1. Run As Me

This is a step by step tutorial, which was tested on Ubuntu 14.04 and Microsoft Windows 7.

ProActive Workflows & Scheduling allows advanced user management with the Run As Me feature. Run as me allows to execute a task under the current ProActive user, if an equally named system user exists on the executing machine.

1.1. Node configuration

The following steps configure the Node with a sample user called Gord.

1.1.1. Linux

  1. Create a group called activeeon: groupadd activeeon

  2. Create a user running the ProActive Node, set it’s primary group to proactive: useradd -g activeeon -G sudo -m proactive

  3. Set the password of proactive user: passwd proactive

  4. Download and unzip ProActive inside the /opt/ directory (/opt/ gives execution right to everyone)

  5. Change ownership of the ProActive folder with sudo chown -R proactive:activeeon ProActive

  6. Add a Run As Me user, which needs to be part of the activeeon group useradd -g activeeon -m Gord

  7. Create an ssh key for the Run As Me user (Gord) ssh-keygen -t rsa

  8. Go into the /home/Gord/.ssh directory and copy Gord’s public key to the authorized keys cat id_rsa.pub >> authorized_keys

  9. Log into the activeeon account

  10. Start the ProActive Node with the property -Dpas.launcher.forkas.method=key

The proactive user got a password set with passwd proactive to execute the sudo command. Whereas the run as me user (Gord) got a SSH key set. If you wish you can assign a password to Gord passwd Gord.

1.1.2. Windows

  1. Create an account called proactive:

    In Control Panel→Administrative Tools→Computer Management→Local Users and Groups

    add user
    The proactive account might already exist if the Proactive Agent has been installed previously.

  2. Create an account Gord that will be used as the Run As Me account

  3. Create a group activeeon, and add all the previous accounts to this group.

    In Control Panel→Administrative Tools→Computer Management→Local Users and Groups

    add group

  4. Add privileges to log on locally for the accounts of the activeeon group

    1. Control Panel→Administrative tools→Local Security Policy→Local Policies→User Right Assignment

      allow log on locally

    2. On the policy Allow log on locally, click on Edit properties and add the activeeon group

  5. Create a temp directory (i.e C:\tmp)

  6. Start the proactive node using the proactive account:

runas.exe /noprofile /user:proactive "PROACTIVE_HOME/bin/proactive-node.bat -Dpas.launcher.forkas.method=pwd -Djava.io.tmpdir=<TMP_DIR> -Dpa.logs.dir=<TMP_DIR>"
The proactive node is bundled in the ProActive Scheduler which is installed in the next section.

1.2. Scheduler configuration

The following steps configure the Scheduler with a sample user called Gord.

1.2.1. Linux

  1. Use the following command to create the Gord account in the scheduler:

    tools/proactive-users -C -l Gord -p Gord -g admin

  2. Start the Scheduler

  3. Log in as Gord

  4. Add the private key of Gord in the Scheduler interface under Manage third-party credentials. Key: SSH_PRIVATE_KEY, Credential: Content of Gords' private key, without the '-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----' and -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- comments

  5. Create a task in the Studio and tick Run as me

The ProActive Node must be installed in a directory where every parent directory gives execution rights to users, which execute tasks. The users need to be part of the proactive group because a task needs the rights to write logs. Which is achieved by being part of the proactive group and the proactive group ownership of the ProActive Node directory.

1.2.2. Windows

  1. Install proactive server by download and unzip it to a convenient folder

  2. Use the following command to create the Gord account in the scheduler:

    tools/proactive-users -C -l Gord -p Gord -g admin

  3. Start the scheduler server: PROACTIVE_HOME/bin/proactive-server.bat

  4. Log in the Studio’s web interface with the Gord username.

  5. Create a task and tick Run as me

  6. Execute the job.