Automated Configuration Management in

PeopleSoft
Configuration the Old Way

PeopleSoft system administrators have generally spent a good deal of time on manual,
repetitive tasks while setting up and configuring their PeopleSoft system. When you set up a
new PeopleSoft demo environment or upgrade/clone environments, considerable effort is
spent on configuration-related activities. This often involves going through hundreds of user
interface pages to manually configure functional components like Integration Broker, Secure
Enterprise Search, Process Scheduler, and so on. Testing for correctness is also required. If you
cloned or made copies of systems configurations, they needed to be redone. Host name entries
are spread within many configurations from webserver to appserver tiers and in many objects
within databases, which adds to the challenge.

What We've Done to Improve the Process

With PeopleTools 8.55, configuration is centralized. Deployment Packages (DPK) are a new
delivery mechanism provided with PeopleTools 8.55 (for use with Linux and Windows operating
systems).

With DPK support for HP-UX IA added in PeopleTools 8.57, VCD (Virtual CD) is now retired.

PeopleTooIs installs are performed only with DPKs

– Middleware components are embedded in DPK.
– Puppet scripts used to setup and customize configuration

Deployment Packages contain all the software created by PeopleSoft as well as the required
components pre-installed and fully patched, along with a deployment and configuration
automation system. In addition, all Update Images delivered after 8.55 will also take advantage
of the Deployment Framework, and will be comprised of Deployment Packages. DPKs have
three parts:
 • Binaries based on platform: Middleware binaries for Application Server runtime Tuxedo,
WebServers - Weblogic, PeopleSoft binaries (PS_HOME), database, Client binaries, etc.
• Puppet-based automation for installation and deployment of middleware - The
PeopleSoft Puppet modules provide automation for setting up the middle ware,
deployment of PeopleTools binaries and configuration of Application server and
WebServer domains. (For detailed information on Puppet see puppet.com, and
docs.puppetlabs.com)
• ACM - Automated Configuration Manager to configure PeopleSoft components like
Integration Broker, Secure Search, Process Scheduler etc.

With DPKs configuration is centralized in Puppet configuration files, and can be customized by overriding
configuration attributes in psft.customizations.yaml.

Automating PeopleSoft Configuration Using ACM

Automated Configuration Manager (ACM) is a tool set available beginning with PeopleTools
8.54. It is used to automate PeopleTools product configuration. ACM allows you to externalize
product configuration as a template and then use the template to automate configurations
across systems. ACM comes with graphical user interfaces, command-line tools, and a suite of
configuration plugins that help administrators configure the base PeopleSoft components.
Peopletools 8.55 delivers the following predefined templates that you can start with.

The other functional plugins include the following:

• Integration Broker
o Rename local node, purge messages
o Configure default local node, set target location, configure content/portal URI
o Configure gateway URL, load gateway connectors, configure nodes in the
gateway
o Set advanced gateway properties like keystore password, proxy/non proxy
information
o Activate IB Domains and Queues
 o Cleanup

• Secure Enterprise Search

o Configure Search Instance
o Configure Identity plugin and proxy login
o Deploy/Undeploy, Index search definitions
o Cleanup Meta-data

• Process Scheduler
o Report Node configurations
o Server Definition configuration

• Cluster
o Network Node Registration
o Single Sign-On configuration
o Unified Navigation configuration, creation of remote folders
o Import SES search indexes to Portal environment

• Approvals
o Enable SSL configuration for MAP layouts
o MAP approval Svc Install configuration
o Introspection and Deployment of IB services

• Miscellaneous Utilities
o Performance Monitor Configurations
o Grant PTF roles to users
o Setting URL identifiers, url properties and its values
o Web Profile related configurations

Working with ACM

An administrator typically performs the following process to develop a configuration

automation template. The template contains configuration units, and the sequence and
dependencies in which the configuration has to be automated. After the template is developed,
it is tested and used as a base version to automate other environments.

Pre-Requisites for Executing ACM

1. User should have "ACM Administrator" Role: Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools >
Security > User Profiles > User Profiles, then add the "ACM Administrator" role for the
corresponding user.
 2. The newly created Template should have sufficient privilege: Navigate to Main Menu >
PeopleTools > Security > Permissions and Roles > Permission Lists, then choose
permission list "PTPT4800", then add the newly created template to the list present in
the "ACM Templates" tab.

The Process

1. Design a Template: Automate functional units of configuration. You can group

configuration plugins, set configuration attributes and sequence then to automate
functional parts. This can be done from PeopleTools > Automation Configuration
Manager > Templates

2. Execute the Template: The template can be executed interactively in three ways:
1. Interactive: Navigate to: Peopletools > Automation Configuration Manager >
Templates
2. Command line: Administrators generally prefers to automate configurations by
running scripts. This is the recommended method for automating
configurations.
 3. DPK Puppet: Set the configuration in Puppet modules prior running the
deployment scripts. You can specify your entire configuration in the
"/etc/puppet/data/psft_configuration.yaml" file, before running the DPK
automation process. The code block below shows how to set IB Configuration in
your deployment configuration.

integration_broker:
run_control_id: intbroker
os_user: '%{hiera(''domain_user'')}'
db_settings: {
db_name: '%{hiera(''db_name'')}',
db_type: '%{hiera(''db_platform'')}',
db_connect_id: '%{hiera(''db_connect_id'')}',
db_connect_pwd: '%{hiera(''db_connect_pwd'')}'
}
acm_plugin_list:
PTIBRenameNode: {
env.default_local_node:
'%{hiera(''gateway_node_name'')}',
env.app_msg_purge_all_dms: true
}
PTIBConfigureDBNode: {
env.pia_webserver_host: '%{::fqdn}',
env.pia_webserver_port: '%{hiera(''pia_http_port'')}',
env.pia_webserver_ssl_port:
'%{hiera(''pia_https_port'')}',
env.pia_site_name: '%{hiera(''pia_site_name'')}',

4. Test and Debug: After the execution you can monitor and debug the execution by
navigating to PeopleTools>Automation Configuration Manager>Monitor
After you generate a working version of the template, you can keep it as a configuration
baseline and use it to clone configurations across multiple environments. The template is the
source of truth for configuration, and ACM allows you to re-run the configuration any number
of times.