Provided by: nuxwdog_1.0.3-4_amd64 
NAME
nuxwdog - Provides a simple watchdog process that can be used to start, stop, monitor, or reconfigure a
server process.
SYNOPSIS
nuxwdog -f configuration_file [-i]
DESCRIPTION
nuxwdog is a watchdog daemon that builds on the uxwdog service that is part of the Netscape Enterprise
Server (NES). nuxwdog can start, stop, monitor, and reconfigure server programs, depending on the
parameters passed to it in its configuration file. nuxwdog opens a Unix domain socket to accept requests
from any server process it is managing. Optionally, nuxwdog can be configured to communicate only with
clients that are descendants of the nuxwdog process, limiting an avenue of potential access to any
servers managed by the watchdog.
Some servers require a high-level of security to protect their data or operations, which means (for
example) that they cannot store plaintext passwords in a password file to allow the server to be started
automatically. nuxwdog can be configured to prompt for server passwords when a server first starts and
then caches those passwords so that nuxwdog can restart the server without intervention if the server
crashes.
To make it easy for clients to communicate with nuxwdog, a C/C++ shared library is provided with the
nuxwdog source code (libnuxwdog.so). Additionally, nuxwdog provides JNI interfaces and Perl bindings to
the libnuxwdog.so library, so that calls can be made from Java and Perl programs. For more information on
this library and the client interfaces, see https://fedorahosted.org/nuxwdog/wiki/HOWTO.
nuxwdog is used by Dogtag PKI to monitor and manage the subsystem server processes for Java, Tomcat, and
Apache servers.
OPTIONS
-f configuration_file
Passes the configuration file for the service which runs the subsystem. With Dogtag PKI. For the
CA, OCSP, TKS, and DRM, this is for the Java process. For the TPS, this is for the Apache process.
-i
Runs the nuxwdog process in interactive mode and keeps nuxwdog open in the foreground instead of
running it as a daemon in the background.
CONFIGURATION FILE PARAMETERS AND EXAMPLES
ExeFile
Gives the full path to the executable to be started.
ExeArgs
Passes any arguments to the executable. The first argument must be the full path to the executable
(the same as the value in ExeFile).
TmpDir
Gives the full path to the executable to be started.
ChildSecurity
Sets whether the child server process should only allow requests from a parent (where nuxwdog is the
parent). nuxwdog checks the process ID for any client which sends a request to the Unix domain
socket and drops any message where the client is not a descendant of the nuxwdog process. To allow
any request, set this to 0; to allow only parent or ancestor requests, sets this to 1.
ExeOut
Gives the file to write stdout for the server to be started.
ExeErr
Gives the file to write stderr for the server to be started.
ExeBackground
Sets whether to run the server and the nuxwdog processes in the background in daemon mode after the
watchdog is initialized. Setting this to 1 enables daemon mode, while 0 keeps this in the foreground.
PidFile
Gives the PID file to use to store the nuxwdog PID.
ChildPidFile
Gives the PID file to use to store the PID of the server process managed by nuxwdog.
ExeContext
Sets the SELinux context in which to start the server process.
nuxwdog can be used to manage many types of server processes. For Dogtag PKI, it manages Java, Tomcat,
and Apache servers. For the Dogtag PKI Certificate Authority, a Java-based subsystem with a Tomcat web
service, the configuration file identifies the appropriate JRE and class paths, along with setting the
output, error, and PID files. (The ExeArgs argument should be all on one line.)
ExeFile /usr/lib/jvm/jre/bin/java
ExeArgs /usr/lib/jvm/jre/bin/java
-Djava.endorsed.dirs=/usr/share/tomcat5/common/endorsed
-classpath :/usr/lib/jvm/jre/lib/rt.jar
:/usr/share/java/commons-collections.jar
:/usr/share/tomcat5/bin/bootstrap.jar
:/usr/share/tomcat5/bin/commons-logging-api.jar
:/usr/share/java/mx4j/mx4j-impl.jar
:/usr/share/java/mx4j/mx4j-jmx.jar
:/usr/share/tomcat5/common/lib/nuxwdog.jar
-Dcatalina.base=/var/lib/pki-ca2
-Dcatalina.home=/usr/share/tomcat5
-Djava.io.tmpdir=/usr/share/tomcat5/temp org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
start
TmpDir /var/lib/pki-ca2/logs/pids
ChildSecurity 1
ExeOut /var/lib/pki-ca2/logs/catalina.out
ExeErr /var/lib/pki-ca2/logs/catalina.out
ExeBackground 1
PidFile /var/lib/pki-ca2/logs/wd-pki-ca2.pid
ChildPidFile /var/run/pki-ca2.pid
For Dogtag PKI, the Token (smart card) Processing System uses an Apache-based server. This example also
sets the SELinux context, pki_tps_t, used by the TPS subsystem processes.
ExeFile /usr/sbin/httpd.worker
ExeArgs /usr/sbin/httpd.worker -f /etc/pki-tps1/httpd.conf
TmpDir /var/lib/pki-tps1/logs/pids
PidFile /var/lib/pki-tps1/logs/wd-pki-tps1.pid
ExeContext pki_tps_t
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
There is a more detailed how-to article, including information on available client calls for nuxwdog, at
https://fedorahosted.org/nuxwdog/wiki/HOWTO.
The nuxwdog server works in conjunction with the Dogtag PKI subsystems. The Dogtag PKI project wiki is at
http://pki.fedoraproject.org/wiki/.
For information specifically about nuxwdog, the nuxwdog project wiki is located at
https://fedorahosted.org/nuxwdog/wiki/[1]. The nuxwdog relates directly to nuxwdog code changes and
releases, rather than all PKI-related updates.
Mailing lists: pki-devel@redhat.com and pki-users@redhat.com
IRC: Freenode at #dogtag-pki
AUTHORS
The PKI tools were written and maintained by developers with Netscape and now with Red Hat.
Authors: Ade Lee <alee@redhat.com>, Deon Lackey <dlackey@redhat.com>.
COPYRIGHT
(c) 2010, Red Hat, Inc. Licensed under the GNU Public License version 2.
NOTES
1. https://fedorahosted.org/nuxwdog/wiki/
https://fedorahosted.org/nuxwdog/wiki