Session Manager

The session manager is a dedicated UNIX process, which accepts incoming calls for the local system and maintains a log of outgoing connections. For incoming calls the session manager performs security checking. The session manager runs as a background process, which, once started, is intended to run forever.

Session Manager Menu

The session manager menu allows the system administrator to start and stop the session manager process and to clear the session manager log files.

You run the Session Manager Management Utility by choosing sessionmgmt from the Network Management menu. You will see the following menu:

                        SESSION MANAGER MANAGEMENT

    1   clearlogs
    2   smstart
    3   smstop

    number (or q)

Caution

The session manager process, once started, is intended to run forever. The commands smstop and smstart should only be used under the supervision of Northgate support personnel. The rcslisten command can be used to start or stop the session manager listening on a single entry. However, care should be taken when using this command to avoid inadvertently stopping the session manager from listening on all entries.

Clearing the Log Files

To clear the session manager process log files, select clearlogs from the Session Management menu.

Note: The maximum size of each session manager log file is limited, by default, to 1MB. When the file exceeds this limit, it is moved to a backup file. It should not, therefore, normally be necessary to use the clearlogs command.

If necessary the sizes of the log files can be changed by modifying the parameters on the session manager command line (in the file /etc/init.d/rcs.

Starting the Session Manager

To start the session manager process, select smstart from the Session Management menu. When the session manager is started the following message is displayed:

Starting Northgate Session Manager

Attempting to start the session manager process when it is already running results in the following message:

Northgate Session manager already running

Stopping the Session Manager

To stop the session manager process, select sessmgmt from the Network Management menu and then select smstop. When the session manager is stopped the following message is displayed:

Northgate Session Manager Stopped

Note: In most cases, if you stop and restart the session manager, sessions already in progress will not be affected. Under some circumstances, however, outgoing connections may be rejected with an Invalid PLId error. If this occurs, the user should log off and on again before trying again.