Configuration Items

During installation, configuration items are created on the host system. Configuration changes are made by editing the values associated with these items. This chapter describes how to make such changes on your system.

Item values can exist at four configuration levels. When a configuration item is queried, item locations are searched in order of level precedence:

1.Temporary: Any changes made at the temporary configuration level override any corresponding entries at the user, system, and default levels.

2.User: Changes made at the user level override any corresponding entries at the system and default levels.

3.System: System changes override default-level entries.

4.Default: If no changes have been made at any other level, the default value for the configuration item is used. Default configuration values cannot be changed.

On Windows operating systems, user and system configuration information is stored in the Registry. On Unix-based systems, configuration files are used. Temporary configuration items are applied using environment variables on both Windows and Unix-based platforms.

Regardless of the platform, a common naming convention for configuration items has been followed. Understanding this naming convention will help you locate and change the appropriate configuration items when required.

Configuration items are hierarchical in structure, with the root node always being PTK. Child nodes of the root represent the class of the item, and are typically product abbreviations, such as PTKC (SafeNet ProtectToolkit-C) or HSM (Hardware Security Module). Nodes under class represent the component, such as LOGGER or SMS. Finally, nodes under component represent the configuration item, such as FILE or MODE. Configuration items therefore take the form:

PTK_<class>_<component>_<item>

Windows

Temporary

Temporary configuration changes are made using environment variables. Since environment variables are not hierarchical, the hierarchy is implicitly defined by the name of the variable.

User

User configuration changes are made in the registry tree starting from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SafeNet.

System

System configuration changes are made in the registry tree starting from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SafeNet.

Example:

The name of the SafeNet ProtectToolkit-C file where the logger library writes log information (ctlog.log) is stored in the Windows registry as a string value for the entry:

PTK_PTKC_LOGGER_FILE

This is located in the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SafeNet\PTKC\LOGGER

Unix/Linux

Temporary

Temporary configuration changes are made using environment variables. Since environment variables are not hierarchical in nature, the hierarchy is implicitly defined by the name of the variable.

User

User Configuration is a set of files located in the $HOME/.safenet directory.

System

System Configuration is a set of files located in the /etc/default directory.

The User and System Configuration files are of the form: PTK_<class>. Entries in the file are of the form: PTK_<class>_<component>_<item>=<value>.

Example:

The name of the SafeNet ProtectToolkit-C file where the logger library writes log information (ctlog.log) is stored in the /etc/default/et_ptkc file as the entry:

PTK_PTKC_LOGGER_FILE=/ctlog.log