Environment Variables

A number of configuration parameters can be specified by setting host environment variables. The scope of these depends on where they are defined:

All versions of Reality, all databases, all users:

/etc/profile (UNIX).

System environment variables (Windows). These are set using the System option on the Control Panel – select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button; system variables are listed in the bottom half of the dialog.

A particular version or instance of Reality:

$REALROOT/files/realityrc. The environment variables defined in this file affect all processes using the associated version of Reality.

Note that on UNIX, setting REALDBASE in this file will set the default database for the system; on Windows use netadmin to set the default database.

Note: On Windows, you can set REALDBASE in $REALROOT/files/realityrc, but this will only set the default database for Reality commands entered at the command prompt. The preferred way of doing this is to use the netadmin utility.

For a particular user (UNIX only):

$HOME/.realityrc. The Reality environment variables can be overridden for a particular UNIX user by defining them in a .realityrc file in that user's home directory. In particular, you can specify the database, user-id and account to be used.

Note: Environment variables can also be set for specific Windows users, but these will only effect Reality commands entered at the command prompt. Incoming TCP connections to Reality all use the same Windows user-id (Reality User).

For a particular directory (UNIX only):

.realityrc in the directory concerned.

Note: The parameters defined in the .realityrc files may also be defined in .profile (parameters defined in .profile take precedence over those defined in .realityrc).

In the UNIX environment, settings in .profile override those in /etc/profile. Within the Reality environment, once set, a setting cannot be overridden, so those set in the host environment take precedence over those in $REALROOT/files/realityrc. On UNIX hosts, the different files have the following precedence:

.realityrc in the current directory.
$HOME/.realityrc.
$REALROOT/files/realityrc.
Database configuration parameters.

See Differences between UNIX and Windows for details of how to use the values of host environment variables on UNIX and Windows systems.

Reality Version

The REALROOT and PATH environment variables define the location of the Reality software and therefore define the version of Reality which is run by a user.

On UNIX, REALROOT is set by a script in the file /etc/realityrc.

Whenever a user logs onto the UNIX system the file /etc/profile is run. This file references /etc/realityrc. By default, therefore, REALROOT is set for all users to the value defined by /etc/realityrc.

It is possible, however, to define REALROOT in a user's home directory in a file called .profile. Values held in .profile will always override those held in /etc/realityrc. When setting REALROOT in .profile, use the following syntax:
```
set 12.0
. $REALROOT/bin/realroot
```
By defining REALROOT in users' home directories, it is possible to allow different users to use different versions of Reality, although this would not normally be required.
On Windows, REALROOT is set as a system environment variable.

UNIX onlyDatabase, User-id and Account

On UNIX, three other environment variables which control entry to Reality may be defined in .realityrc in a user's home directory. They are:

REALDBASE The default database – this can be the database's full pathname or its network name as defined in the ROUTE-FILE.

REALUSER The Reality user-id.

REALACC The Reality account.

These are defined as follows:

REALDBASE=database
REALUSER=user-id{,password}
REALACC=account-name{,password}

Caution

If passwords are included in the .realityrc file, ensure that UNIX permissions on the file are set to provide adequate password protection from other UNIX users; that is, owner access only.

It is also recommended that users are not allowed to use the UNIX user-id which was used to create the Reality database (the database owner). If you allow users to log on to the database under the owner's user-id, the security offered by the lockdbase command is no longer effective (unless you use the A option which allows superuser access only).

Notes:

Parameters defined in .realityrc override SSM settings (SSM is the utility used within Reality to configure database security). For example, if a default account is defined for a user using SSM and the REALACC environment variable is set in .realityrc, the user is logged onto the account defined in .realityrc.
Settings passed as parameters to the reality command override those defined in .realityrc.

Windows onlySetting Environment Variables at Logon

On Windows, when you log on via telnet, you can set environment variables by appending them to your user name. For example, to log on to an account called SUPPORT as the SYSMAN user, enter the following at the Logon please : prompt:

SYSMAN REALACC=SUPPORT

You can enter multiple variables separated by spaces.

Available Environment Variables

The following table lists the available host environment variables.

