N, if an already logged in user (non-root) tries to log in from a new session, Build Forge rejects the login attempt.

When set to Y (the default), if an already logged in user (non-root) tries to log in from a new session, Build Forge logs the user out of the previous session, allowing them to log in to the new session.

Note: Regardless of how this setting is defined, a root user who logs in to a new session always bumps another active root user. Only one user can be logged in as user root.

Console URL

Must be set if the console is running on a port other than 80. If set, overrides the default console URL with the value. It takes the form <protocol>://<hostname>[:<port>]. Example: http://myHost:81.

Create Missing Paths Default: No. If yes, creates paths for projects if the path is not already present.

Default _AGE

Sets the interval, in seconds, between updates of Run Command properties for server manifests. This value can be overridden by setting a value for _AGE in the server's collector.

Default _MAXJOBS Sets the default _MAXJOBS value in a collector or manifest. Default: 3.

Default Agent Port

Sets the default port number used for making connections to agents.

Default Import Class Class to use if an imported project has no defined class or it has a defined class that does not exist. Default: Production.

Expandable Step Log

Determines whether your system uses the standard expanding/contracting view of logs (if you use the default value, Yes) or the new flat log view (if you set it to No) as the default view when displaying step logs.

GDD Secondary Site Failover Default: No. If Yes, enables secondary site failover for secondary GDD sites.
Hard Run Limit Default: No. If Yes, the scheduler includes waiting builds in its run limit calculation.

Import Default Secure Access Group

Specifies a default access group for imported projects when the Import with Secure Access setting is set to Y.

Import Insecure Default Access Group Specifies a default access group for imported projects when the Import with Secure Access setting is set to N. The default group is used only when the import file lacks an access group.

Import with Secure Access

When set to Y, the system assigns the default access group listed in the preceding setting to imported data objects. This overrides any access group specified in the XML file you are importing, so that users cannot override security by importing data. When set to N, the system honors any access group settings in imported files.

Inactive server refresh interval

Sets the time, in seconds, between updates of Built-in and Set Value properties for server manifests on inactive servers: servers that are not currently running projects.

Inherit Tag

When set to Yes, causes jobs that are launched via a chain to use the same job tag as their caller. If BUILD_15 of project MasterProject calls project ComponentProject, then the job tag (and the job directory name) for that run of ComponentProject becomes BUILD_15.
Note: The called project always inherits the original tag of the caller; if the caller's tag changes during the run, as a result of a .retag command for example, the called project still gets the tag that the caller started with.

Invalid Relative Dir Characters

Sets the characters that the system will change into underscores if used in project names.

LASTRUN Format

Enter the value for the format for the BF_LASTRUN environment variable, using date format characters as defined for the .date command (see .date).

License Server

The license server hostname. It is set during installation. Example: myhost.mycompany.com. The value may include a port number. Example: myhost.mycompany.com:80. To change the license server, see "Changing the License Server to Use" in the Installation Guide.

Link Debug Mode

When set to Yes, projects that have source links defined for them run a test of the link instead of running an actual job. The job output for such a run has a single step with output from the adaptor, which you can inspect when troubleshooting your adaptor interfaces.

Link Manual Jobs

Determines whether the system checks source code links when you run a project manually. When set to Y, the system checks the source code link for the project when you launch a job, and may produce change output in the BOM for the job. The system also displays a "Run Link" check box on the Start page for the project, so that you can choose whether to check the source code link when you manually start the job.

Lock Manager Address

Reserved for internal use: IP address and port to use to connect to the lock manager.

Log All Changes

Logs all changes made to all parts of the system. Off is the default. Using this setting has a significant effect on system loading and on database growth. Be sure that you consider its impact when sizing hardware and database capabilities.

Manifest check interval

Determines how often the system checks for servers whose manifests need to be refreshed, by specifying the number of seconds between checks.

Max Console Procs

Sets the maximum number of processes the console runs at one time. Use as a general throttle on console activity. The system manages processes by storing an ID for each process in the database, and checking the total before launching a new external process. Make sure this value is greater than your Run Queue Size setting by at least 5; otherwise the system cannot run enough processes to support the run queue.

