IBM SC34-4499-03 Chapter 18. Using the Tivoli Software Distribution packaging tool

Chapter 18. Using the Tivoli Software Distribution packaging tool

The TivoliSoftware Distribution packaging tool supports automated distribution between

a single TivoliSoftware Distribution server and its TCP/IP-connected clients. The Tivoli

Software Distribution tool works either by itself or in conjunction with TeamConnection’s

Gather tool to enable you to distribute ﬁles through TivoliSoftware Distribution. Use of

this tool requires you to be familiar with Tivoliconﬁguration and system administration

so that TeamConnectioncan start Tivoli Software Distribution to distribute ﬁle packages.

The TivoliSoftware Distribution distribution tool must be run on a Tivoli managed node

running on any of TeamConnection’sUNIX platforms or Windows NT.

The TivoliSoftware Distribution distribution tool includes a sample build script named

softdist (on UNIX platforms) or softdist.exe (on Windows NT). It can be run from within

a TeamConnectionbuilder. This build script maps TeamConnection build parameters to

the command line syntax for the TivoliSoftware Distribution tool through the teamcpak

command line interface.

Youcan use Tivoli Software Distribution as a builder for packaging in two ways:

vIntegrate it with the gather step, so that the Gather tool leaves the package ﬁles in a

directory from which TivoliSoftware Distribution picks them up.

vUse it without the gather step. In this case, the build script for TivoliSoftware

Distribution must set up the directory and move ﬁles into it to interface correctly with

the teamcpak command.

Tosimplify the interface, the Tivoli Software Distribution tool uses a select set of

options. If you want to take full advantage of TivoliSoftware Distribution features, you

can import a TivoliSoftware Distribution package speciﬁcation. Importing a package

speciﬁcation provides you access to all TivoliSoftware Distribution functions.

The TivoliSoftware Distribution tool produces a Tivoli File Package, which is used for

distribution.

Tostart the Tivoli Software Distribution tool, use the teamcpak command. This

command is found in the directory where the TeamConnectionfamily server is installed.

If it is started from a build script, it needs to be in the execution path of the build server.

The complete syntax of the teamcpak softdist command follows. Youmust specify the

command parameters in the order shown.

teamcpak [-i] [-o "string"] softdist inputFile

-i Speciﬁes that only one

is speciﬁed in the command: an include ﬁle

containing the list of input ﬁles. This parameter is optional.