Configuring environment variable support for connections

About this task

You can set any kind of environment variable you like and you can define environment variables for all Remote System Explorer connection types (IBM® i, Windows, Linux, and UNIX). If you change an environment variable while the Remote System Explorer is connected to a remote server, the change does not take effect until you disconnect and reconnect. Although environment variables are set in subsystem properties pages, the Remote System Explorer stores them globally by connection.

When you need to specify different environment variables, initial library lists, or user IDs, you can do so by defining multiple connections to your server. For example, you can set your class path variable, used by the Java™ Virtual Machine to locate class files, with a value of /home/your userid:/QIBM/ProdData/HTTP/Public/jt400/lib/jt400.jar. You could also write a program that uses any environment variable that you define.

Environment variables are set for the remote job process when you first connect to a remote system. This means that the results of the variables are shown in the Commands view. For example, the Commands view shows the ADDENVVAR CL command that is run for each variable. If the system type you are using is case sensitive (UNIX for example), then the environment variables will also be case sensitive. Spaces and equals signs (=) are only allowed in the Value for the environment variable. When setting environment variables for IBM i connections, the variables apply to all jobs (interactive, batch, and normal) associated with the connection.

To configure environment variables:

Procedure

  1. Create a new connection to a remote server if necessary: Creating a second connection to a remote server.
  2. Expand your connection name in the Remote Systems view.
  3. Right-click on a subsystem, such as IFS Files and select Properties.
  4. Click Environment Variables and configure the variables as needed.
    • To add an environment variable, click Add. Enter a name and value for this variable, and click OK.
    • To change an environment variable, select the variable in the table and modify the name or value directly. To use a dialog box, select the variable and click Change. The name and value of the current variable are pre-filled in the dialog box. Overwrite whichever field you want to change and click OK.
    • To remove a variable, click the variable to select it and click Remove.
    • To move a variable up in the list, click the variable to select it and click Move up.
    • To move a variable down in the list, click the variable to select it and click Move down.

Results

Attention: Any changes you make to any communications properties only take effect after you disconnect and reconnect to the server.

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