Universal Command Manager for Windows

Overview

This page provides information on Universal Command (UCMD) Manager specific to the Windows operating system.

UCMD Manager provides a command line interface to remote computers running the UCMD Server component. The UCMD Manager executes remote commands as they would be if you entered the command directly on the remote command line.

On the command line, you must specify a command to execute and a remote Universal Broker. Additional input to each execution of the UCMD Manager command is made via configuration options, which control product behavior and resource allocation for that execution.

Remote standard input and output files are redirected to the UCMD Manager's standard input and output files.

UCMD Manager registers with a locally running Universal Broker. Consequentially, a Universal Broker must be running in order for a UCMD Manager to execute.

Usage

UCMD Manager for Windows executes as a command line application. It consists of the command line program followed by a list of configuration options. This section describes the command input, configuration and configuration options, and command line syntax.

Standard Input

The UCMD Manager command is executed from the Command Prompt window or a batch file. The ucmd command reads from standard input and writes it to the UCMD Server for the remote command to read as its standard input.

When UCMD Manager is executed from the Command Prompt window, standard input is allocated to the window itself. Any characters typed in the Command Prompt window are read as standard input by ucmd and transmitted to the UCMD Server.

If ucmd is executing a remote command that is reading standard input, it will read the characters being typed in the Command Prompt window until it receives an end-of-file indicator. To enter end-of-file in a Command Prompt window, press <Ctrl+Z*>* <Enter> at the start of a new line.

The allocation of standard input can be changed with a Command Prompt redirection operator. The redirection operators instruct Windows to change the allocation of the standard files.

To change the allocation of standard input, use the < operator. Windows can redirect to a special file referred to as NUL. The NUL file is always empty if read from, and never full if written to (all data written to NUL is never saved on disk or in memory).

To allocate standard input to NUL, the command syntax is as follows:

ucmd [OPTIONS...] < NUL




Configuration

Configuration consists of:

  • Setting default options and preferences for all executions of UCMD Manager.
  • Setting options and preferences for a single execution of UCMD Manager.

Configuration options are read from the following sources:

  1. Command line
  2. Command file
  3. Environment variables
  4. Configuration file

The order of precedence is the same as the list above; command line being the highest and configuration file being the lowest. That is, options specified via a command line override options specified via a command file, and so on.

For detailed information on these methods of configuration, see Configuration Management.

Configuration File

The configuration file provides the simplest method of specifying configuration options whose values you do not want changed with each command invocation. These default values are used if the options are not read from one or more other sources.

Although configuration files can be edited with any text editor (for example, Notepad), the Universal Configuration Manager application, accessible via the Control Panel, is the recommended way to set configuration options. The Universal Configuration Manager provides a graphical interface and context-sensitive help, and helps protect the integrity of the configuration file by validating all changes to configuration option values.

Some options only can be specified in the configuration file; they have no corresponding command line equivalent. Other options cannot be specified in the configuration file; they must be specified via one or more other sources for a single execution of UCMD Manager.

Configuration Options

This section describes the configuration options used to execute UCMD Manager for Windows.

Configuration Options Categories

The following table categorizes the configuration options into logical areas of application. Each Category name is a link to a table of options in that category. Each Option Name in those tables is a link to detailed information about that option.

Category

Description

Certificates

X.509 certificate-related options.

Command

Command or script to execute on the remote system. If a script is being executed, the script may reside on the local host on which the UCMD Manager is running or the remote host on which the UCMD Server is running.

The command category also includes options to control the process environment in which the command executes.

Events

Options used to define event generation.

Installation

Options that specify installation requirements, such as directory locations.

Messages

Universal Command message options.

Miscellaneous

Options use to display command help and program versions.

Network

Processing options for all the data transferred between the remote and local systems.

Options

Alternative methods to specify command options.

Remote

Network address of the remote system and connection options.

Spool

Options that control whether or not the UCMD Manager spools its standard files and how they are processed.

Standard File

Processing options for the standard files transferred between the remote and local systems.

The STDFILE options are specified differently then the other options. There are three types of standard files: stderr, stdin, and stdout. Each standard file can have a different set of options applied. In order to distinguish between the standard files, the options must start with a standard file specification option (STDIN_SPEC, STDOUT_SPEC, or STDERR_SPEC). The standard file options (names starting with SIO_) follow the standard file specification option.

User

User account that the command executes with on the remote system.

Certificate Category Options

Option Name

Description

CA_CERTIFICATES

Location of the PEM-formatted trusted CA X.509 certificates

CERTIFICATE

Location of Manager's PEM-formatted X.509 certificate.

CERTIFICATE_EXPIRATION_NOTICE

Number of days prior to certificate expiration to begin issuing informational messages about the expiration.