Max Inline Depth

Controls the number of levels the system allows for inlining of projects, so that projects cannot be infinitely nested. The default value is 32. If the value is set to 0, the system uses 32. When the system reaches the inline limit, an inlined project which would exceed the limit does not get executed, its steps do not get inserted in the containing project. A message is written to the system messages list: "inline abandoned."

Max simultaneous server tests

Specifies how many server tests can be run at once. Depending on your system resources, running too many server tests at one time can severely slow or lock up the console.

Maximum Refreshes Maximum number of times that a page refreshes automatically. Default: 50

Override Class when Chaining

Determines whether the system replaces a chained project's class with the class of its caller. A value of Y causes the system to override the chained project's class and use the caller's class instead.

Password Expiration Days

Sets the number of days before users whose passwords are set to expire have to change their passwords. When this time expires, the relevant users are required to change their passwords on next login.

Password Format

Specifies the requirements for user passwords using a format string of six fields separated by periods:
length.req_types.upper.lower.numeric.special

The first two fields specify the following:

  • Minimum password length (characters)
  • Minimum number of character types that must be used (an integer ranging from 1 to 4)
The remaining fields describe different character type specifications. Each field includes a type and a number.
  • Type: one of u (uppercase), l (lowercase), n (number), or s (special)
  • Case: Uppercase (U, L, N, S) indicates that the character is required. Lower case (u, l, n, s) indicates that the character is optional.
  • Number: for required, indicates the number of characters of this type that are required. For optional, indicates the number of characters of this type that are required if any are used.
The types are as follows:
  • U or u to indicate uppercase characters.
  • L or l to indicate lowercase characters.
  • N or n to indicate numeric characters.
  • S or s to indicate special characters.
Example: the string 5.2.u1.l1.n1.s1 indicates the following password requirements:
  • At least 5 characters long
  • Must include characters from a minimum of two of the four categories (uppercase, lowercase, numeric, special).
  • For each type, one character of the type qualifies as a match to count toward the requirement.
Passwords like abC1x and Abc2% would qualify.

Pause Build Forge Engine

When set to Y, the system completes any current jobs and then pauses the engine. Set it to N to return to normal operation.

Public Hostname

When set, the system substitutes the value of this setting for the server host name in the CONSOLEHOST variable in notification templates

Purge Check Time

Sets the frequency with which the system checks for jobs to purge, in terms of minutes between checks.

QuickReport Public dir Directory where public report designs are kept. It is a relative path from <bf-install>/Apache/tomcat/webapps/quickReport. Default: ../../reports/public
QuickReport Temp dir Directory where report designs are created (before being saved elsewhere). It is a relative path from <bf-install>/Apache/tomcat/webapps/quickReport. Default: ../../reports/temp
QuickReport URL

Must be set if the Management Console is running on a port other than 80. It is used by its internals to call Reports > Quick Report, which runs as an Apache Tomcat application (JSP). Use this URL: http://myHost:8080/quickReport. Do not use a trailing slash.

QuickReport User sub directory for custom datasources User's saved datasources. It is a relative path from <bf-install>/Apache/tomcat/reports/users/<username>. Default: Datasource
QuickReport User sub directory for saved reports User's saved report designs. It is a relative path from <bf-install>/Apache/tomcat/reports/users/<username>. Default: reports
QuickReport User sub directory for uploaded XML files User's uploaded XML files. It is a relative path from <bf-install>/Apache/tomcat/reports/users/<username>. Default: XML
QuickReport Users dir Directory containing all per-user data. It is a relative path from <bf-install>/Apache/tomcat/webapps/quickReport. Default: ../../reports/users
Reload Language Packs Default: No. If set to Yes, the console reloads its language packs upon restart and resets this value to No. No longer necessary starting in version 7.0.1.

Reset Interface Templates

Use this setting to reset the adaptor templates (to copy changes from an update into your configuration). To use it, set the value to "Yes", then wait one minute. The system resets the templates and then sets the value back to No.

Reset Server Job-Count

Use this setting (Yes) to simultaneously reset the job count (BF_JOBS) for all servers to zero. The reset occurs when the manifest check interval runs. (The default time is every 10 seconds.)

