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PeopleTools 8.53 – PeopleSoft Homes

PeopleSoft Home refers to a file system location in which artifacts associated with a PeopleTools runtime environment are located. The various PeopleSoft Homes are intended to serve specific purposes. Until PeopleTools 8.50, all file system content related to a PeopleSoft environment was consolidated within the same directory tree, which was referred to as PeopleSoft Home or PS_Home. With PeopleTools 8.50, PeopleSoft Home went plural – PeopleSoft Homes and PeopleTools 8.52 and 8.53 decoupled it further.

PS_HOME

Prior to PeopleTools 8.50, PS_HOME contained everything associated with a PeopleSoft runtime environment like PeopleTools installation plus patch, PeopleSoft application installation plus maintenance, PeopleTools runtime components like appserver, process scheduler and PIA domains. Included configuration and log files. It also included third party products like Verity.

From PeopleTools 8.50 onwards, PS_HOME contains only file system artifacts deployed by PeopleTools installation programs. Configuration and logs have been relocated to PS_CFG_HOME.

PS_CFG_HOME

From PeopleTools 8.50 onwards, a new PeopleSoft Home has been introduced. Known also as PeopleSoft Config Home (PS_CFG_Home), this new file system location only contains the PeopleSoft configuration content like cache, log files. The default location of PS_CFG_HOME is /home/<username> on UNIX and c:\users\<username> on Microsoft Windows.

You can override this default location by setting the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable of your choice, for example – the same as PS_HOME. PS_CFG_HOME has the following restrictions:

• Contains only domains for a single Application Database.
• Can be associated with only one Application Home – PS_APP_HOME.

It is interesting to note that Verity Search indexes contained in PS_CFG_HOME/data/Search are common to all domains within a PS_CFG_HOME.

PS_APP_HOME

PeopleTools 8.52 introduced PS_APP_HOME or PeopleSoft Application Home. PS_APP_HOME refers to the installation location of the PeopleSoft Application. This location is anywhere in the file system that can be accessed by the PeopleTools runtime. This decoupling of the Application Home allowed users to install and run the PeopleSoft application independent of PeopleTools.

PS_APP_HOME can only be used for new Application installations with PeopleTools 8.52 and later. PeopleTools-only upgrades to pre-9.1 applications are not supported.

PS_CUST_HOME

PeopleTools 8.53 introduced the ability to designate a specific file system location for customizations known as PS_CUST_HOME or Cust Home. Typical files. which are customized are COBOL, SQR, nVision and Crystal Reports. For example, if the same SQR resides in the Application Home and the Customized Homes, the PeopleTools runtime will draw the appropriate file from PS_CUST_HOME.

PS_CUST_HOME is an optional feature and customizations may continue to be made inplace within a PS_HOME or PS_APP_HOME.

PS_PIA_HOME

PIA domains are installed into PS_CFG_HOME by default in PeopleTools 8.52. Additionaly, PeopleSoft PIA domains can be managed from inside PSAdmin. AppServer and PIA domains that are running out of the same PS_CFG_HOME can therefore be managed from inside the same PSAdmin.

This provides a nice single way to handle Application Server, Process Scheduler, Search and PIA – all from the same place.

Advantages of having Decoupled PeopleSoft Homes

There are a few advantages of having decoupled PeopleSoft homes. Here are those:

1. Secured Environment – It gives you the ability to have different owners for PS_APP_HOME and PS_HOME. This isolation guarantees that there is no cross-writing of the PS_HOME and PS_APP_HOME by restricted users. Also, runtime user can have restricted access, which helps safeguard delivered and installation files. Security principle of least privilege is behind this setup and for sure is a great step forward.
2. Reduced Disk Space Needs – Same installation can be shared by multiple independent runtime users.
3. Patch Application – Patch application process gets simplified because there are fewer distinct copies of the installtion that must be patched or have updates applied. Also, a decoupled PeopleSoft home reduces patch application risk because when applying a PeopleTools patch, it ensures that no PeopleSoft application content is over written and vice versa.
4. Reuse – Decouple PeopleSoft homes helps run multiple applications use the same PS_HOME and a common place where the customizations are kept. By placing customizations in a specific location the same installation homes – PS_HOME and PS_APP_HOME, can be shared between multiple environments. This is particularly useful for Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors who can therefore support hundreds of customer environments out of the same PS_HOME.
5. Problem Diagnosis – By decoupling the installation of PeopleTools and the Application, it becomes easier to isolate the problem.
6. Isolation of Customizations – Isolation of customizations to a specific file system location allows the PS_HOME and PS_APP_HOME locations to retain only content delivered with the installation program and also, makes the upgrade process far simpler.Because the Customized Home requires only read-execute access at runtime, different users can own the Customized and Installation PeopleSoft Homes.