In past versions of Infogix distributed applications, all runtime properties were stored in the product’s CONFIG_HOME directory in a network-shared location that was accessible across all cluster nodes. Product administrators who had permissions and access to the installation host and directories were tasked with management and customization of the runtime property settings.
Additionally, administrators were often required to override certain runtime property values to meet business requirements; many times administrators had difficulty in determining how to best to override runtime property values such that values were preserved across deployment operations.
To make managing runtime property settings and configuration overrides easier and more efficient, Infogix distributed products versions 9.1 and later have the option to store all properties and values in the application database.
By default, the configuration files are stored in the CONFIG_HOME directory. To store the configuration files in a database table instead of the filesystem, set the value of
ENABLE_DATABASE_CONFIG property to true in the advanced.appserver.properties file.
You can modify the values of these properties from the Infogix Administrative Console’s “Product Configuration” link. The link appears only when the properties are stored in the database.
Any updates to the product properties take immediate effect, and eliminates the need for a server administrator to run update-config.bat (.sh) script.
Advantages to storing runtime property values in the database include:
- Configuration changes occur immediately upon saving new values; in most instances, configuration changes do not require any redeployment or application server restarts.
- Dependency on a shared file system available to all cluster nodes is reduced.
- Property value overrides are simplified and straightforward.
- Customers can now manage configurations from the Admin Console UI without the need to directly access installation hosts and directories.
- Flexibility for test environments is improved as environmental changes to accommodate test procedures may be accomplished faster.