Summary

Beginning with Process Commander v6.2, most of the system configuration settings contained in the prconfig.xml file can instead optionally be stored in a Dynamic System Setting instance. This has two advantages:

You can change the value of the settings without the need to edit the prconfig.xml file. In some application servers, editing this file requires redeploying the entire Process Commander application to have the changes take effect.

In a multi-node Process Commander system, one setting can be used by all the nodes sharing the database, making the administration of the cluster easier.

This article provides an example of creating and editing a prconfig Dynamic System Setting, using the PEGA0005 alert threshold setting. (For background on this alert, see Understanding the PEGA0005 alert - Query time exceeds limit.)

Suggested Approach

The PEGA0005 alert writes a message to the alert log any time a database operation exceeds a set threshold. In the absence of a prconfig system setting to set the threshold explicitly, the system uses the default value of 500 milliseconds. To change this threshold, you must create this prconfig system setting. Once the setting exists, you can change the threshold value by editing the setting.

Add a new Prconfig Dynamic System Setting

To create the Dynamic System setting for the PEGA0005 alert:

1. In the Application Explorer, right-click your application and select New > Sysadmin > Dynamic System Settings.
2. In the Dynamic System Settings: New dialog, in the Owning Ruleset: field, enter Pega-Engine. For all prconfig system settings, if anything other than Pega-Engine is entered in this field, the setting will be ignored.
   
3. In the Setting Purpose field, enter the Key String for the PEGA0005 prconfig system setting, which is as follows:
   prconfig/alerts/database/operationTimeThreshold/default.
   For more information on determining the Key String for a specific setting, see the Configuration Settings Reference Guide.
4. Click Create.
5. In the Value field of the Settings tab, enter 1000, for 1000 milliseconds.
   
   When creating other prconfig system settings, this value can be numeric, a string, or Boolean, depending on the prconfig system setting. For the valid values of a given setting, consult the Configuration Settings Reference Guide.
6. Save the form. Stop and restart the node. The system will now log a PEGA0005 alert only after a database operation exceeds 1000 milliseconds.

Warning: No validation is performed on either the Dynamic System Settings: New dialog, or the Dynamic System Settings form. If any values are misspelled or incorrect, the setting will be saved as-is, with no errors raised.

Edit an existing Prconfig Dynamic System Setting

To review or update an existing prconfig system setting:

1. Right-click any class in the Application Explorer, and select View > SysAdmin > Dynamic System Settings.
2. In the Key Contains field in the Criteria section, enter operationtime, and click Run.
3. Click the prconfig/alerts/database/operationTimeThreshold/defaultrow of the display to open the Dynamic System Settings data instance.

The Dynamic System Settings form contains three editable fields of note.

• Description: By default, this field contains the Key String of the setting. Use this field to enter a description which is more readable, or describes the effect of the setting. This is entirely optional, and will have no effect on the setting.
• Value: Enter the value for the prconfig system setting in this field.
• Associated RuleSet: Beginning with V6.2, when you create a system settings data instance and save it, the system automatically associates ("tags") it with the RuleSet of the Application rule for the current application. This association assists with application packaging.
  

Notes

Prconfig settings can affect a wide variety of Process Commander operations, behavior, calculations, and performance. Review the spelling and structure of the Setting Purpose field, and the spelling or numerical value in the Value field , before you restart the system or node.

In general, if a prconfig setting is defined in a prconfig.xml file and is also defined through a Dynamic System Setting, the prconfig.xml takes precedence.

Process Commander contains only a small number of prconfig system settings when first installed.