Managing the Object Spawner

Object Spawner Configuration Tasks

Workspace servers, pooled workspace servers, and stored process servers are initialized by the SAS Object Spawner. An object spawner runs on each machine where you want to run one of the workspace servers or a stored process server, listens for requests, and launches the servers as necessary. If your machine already contains an object spawner, you can modify its definition to include new servers to manage.

If your machine is new to your deployment and you new to add a new object spawner, see Add a New Server in an Existing Logical Server.

Add a Connection to the Object Spawner

To add additional server connections to an object spawner by using the SAS Management Console, follow these steps:

Start SAS Management Console and connect to a metadata repository.
In the SAS Management Console navigation tree, select and expand the Server Manager, and locate the spawner object that you want to modify.
Right-click the icon for the object spawner and select Add Connection from the pop-up menu.

The New Connection Wizard displays.
Select one of the following:
- UUID Connection:
  
  specifies that communications between the client and the spawner use the UUID protocol.
  
  Note: Entering a UUID node is required on UNIX and z/OS hosts.
- PortBank Connection:
  
  defines a connection that the spawner uses to allow clients to connect to and disconnect from a spawned server-side pooled workspace server.
  
  Note: To connect to a logical pooled workspace server, the spawner must have at least one PortBank connection defined.
Follow the remaining prompts. Click Next to proceed or Back to change any input.

For more information, refer to SAS Management Console online Help.
When you see a wizard page that states that the following connection will be created, review the information that is supplied and do one of the following:
- Click Finish to create the new connection and close the New Server Wizard.
- Click Back to go to an earlier wizard page to change an input.
Restart the object spawner.

For more information, see "Operating Your Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

Modify an Object Spawner Definition

To modify an object spawner definition by using the SAS Management Console, follow these steps:

Start SAS Management Console and connect to a metadata repository.
In the SAS Management Console navigation tree, expand the Server Manager to find the object spawner that you want to modify.
Right-click the icon for the object spawner and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
Select the appropriate tabs, and enter the necessary changes.

For more information, refer to SAS Management Console online Help.
When you are finished, click OK to return to the SAS Management Console main window.
Restart the object spawner.

For more information, see "Operating Your Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

Change Object Spawner-Managed Server Ports

For most of the SAS Object Spawner managed ports, the SAS Deployment Wizard designates a unique port number by default. The following table shows these default values.

Defaults for Object Spawner-Managed Ports
Port	Default
Spawner operator port	8581
Workspace server port	8591
Pooled workspace server port	8701
Stored process server bridge port	8601

With the exception of the operator port, these various spawner processes can all use the same port. Using the SAS Management Console, you can change these default port designations and reduce the number of ports that need to be defined in SAS metadata and opened up through your firewall.

Note: You cannot use same port number for the spawner port bank and the stored process server MultiBridge ports. Port bank and MultiBridge ports all must use unique ports. [cautionend]

To change object spawner-managed server ports, follow these steps:

In SAS Management Console, expand the Server Manager to locate the server definition, or the object spawner definition.
Click the icon for the server or for the spawner, and in the SAS Management Console's right pane, select the Connections tab.
On the Connections tab, right-click the icon for the connection, and select Properties from the pop-up menu. A connection properties dialog box appears.
In the connection properties dialog box, click the Options tab.
In the Port field, enter the port that you want the connection to use and then click OK.
Restart the spawner for the port changes to take effect.

For more information, see "Operating Your Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

Configure Object Spawner Logging

For users with administer permissions on the spawner, you can view the SAS Object Spawner log in the SAS Management Console by first opening a connection to the object spawner and then clicking the Log tab. For more information, see "Using SAS Management Console to Monitor SAS Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

You can also view spawned server activity in real time by using the Spawned Server Activity tab also in the SAS Management Console. For more information, see "Use the Spawned Server Activity Tab in Server Manager " in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

By default, the object spawner logs activity at the information level. You can temporarily adjust this logging level for a spawner session through the SAS Management Console, or more permanently by editing the spawner logging configuration file.

CAUTION:: Excessive logging can degrade performance. You should not use the TRACE and DEBUG logging levels unless you are directed to do so by SAS Technical Support.

To temporarily adjust logging for the spawner session:

Select the App.ObjectSpawner logger in the Loggers tab, and edit the logger properties. For more information, see "Use the Loggers Tab in Server Manager and (If Necessary) Change Logging Levels for Individual Loggers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.
To adjust logging for more than one spawner session:

Edit the spawner logging configuration file and add the following information:
```
<logger name="App">  
          <level value="level"/> 
</logger>
```
where level is a value such as trace. For more information, see "Use the Loggers Tab in Server Manager and (If Necessary) Change Logging Levels for Individual Loggers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.
Restart the object spawner.

