Configuring external application tasks with the External Application Launch Wizard

Use the External Application Launch Wizard to create and modify tasks to start applications that are external to IBM Director.

The External Application Launch Wizard facilitates integrating third-party management software and other programs into the IBM Director Console user interface by guiding you through a series of panels to gather information about the external application task. The wizard then creates the resources on the management server for the external application task to appear in IBM Director Console. When the External Application Launch task is refreshed in IBM Director Console, the integrated application appears in the Tasks pane in IBM Director Console, from which it can be started.

Use the following procedure to create or modify an external application task:
  1. Open a command window on the management server.
    Note: If working from a management console remote from the management server, drag the Remote Control task to the management server in the Managed Objects pane.
  2. At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:
    ealwizard
    The External Application Launch Wizard opens.
  3. In the Name panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Select an existing CMDTask file to modify, or create a new CMDTask file by selecting New and typing a file name.
    2. Click Next.
  4. In the Icons panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Specify Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) files for the task icons to be displayed in IBM Director Console by typing the path and file names of each GIF file, or by clicking the Browse button and navigating to each file.
    2. Click Next.
  5. In the Title panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Select one of the options for defining the task title in IBM Director Console.
    2. Depending on the selected title option, type one of the following sets of additional information:
      • Title text strings for English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese
      • The class name and title key of a Java™ resource bundle that defines national-language titles
      Note: When entering title text strings or a resource bundle class and title, the code page in which you are operating can impose restrictions on how you enter characters from other code pages. See Specifying Unicode characters in national-language titles for additional information.
    3. Click Next.
  6. In the Parent Task panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Select a parent task under which the external application task will appear in IBM Director Console.
    2. Click Next.
  7. In the Command panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Select or clear the Use a shell to run these command(s) check box, depending on whether a separate command shell is required for the external application.
      Note: Select this check box if the application requires an interactive dialog or advanced command-line syntax , such as wildcard expansion or special characters.
    2. Select or clear the Provide command for use on all operating systems check box, depending on whether or not the same command is used on both UNIX/Linux and Windows® management consoles.
    3. Specify either a common command and working directory for all management consoles, or both Windows and UNIX/Linux commands and working directories. See Command string notes for important information about specifying command strings.
    4. Click Next.
  8. In the Targets panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Select whether the external application task will be started against a single target, no target, or by either method.
    2. If the task can be targeted, select a managed-object type that can be used as a target for the task.
    3. Click Next.
  9. In the Summary panel, perform the following steps:
    1. Review all the external-application task criteria.
    2. If any criteria need to be changed, click Back to return to the appropriate panel and make the needed changes.
    3. Click Finish. The wizard closes and saves your changes.
      Note: Although the External Application Launch Wizard is run on the management server and defines external application task resources on the management server, external application tasks are run on the management console from which the task is started. To start external applications from remote management consoles, perform the additional configurations described in Configuring remote instances of IBM Director Console for external application tasks.
  10. In IBM Director Console , select Tasks > External Application Launch > Refresh. This step is required to update IBM Director Console to use the new or modified external application task.
Note: The External Application Launch Wizard depends on information it receives from IBM Director Server. Because subsequent changes might depend on the modifications that were just applied, do not start External Application Launch Wizard again without first stopping and restarting IBM Director Server.
Related concepts
External application tasks
Targeted and untargeted tasks
Related reference
External Application Launch Wizard panels
Command-task (CMDTask) file format
Use of environment variables when starting external applications