BuildForge Help

Creating Servers

Before you create any projects in the system, you must define at least one server. A server is a machine to which the Management Console can send commands.

Each server must have an agent installed on it. When you add a server, you are describing how the Management Console should access and use a specific machine.

Before you create a server, make sure that the other data objects it depends on already exist. You will need to assign the following items to a server:
Note: If desired, you can create more than one server object within the Management Console for a single physical machine. These are called logical servers; they are typically used to allow projects to access the same hardware with different properties. For example, two logical servers might use different paths or different environments:
  • Two logical servers with different paths would create separate working directories on the same machine. You could easily distinguish work performed using one server from work performed with the other because all output would appear in different directories.
  • Two logical servers with different environments would execute their steps with different starting environment values.

To create a server:

  1. Select Servers. The system displays the New Server form at the bottom of the main content pane.

    If you have selected an existing server, click Add Server to erase the form so that you can add a new server.

  2. Fill out the server details:
    Figure 1. New Server FormFigure shows the New Server form displayed when you click Add Server
    • In the Name field, give the server a name. This name is the BF_NAME property of the server. You reference this name in selectors to choose a specific server by name.
    • Path: Specifies a directory that the server should use when it creates project and job directories, such as c:/buildforgeprojects. The system uses this path value as a starting point when it creates the build directory.
      Note: The system does not create the server path. The path must exist before a build attempts to access the server, or else the build fails.
    • Host: The host name for a physical machine running a copy of the agent. Use value localhost if you are defining the Management Console machine as a server. (The agent must also be installed on the Management Console.)
      Note: You can include a port number with the host name. For example, <host_name>:<port_number>. If you specify a port number with the host name, it overrides the port number defined by the Default Agent Port system setting. (See Administration > System > Default Agent Port.)
      Note: Do not precede the host name with a protocol (for example, http://).
    • Authentication: Select the server authentication to use with this server.
    • Access: Use this field to select an access group that should be allowed to use this server.
    • Collector: Select the collector to use with this server.
    • Environment: Use this field to select a group of environment variables to be applied whenever this server is used to run a project. These variables are applied before all other variables, and should set up parameters specific to the server.
    • Files: Use this property to define the types of file transfers allowed on this server via the .get and .put commands. You can choose to allow no transfers (None), file reads (.get), file writes (.put), or both (.get and .put). This setting must be set appropriately for .get and .put commands to work.

  3. Click Save. Your new server appears in the server list at the top of the content pane.

    To verify that you have correctly configured the server, select your server in the list and then click Test Server. The system reports errors if it cannot communicate with the server.