Network and database connection details that you configure on the first VMware Cloud Director cell are saved in a response file. This file contains sensitive information that you must reuse when you add servers to the server group. You must preserve the file at a secure location.

The response file is created at /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/etc/responses.properties on the first server for which you configure network and database connections. When you add servers to the group, you must use a copy of the response file to supply configuration parameters that all servers share.

Important:

The cell management tool includes subcommands that you can use to make changes in the network and database connection details that you initially specified. Changes you make using these tools are written to the global configuration file and the response file, so you must be sure to have the response file in place (in /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/etc/responses.properties) and writable before you use any of the commands that can modify it.

Procedure

  1. Protect the response file.
    Save a copy of the file at a secure location. Restrict access to it, and make sure it is backed up to a secure location. When you back up the file, avoid sending clear text across a public network.
  2. Reuse the response file.
    1. Copy the file to a location accessible to the server you are ready to configure.
      Note: You must install VMware Cloud Director software on a server before you can reuse the response file to configure it. All directories in the pathname to the response file must be readable by the user vcloud.vcloud, as shown in this example. 
      [root@cell1 /tmp]# ls -l responses.properties
-rw------- 1 vcloud vcloud 418 Jun 8 13:42 responses.properties
      The installer creates this user and group.
    2. Run the configuration script, using the -r option and specifying the response file pathname.
      Log in as root, open a console, shell, or terminal window, and type: 
      [root@cell1 /tmp]# /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/configure -r /path-to-response-file

What to do next

After you configure the additional servers, delete the copy of the response file you used to configure them.