For more information, see "Operating Your Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

By default, the spawner logging configuration file resides here:
- Windows:
  
  configuration-directory\ObjectSpawner\logconfig.xml
- UNIX:
  
  configuration-directory/ObjectSpawner/logconfig.xml

Configure the Object Spawner to Accept Single Sign-on Connections

On Windows machines on which the SAS Object Spawner runs, you can configure the spawner to accept Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA) connections from SAS clients.

To configure the object spawner to accept single sign-on connections, follow these steps:

In the SAS Management Console, expand the Server Manager node and then click on the Object Spawner node.
In the right pane of the SAS Management Console, click the Connections tab.
Right-click Connection: Spawner, and then select Properties from the pop-up menu. A spawner properties dialog box displays.
Select the Options tab. You will see the information that is shown in the following display.
In the Authentication type drop-down list, choose Integrated Windows Authentication, and then click OK.
Restart the object spawner.

For more information, see "Operating Your Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

Refresh the Object Spawner

When you refresh the object spawner, you reinitialize the spawner and force it to reread its configuration in the metadata. As part of this refresh, the spawner shuts down any servers that it currently has started. If changes are made to the server or spawner configurations, the spawner can be refreshed in order to pick up and apply these new changes.

To refresh an object spawner, follow these steps:

For users with administer permissions on the spawner, in the SAS Management Console, expand the Server Manager node and then right-click on the Object Spawner node.
From the pop-up menu choose Connect.
Right-click on the Object Spawner node again, and from the pop-up menu choose Refresh Spawner.
In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

Update a Windows Object Spawner Service

To update an existing Windows service for the spawner (for example, to change the path to your metadata configuration file), you must remove the service and create a new one.

To update a Windows object spawner service, follow these steps:

Stop the spawner service by using the Stop SAS Object Spawner shortcut in the Windows Start menu.
Remove the spawner service by invoking ObjectSpawner.bat -remove . This file is located in the SASApp\ObjectSpawner subdirectory of your SAS Configuration Directory. For example, C:\SAS\MyDeployment\Lev1\SASApp\ObjectSpawner .
Open the ObjectSpawner.bat file in an editor, and then add your options to the install and start commands.
Save the file.
Reinstall the spawner service by using the command ObjectSpawner.bat -install .

Using Telnet to Administer the Spawner

The object spawner can be controlled and monitored using a Telnet client connected to the operator port or service.

Enable Telnet Access to an Object Spawner

For security reasons, Telnet access to the object spawner is disabled by default. However, using the SAS Management Console, you can enable Telnet access.

To enable Telnet access to an object spawner, follow these steps:

In SAS Management Console, select and expand the Server Manager to locate the object spawner for which you want to enable Telnet access.
Right-click the object spawner for which you want to enable Telnet access, and choose Properties.
In the Properties dialog box, choose the Initialization tab, and then uncheck Disable telnet access.
In the Operator login drop-down list, choose a login to verify users that connect to the spawner's operator port via the Telnet interface.

Note: For more information about using the interface to choose an operator login, refer to SAS Management Console online Help.
Once you have chosen a login, click OK to save your changes and to close the Properties dialog box.
Restart the object spawner.

For more information, see "Operating Your Servers" in SAS Intelligence Platform: System Administration Guide.

Connect to an Object Spawner

To connect to an executing object spawner, Telnet to the operator interface port or service that is specified in the spawner definition.

The following example, run on UNIX, assumes that 8581 was specified as the port for the operator:

 myHost> telnet serverhost 8581
 Trying...
 Connected to serverhost.
 Escape character is '^]'.

After the Telnet conversation is active, enter the operator password that is specified. If the operator password was not specified, use sasobjspawn as the password.

Note: You will not be prompted for the password. For example:

 sasobjspawn
 Operator conversation established

[cautionend]

You can now interact with the executing spawner by issuing any of the Commands for Spawner Operator Interface.

Commands for Spawner Operator Interface

The following is a list of commands that are available via the spawner's operator interface:

Commands for Spawner Operator Interface
Command	Description
bye	Terminates the spawner execution. Note: You cannot shut down an object spawner while there are current or pending load-balancing tasks.
help	Lists available operator commands.
quit	Exits operator conversation.
refresh	Reinitializes the spawner. The spawner rereads its configuration out of the metadata. As part of this refresh, the spawner shuts down any servers that it currently has started. If changes are made to the server or spawner configurations, the spawner can be refreshed in order to pick up and apply these new changes.

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