Environment Variable	Purpose	Corresponding Database Configuration Parameter
REALACC	The Reality account and optional password (comma separated). See Database, User-id and Account for details.
REALADMINKEY	Specifies the host file that contains the administration encryption key. See Data Encryption for details.
REALBREAK	Specifies the Reality `break` key. See Reality Break Character for details.
REALCIP_LOGLIMIT	The clean log size at which an autoswitch is executed. See Defining Clean Log Size Limit for details.
REALCIP_RLOGSPACECRITICAL	Specifies the threshold at which the oldest outstanding transaction is removed from the raw log (default, 85%).
REALCLOGPREFIX	The prefix used in clean log names. See Specifying the Clean Log Prefix for details.
REALCOMPTAPEIMAGE	Specifies the level of compression used when saving to a tape image file. See Tape Images for details.	CompressTapeImage
REALDBASE	The default database – this can be the database's full pathname or its network name as defined in the ROUTE-FILE. See Database, User-id and Account for details.
REALDUMP	Determines the behaviour if a reality process aborts, as follows: 0 Abort into the system or DataBasic debugger. Do not generate a core dump or Dr Watson report. 1 Abort into the system or DataBasic debugger and generate a core dump or Dr Watson report. 2 Generate a core dump but do not enter the debugger (default) – this setting is recommended because it generates the most accurate core dump.
REALIDLEDESPOOLERSLEEP	Specifies the interval between despooler checks for jobs to be printed. See Despoolers for details.	RealIdleDespoolerSleep
REALLOGLEVEL	The minimum level of messages logged in the daemon log. See Master Database Files for details.
REALMAXLOGSIZE	The maximum size of the daemon.log. See Daemon Log Rotation for details.
REALNOAUTOSTART	If set, specifies that the Reality daemons/services should not be started automatically when the host starts.
REALNOREJECTCLEAR	Specifies that TL-REJECT should not be cleared after each clean log restore. See Disabling Clearance of TL-REJECT Log for details.
REALOLDLOGDIR	The directory in which old log files are saved. See Daemon Log Rotation for details.
REALOLDLOGMAX	The maximum number of old log files that can be held in the old logs directory. See Daemon Log Rotation for details.
REALOLDSAVE	Specifies that data should be saved in a format that compatible with versions of Reality earlier than V9.0. See Transferring Data between Different Versions of Reality for details.
REALPLIDFORMAT	Allows you to specify a user-defined PLid format.
REALPRIORITYINC	Specifies the amount by which the SET-PRIORITY command changes the priority of the reality process.
REALRESERVERLTYXDSP	The number of ports reserved for despooler connections.
REALRESERVEROSFS	The number of ports reserved for network connections to the remote file server.
REALRESERVERSCSRVR	The number of ports reserved for network connections to the remote subroutine server.
REALRESERVERWSRVR	The number of ports reserved for network connections to the RealWeb server.
REALRESERVESQLSRVR	The number of ports reserved for network connections to the SQL server.
REALROOT	The location of the Reality software and therefore the version of Reality which is run by a user. See Reality Version for details.
REALTAPE	Specifies a tape definition to be used in the database configuration file.
REALTLDUMPDEN	Specifies the tape density used by tlmenu for archiving and loading clean logs. See Specifying Tape Density for Clean Logs
REALTLDUMPSIZE	Specifies the tape block size used by tlmenu for archiving and loading clean logs. See Specifying Tape Block Size for Clean Logs for details.
REALUSER	The Reality user-id and optional password (comma separated). See Database, User-id and Account for details.
RFSSETFREE	Specifies that every block in the database should be marked as free or in use (the default is to mark only the first block of each contiguous set of blocks). Selecting this option makes the free space check option (-f) available on the realdbck utility, but can reduce performance in normal use. You should only set this option if directed by Northgate support staff.	ForceFreeSpaceUpd
UC_PROCPLID	Specifies the PLId format used for daemon processes that do not already have a PLId. For details, see Environment Variables in UNIX-Connect System Administration
UC_TLI_CONNECT_TO	Specifies the length of time, in milliseconds, for which the UNIX-Connect software will attempt to establish an outgoing connection. For details, see Environment Variables in UNIX-Connect System Administration.