CERTIFICATE_REVOCATION_LIST

Location of Manager's PEM-formatted CRL

PRIVATE_KEY

Location of Manager's PEM-formatted RSA private key.

PRIVATE_KEY_PWD

Password for the Manager's PRIVATE_KEY.

VERIFY_HOST_NAME

Specification for whether or not the Broker's X.509 certificate host name field must be verified.

VERIFY_SERIAL_NUMBER

Specification for whether or not the Broker's X.509 certificate serial number field must be verified.

Command Category Options

Option Name

Description

COMMAND

Remote command to execute.

COMMAND_ID

Unique command ID associated the unit of work.

COMMAND_TYPE

Type of command specified with option COMMAND.

EXIT_CODE_MAP

Allows exit codes from user process executed by UCMD Server to be mapped to a corresponding exit code for UCMD Manager

LOGIN

Specification for whether or not the command runs in a login environment.

MANAGER_FAULT_TOLERANT

Specification for whether or not manager fault tolerance is used.

SCRIPT_FILE

Local script file to execute on the remote system.

SCRIPT_OPTIONS

Command line options passed to the script file.

SCRIPT_TYPE

Type of script file specified by option SCRIPT_FILE.

Events Category Options

Option Name

Description

ACTIVITY_MONITORING

Specification for whether or not product activity monitoring events are generated.

EVENT_GENERATION

Events to be generated as persistent events.

Installation Category Options

Option Name

Description

INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY

Directory in which UCMD Manager is installed.

Messages Category Options

Option Name

Description

MESSAGE_LANGUAGE

Language of messages written.

MESSAGE_LEVEL

Level of messages written.

MSG_SUPPRESSION_LIST

List of message IDs representing Universal messages to be suppressed.

NLS_ DIRECTORY

Location of UMC and UTT files

TRACE_FILE_LINES

Maximum number of lines written to a trace file before it wraps around.

TRACE_TABLE

Memory trace table specification.

Miscellaneous Category Options

Option Name

Description

COMMENT

User-defined string

HELP

Write command option help.

VERSION

Write program version.

Network Category Options

Option Name

Description

CODE_PAGE

Code page used for text translation.

CTL_SSL_CIPHER_LIST

SSL/TLS cipher list for the control session.

DATA_AUTHENTICATION

Specification for whether or not data integrity checks are performed on all standard I/O files.

DATA_COMPRESSION

Specification for whether or not data is compressed on all standard I/O files.

DATA_ENCRYPTION

Specification for whether or not data is encrypted on all standard I/O files.

DATA_SSL_CIPHER_LIST

SSL/TLS cipher list for the data sessions.

DEFAULT_CIPHER

Default SSL/TLS cipher used for data sessions.

FORCE_COMPLETE

Forces a manager fault tolerant server in a PENDING communication state to COMPLETED state without retrieving the spooled data.

JOB_RETENTION

Length of time that a Server waits for a reconnect after the user process completes.

MIN_SSL_PROTOCOL

Minimum SSL/TLS protocol level that will be negotiated and used for communications channels.

NETWORK_DELAY

Maximum number of seconds considered acceptable to wait for data communications.

NETWORK_FAULT_TOLERANT

Specification for whether network fault tolerant protocol is used.

RECONNECT_RETRY_COUNT

Maximum number of network fault tolerant reconnect attempts.

RECONNECT_RETRY_INTERVAL

Number of seconds between network fault tolerant reconnect attempts.

RESTART

Specifies if the manager is requesting restart or not.

Options Category Options

Option Name

Description

ASSIGN_PROCESS_TO_JOB

Specification for whether or not UCMD Server assigns child processes to a single Windows job object.

COMMAND_FILE_ENCRYPTED

Encrypted command file.

COMMAND_FILE_PLAIN

Pain text command file.

ELEVATE_USER_TOKEN

Overrides the UCMD Server ELEVATE_USER_TOKEN configuration option that determines whether a Windows process executes with highest available privileges. This option allows a process to obtain a user access token that is not subject to User Account Control (UAC) restrictions.

ENCRYPTION_KEY

Encryption key used to decrypt an encrypted command file specified by option COMMAND_FILE_ENCRYPTED.

SERVER_OPTIONS

Universal Command Server options that can be overridden by Managers.

UENCRYPTED_CODEPAGE

Character code page that Universal Command Manager uses to translate characters within a command file that has been encrypted with the Universal Encrypt utility.

UENCRYPTED_CODEPAGE_PATH

Location of the code page specified by the UENCRYPTED_CODEPAGE option.

Remote Category Options

Option Name

Description

CONNECT_RETRY_COUNT

Number of times a UCMD Manager will attempt to establish a connection with a remote Universal Broker.

