/var/lib/pd/pdserver.conf file details

The mechanism used on an InfoPrint Manager for AIX or InfoPrint Manager for Linux server machine that automatically connects a client or submission daemon on the same machines to a command processor is the file /var/lib/pd/pdserver.conf. This file contains a list of the running pdservers on the machine, the port the command processor part of the pdserver is listening on, and the locale in which the pdserver is running. When a command is invoked, the first command processor port in the list in the user's locale is used.

When a pdserver is started, it adds its entry to the list. When a pdserver is shutdown, it removes its entry from the list. If a pdserver didn't have a chance to removes its entry from the list and it is no longer running, you could receive a 5010-452 Cannot communicate with the communication daemon on port ___ error message. The key here is to check the port number returned in the message and make sure that it is the port number you were expecting to be used. Then make sure that a pdserver is running on that port. A pdserver might have crashed or been killed, and it needs to be restarted or have its entry removed from the /var/lib/pd/pdserver.conf file.

You can always override the /var/lib/pd/pdserver.conf file by setting the PD_SOCKET environment variable. In fact, if you are running multiple pdservers on the same machine and want to control which pdservers are being used as command processors, this is a very good way to do it. Otherwise, you must always make sure the pdservers are started in the right order so the command processor pdserver is the first entry in /var/lib/pd/pdserver.conf.