After BF_JOBS has been reset for all servers, the Reset Server Job-Count value reverts back to No (the default).

Run Queue Size

This value limits the number of jobs the system attempts to run at once. When the number of runs in the queue equals or exceeds this number, the system stops moving runs from the Wait queue to the Run queue until the number of jobs drops below this value. If you change your Run Queue Size, check the Max Console Pros setting, which should be greater than the Run Queue Size by at least 5.

Save Start Environ

Controls the default value of the "Save Env" check box on the manual start page for a project. When this setting is Y, the box defaults to checked; otherwise, the box defaults to unchecked. The "Save Env" check box, when checked, causes any changes you make to the environment variables on the Start Page to be saved to the environment records in the database, so that future runs default to those values.

Secondary Site Timeout If a secondary server fails to respond in this amount of time, the primary console marks it down. The down condition may trigger failover if failover is enabled. Default: 600 seconds.

Server Connect Timeout

Sets the number of seconds the system allows for an attempted connection to a server before giving up.

Server Env Before Chain

Determines whether the calling step's server environment is applied before (Yes) or after (No) it the chained project's project environment is applied. The default value is Yes. Set to No if you want to apply the calling step's server environment after the called project's environment is applied.

Server Retries

Sets how many times the system tries to allocate a step to a server before it gives up and fails the step. If 0, it never gives up.

Server Self-heal time

Sets how long, in seconds, the system waits after an error before trying to use a particular server again.

Server Wait Time

Sets how long, in seconds, the system waits (after it has found no server for a step) before checking again to see if a server is available for the step.

Site-specific selector weight Weighting for selection purposes in a GDD environment. Default: 10.

SMTP Server

Sets the machine to use as an SMTP server when sending e-mail notifications.

The default setting is localhost.

SSO Remote User Default: No. If Yes, allows single sign-on remote user connections via standard web server authentication.

Stack BuildForge Env Variables

The system normally changes the name of BF_ variables that are passed down to a chained project to BF_CALLER_; this setting determines whether the system stacks the naming when chaining goes more than one level deep. The default value is N. When the setting is changed to Y, the BF_TAG variable derived from a calling project two levels deep receives the name BF_CALLER_CALLER_TAG.

Step Log Page Size

Defines how many lines of data to place on each page when the system divides large logs into pages.

Store User Authentication Locally

Determines whether the system caches LDAP/Active Directory user authentication information (in encrypted form). The default value is Yes. The system is only relevant when you use LDAP/Active Directory authentication. When the setting is Yes, the system caches user authentication information in encrypted form, and can use it with the _USE_BFCREDS special variable (which applies user authentication to servers). You may choose to turn off caching by changing the value to No; however, if you do, the system cannot use the _USE_BFCREDS special variable to use the user's credentials when logging into a server.

System Alert Email

The system sends alert e-mail messages to the address defined by this setting.

The default is root@localhost.

System Alert Source

When the system sends alert e-mail messages, it uses the address defined in this setting as the sender.

The default is root@localhost.

System Wide Login Message

Allows you to define a message to be displayed above the login form.

System Wide User Message

Allows you to define a message to be displayed at the top of each page, just below the navigation buttons.

Tab Stop

Defines how many spaces the system should use to substitute for tabs when it creates change data reports in BOMs and step logs.

Tag: Date Format

Defines the format used to display the date in the BF_D tag variable. Use the characters y, m, and d as variables for the year, month, and day to show the desired format, along with any desired special characters as separators. For example, for the date September 21, 2005:

Format string....Output

ymd...050921

m/d/y...09/21/05

Tag: Time Format

Defines the format used to display the date in the BF_T tag variable. Works like the Tag: Date format setting, but uses the characters h, m, and s to stand for hours, minutes, and seconds. The setting h:m:s produces output such as 12:53:42.

Tail Log Amount for Mail Template

Sets the number of lines from the end of a log that are displayed in a notification when the TAILNORMALLOG variable is used in the notification template.

Update Time Vars on Restart

This setting controls whether the system updates system variables when you restart a job.

Related concepts
Importing Exported Data Objects