pbrun

Linux & Unix

Saturday, July 31, 2010

What is pbrun command?

pbrun

Usage:  pbrun [-v][-n][-p][-d option] [-h hostname]
          [-u username] command [args ...]

The  pbrun  command is used to request that an application or command be run in a controlled account. The user simply adds pbrun  to the beginning of the command line, for example:

pbrun backup /usr /dev/dat

pbrun  then checks the  /etc/pb.settings  file to determine the master daemon to which it should send the request. Once it has contacted a master daemon, it sends a request to the daemon to run the application specified. As with the  rlogin command, you can type  ~^Z  to suspend  pbrun , or  ~.  to terminate it. Both must be typed at the beginning of a new line. pbrun  has several options:
-d option
This outputs debugging information.
When option is connect this  displays debugging information regarding connections between clients and masters. TCP/IP socket information and machine name lookup statistics can be useful for solving DNS and NIS problems. For example:

pbrun -d connect ls

when option is time or ttime  displays debugging information regarding the timing or total time of each subsection of the  pbrun  command. It is useful for isolating performance bottlenecks between networked machines and solving obscure timing problems.

pbrun -d time ls

-h hostname
allows the user to request a particular execution host that will run the request. If present, the  -h hostname  must come before the command being requested.
-n
redirects the input of  pbrun  to  /dev/null . You sometimes need this option to avoid unfortunate interactions between pbrun  and the shell that invokes it. For example, if you are running  pbrun  and start a  pbrun  in the background without redirecting its input away from the terminal, it will block even if no reads are posted by the remote command.  -n  prevents this.
-p
puts  pbrun  into "pipe mode," in which all interactions with the user's terminal are done without changing any of the terminal parameters. Normally,  pbrun  puts the terminal into raw mode, so that programs such as text editors, which require raw mode, can run properly under  pbrun . Pipe mode is useful when several  pbrun  commands must be piped together, for example:

pbrun -p ls /etc/secure | pbrun -p dbadd listing

-u
username  sets the requesting user to be username.
-v
displays the current version number of  pbrun .

Reference: 
Chapter 20: Reference - Programs
http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/pb/pb27-20.htm

Chapter 15: Executing Programs within PowerBroker
http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/pb/pb27-15.htm