CONNECT_RETRY_INTERVAL

Number of seconds between failed attempts to establish a connection with a remote Universal Broker.

CONNECT_TIMEOUT

Amount of time that a UCMD Manager will wait for a connection to a remote Universal Broker to complete.

DNS_EXPAND

Number of IP addresses returned to UCMD Manager following a DNS query issued to resolve a host name.

HOST_SELECTION

Host in the REMOTE_HOST list that the UCMD Manager will choose to begin its attempts to connect to a remote Universal Broker.

HOSTNAME_RETRY_COUNT

Number of times that UCMD will attempt to resolve the host name of a specified Universal Broker before it ends with a connect error.

MFT_SAFE_MODE

Situations in which more than one host may be specified in the REMOTE_HOST list when manager fault tolerance (MFT) is enabled.

OUTBOUND_IP

Host or IP address to use for all outgoing IP connections.

REMOTE_HOST

List of one or more hosts upon which a command may run.

REMOTE_PORT

TCP/IP port number of the remote Broker.

Standard File Category Options

Option Name

Description

SIO_DATA_AUTHENTICATION

Specification for whether or not data integrity checks are performed on a standard file.

SIO_DATA_COMPRESSION

Specification for whether or not data is compressed on a standard file (and if so, how).

SIO_DATA_ENCRYPTION

Specification for whether or not data is encrypted on a standard file.

SIO_LOCAL_CODE_PAGE

Code page used for local text translation on a standard file.

SIO_LOCAL_FILE

Local file used for a standard file instead of the default.

SIO_MODE

Translation mode of a standard file.

SIO_REMOTE_CODE_PAGE

Code page used for remote text translation on a standard file.

STDERR_FILE_SPEC

Start of standard error file specification options.

STDIN_FILE_SPEC

Start of standard input file specification options.

STDOUT_FILE_SPEC

Start of standard output file specification options.

User Category Options

Option Name

Description

USER_ID

User ID or account with which to execute the remote command.

USER_PASSWORD

Password associated with USER_ID.

Command Line Syntax

The following figure illustrates the command line syntax - using the command line, long form of the configuration options - of UCMD Manager for Windows.

ucmd
{ -cmd command [-cmd_type {cmdref|shell|stc} ] | -script file
  [-options options] [-script_type type] }
[-host hostlist
[-connect_retry_count number]
[-connect_retry_interval seconds]
[-connect_timeout seconds]
[-dns_expand {yes|no} ]
[-host_selection {sequential|random} ]
[-mft_safe_mode {yes|no} ]
[-file file | -encryptedfile ddname [-key key] ]  *
[-port port]
[-system_id ID]
[-userid user [-pwd pwd] ]
[-hostname_retry_count count]
[-outboundip host]
[-server options]
[-uencrypted_codepage codepage]
[-uencrypted_codepage_path codepage] [-elevate_user_token {yes|no} ] [-assign_process_to_job option] [-managerft {yes|no} ] [-cmdid id] [-login {yes|no} ] [-lang language ] [-level {trace|audit|info|warn|error}[,{time|notime} ] [-msg_suppression_list list ] [-tracefilelines lines] [-trace_table size,{error|always|never} ] [-ssl_implementation {openssl|system} ] [-ca_certs ddname [-verify_host_name {yes|no|hostname} ] [-verify_serial_number number] ] [-cert ddname -private_key ddname [-private_key_pwd password] ] [-days number] [-crl file] [-ctl_ssl_cipher_list cipherlist] [-data_ssl_cipher_list cipherlist] [-default_cipher cipher] [-forcecomplete {yes|no} ] [-job_retention seconds] [-min_ssl_protocol option]
[-delay seconds] [-networkft {yes|no} ] [-retry_count number] [-retry_interval seconds] [-restart {yes|no|auto} [-managerft {yes|no} [-cmdid id] ] ] [-codepage codepage] [-compress {yes|no}[,{zlib|hasp} ] ] [-encrypt {yes|no} ] [-authenticate {yes|no} ] [-stdin | -stdout | -stderr] [-codepage codepage] [-compress {yes|no}[,{zlib|hasp} ] ] [-encrypt {yes|no} ] [-authenticate {yes|no} ] [-localfile ddname] [-mode {text|binary}[,{ucs|direct} ] [-remotecodepage codepage] [-exit_code_map map] [-comment text] ucmd { -help | -version }



* The command file (-file or -encryptedfile) can contain some or all required and/or optional configuration options, including -cmd (or -script) and -host. If a command file is specified on the command line, and it contains the required -cmd (or -script) and -host options, those options do not have to be specified additionally on the command line.