Basically, a Hiveconf file consists of key/value pairs with a equalsign(=) between them, as in the following example:

vsm_server_port = 9000
vnc_port_base = 5900

The values after the equal sign can be of the following types:

Data can also be lists of the above types, these lists are space-separated.

Parameters in Hiveconf all reside in folders. Folders are just like a directory or folder in a normal file system. By adding folder directives to Hiveconf files, the parameters will be split up in a tree structure, meaning each parameter will be addressed using a path. This way, two folders can have two parameters with the same name without collision.

The benefits of this is that a software suite (for instance ThinLinc) can have one common configuration namespace, without having to name all configuration parameters uniquely, since every component in the suite can have its own namespace. In ThinLinc, the VSM server has its parameters in the vsmserver/ folder, the VSM agent has its parameters in the vsmagent/ folder and so on.

Looking from a system global point of view, every software package has its own folder, meaning all configuration parameters of the system can be accessed using a common tool.

Folders are put into the configuration files by adding a path inside square brackets to the file as in the following example:

[root@tlha-master conf.d]# cat vsmserver.hconf
#
# Hiveconf configuration file - VSM server
#
[/vsmserver]
unbind_ports_at_login=true

# Administrators email
admin_email = root@localhost

#
# Terminal servers. A space-separated list of agent server hostnames. ...
# These will be used for communication between the server and the ...
# agent. The names reported to clients are fetched from the agent ...
# itself; names in terminalservers are not reported directly to ...
# clients.
#
terminalservers = tlagent-0.example.com

In this example, all three parameters ( unbind_ports_at_login , admin_email , and terminalservers ) reside in the /vsmserver folder. This means that they should be addressed as /vsmserver/unbind_ports_at_login , /vsmserver/admin_email and /vsmserver/terminalservers respectively if used from inside a program using the Hivetool libraries. This is of course not that important from the system administrator's point of view, but it's important to understand the principle.

One Hiveconf file can use another Hiveconf file by mounting the other file using a mount command as in the following example:

%mount HA.hconf

The mount should be compared to a mount on a UNIX or Linux system. That is, the mount adds the tree structure of the file mounted at exactly the place in the current tree structure where the mount command was found.

Mounts can also use wildcards, as in the following example

%mount conf.d/*.hconf

The above is exactly what you'll find if you look into the file /opt/thinlinc/etc/thinlinc.hconf. Hiveconf will mount all files in /opt/thinlinc/etc/conf.d and add them to the current folder. This is a very convenient way to add all configuration files for a specific software suite to the Hiveconf namespace.

As we hinted in Section 16.1.2, “ Tree Structure ”, Hiveconf lays the foundation for a hostwide configuration system where all applications on a host can be configured using a single system with a common API. This can be accomplished because each application will get its own subfolder in the hostwide configuration folder, so that two applications parameters won't collide even if they have the same name. Using the mount command, every application can have its own configuration file, while still exporting its parameters to the hostwide folder system.

There is a hostwide Hiveconf "root", implemented by the file /etc/root.hconf. This file mounts all files in /etc/hiveconf.d/ where an application can drop its own hiveconf file at install-time, just like it can drop a file in for example /etc/logrotate.d or /etc/profile.d.

In addition to the system libraries used by applications to read and write configuration parameters that reside in Hiveconf files, there is a command line utility named hivetool for inspecting and setting parameters from the command line. This can be very convenient, for example when scripting setup scripts that need to set some parameter.

Hivetool without parameters will do nothing. To see all parameters on the system, run:

# hivetool -Ra /

which instructs hivetool to print all parameters, beginning from the root (/) and recursing downwards. With a standard Hiveconf installation this will list Samba and KDE configuration parameters. If ThinLinc is installed, it will list ThinLinc parameters as well.

To print a specific parameter, run hivetool with the name of the parameter as parameter. For example:

[root@tlha-primary etc]# hivetool /thinlinc/vsmserver/admin_email
root@localhost

Setting a parameter is equally easy. To set the admin_email parameter above, execute the following:

# hivetool /thinlinc/vsmserver/admin_email=test@example.com