SLIK Server Command Line Options

The SLIK Server also supports a number of command line arguments. These are optional and are generally used to override the default logic or policy.

Argument

Description

-d

This flag provides a way to override the SLIK control database, DataSource name.  Unless specified this defaults to “SLIKDB” and assumes a trusted SQL Server connection.  If provided the <DSN> argument must follow the ODBC connection string format.

For example: –d DSN=MySLIKDB;UID=NZSLIK;PWD=NZSLIK would use MYSLIKDB as the DataSource name specifying NZSLIK as the database UserID with the same database password.

-x

This flag causes SLIK to only process jobs scheduled in the future.  That is, no past due jobs will be run.  It may be appropriate to specify this flag when restarting the SLIK server each morning from the Task Scheduler. 

For example, this prevents the previous days “Shutdown SLIK Server” batch to run in the event that it did not reach the scheduled time.

-s

When the SLIK server is started with the -s flag it looks for a special batch called "<SLIK Auto-Startup>" during initialisation.  If found, and the batch is enabled, the SLIK server runs all jobs in the batch waiting for it to complete.   It then uses the overall run status to determine if the startup batch completed successfully.  If an error status is returned then the SLIK server will perform a graceful shutdown without scheduling or processing any further batches.  You can configure the SLIK jobs with "Continue processing" processing option to ensure the status returned is always successful.

-e

A process similar to the –s flag process occurs on shutdown if the -e flag is specified.  This causes the SLIK server to look for the special batch named  "<SLIK Auto-Shutdown>".  All jobs are run following completion of any currently active threads.  This is the optimum place to close the OneWorld session.  The return status is not used but any errors are logged as per normal SLIK job processing.

The –e and –s flags are particularly useful for certain processes (e.g. OneWorld) that are generally required to be started prior to starting the SLIK server.  This can be performed using the NT Task Scheduler.  However the Task Scheduler does not provide a way to interrelate any dependencies between these separate processes (i.e. OneWorld and SLIK server).  Consequently if the OneWorld session failed to initialise the SLIK server will fail to complete jobs with UBEs

A similar dependency problem can occur on shutdown when the OneWorld session is closed at a specific time each day when potentially the SLIK server is still performing processing, (i.e. running late).

Additionally the SLIK server uses a number of global externally configurable settings. These are also optional and are stored in the Windows Registry file under the key,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SLIK Software\SLIKServer\Configuration\<value name>.

Value Name

Type

Values

Default

Purpose

Debug Hook

DWORD

Boolean

1

1 = log on assertion, 0 = debug dialog

Debug Hook Return

DWORD

Boolean

1

Any assertions automatically opens the process in the debugger

Debug Hook Report

DWORD

0-3

0

0 = log only, 1 = display dialog on error, 2 = dsp error on assert, 3 = both

Locale

STRING

 

english-nz_nz.1252

The international setting to use for date formats etc. For our Australian cousins, specify “english-aus_aus.1252”

ODBCConnectString

STRING

 

DSN=SLIKDB

The SLIK control DataSource name. Same as –d command line option

Past Due

DWORD

Boolean

0

Always disable past due batch processing on startup. Same as    -x command line flag

RunStartup

DWORD

Boolean

0

Always run startup job. Same as  -s command line option.

RunShutdown

DWORD

Boolean

0

Always run shutdown job. Same as -e command line flag.

WatchDogThread

DWORD

Boolean

1

Enables/diables the watchdog thread used to monitor the scheduler thread.

ProcessorAffinityMask

DWORD

0-65534 (bitmask)

0

Determines what processors are enabled on a multi-processor machine. Mainly intended to work around multi-processor related issue in IBM Client Access ODBC Driver v3.2.0.

Note some of the above are only intended to be used during development and debugging of the SLIK server.

On initialisation the SLIK server sets these internal parameters from the registry, using the defaults defined above if no entry is found in the registry, before processing any command line options.  Therefore the command line options take precedence over the registry settings.  To explicitly turn off a boolean flag you can follow the flag with a trailing minus sign, e.g. –s–. 

To maintain these registry settings a small standalone program called SLIKConfig.exe is included with SLIK. This can be run on the SLIK Server machine to change these registry settings.