/CONFIGURE=(NAME=name [,CREDENTIALS=credentials]
[,FACILITY=facility] [,FILE=file] [,THREAD_MAX=n][,...])
Dynamically loads an ACME agent. An ACME agent is a shareable
image that conforms to the ACME agent plug-in interface
specification.
By default, the ACME server looks for an ACME agent file named
prefix$name_ACMESHR.EXE, where the prefix is VMS by default
and name is the case-insensitive string specified by the NAME
keyword. The prefix can be overridden by the FACILITY keyword.
Otherwise, a complete file specification can be specified with
the FILE keyword.
You must specify the CREDENTIALS keyword if the ACME agent is a
domain of interpretation (DOI) agent capable of authenticating
users and issuing credentials. The CREDENTIALS keyword specifies
the name of the persona extension associated with the ACME
agent (see the $PERSONA_EXTENSION_LOOKUP system service). The
credentials name must match the name registered by the executive
loadable image that implements the persona extension. For
credentials other than "VMS", see the documentation provided
for the ACME agent and the specific persona extension.
A maximum of eight ACME agents can be configured.
THREAD_MAX Keyword: Usage Considerations
An ACME server worker thread is the authentication request
processing thread of execution. The number of worker threads
determines the number of authentication requests the ACME server
can process simultaneously.
The ACME server assigns a request slot to each in-progress
authentication request. The total number of request slots sets
a limit on the maximum number of requests the ACME server can
have outstanding.
The ACME server limits the number of unprivileged authentication
requests it can accept for processing to half the total number of
request slots.
If a process makes a call to $ACM and no request slots are
available, the process remains in resource wait state until a
request slot becomes free.
The number of ACME server worker threads can range from 1 to 32.
The default of 4 satisfies most operating environments in which
authentication processing time is largely spent waiting for I/O.
You may, however, be able to improve throughput by increasing the
number of worker threads if, for example, you have a user-written
ACME agent that requires more CPU time than most.
You can set the maximum number of ACME server worker threads
before you start or restart the server by defining the inner-mode
logical name ACME$THREAD_MAXIMUM in the system-wide logical name
table. For example:
$ DEFINE/SYSTEM/EXECUTIVE_MODE ACME$THREAD_MAXIMUM 8
You can also use the CONFIGURE qualifier to set the maximum
number of server worker threads before you enable the ACME
server. For example:
$ SET SERVER ACME /CONFIGURE=THREAD_MAX=6
The CONFIGURE qualifier overrides the value of the ACME$THREAD_
MAXIMUM logical, if it is defined.
Because most authentication processing is I/O bound, defining
more threads than about one quarter the number of request slots
does not gain more throughput.
The ACME server calculates a default number of request slots
from the value of MAXPROCESSCNT and the number of available CPUs.
You can override the calculated value by defining the inner-mode
logical name ACME$REQUEST_MAXIMUM in the system-wide name table
before you start or restart the ACME server. For example:
$ DEFINE /SYSTEM /EXECUTIVE_MODE ACME$REQUEST_MAXIMUM 64
$ SET SERVER ACME /RESTART