Enabling an ESF User Exit

You can enable an ESF user exit in one of the following ways:

ESF configuration

You can configure ESF to load a user exit module by name. By default this module must be in the product's bin (or bin64 for 64-bit Windows processes) folder. this module must be in the product's $COBDIR/lib directory. You can also configure ESF to load the module from an arbitrary path.

Enabling the user exit through the configuration text has these advantages:

  • Using the exit is optional for the esfadmin utility and other processes that are not running under MFDS or an enterprise server region. This is only an advantage if the product administrator wants the use of the exit to be optional.
  • Different security configurations can use different exit modules (or no exits at all). This is useful, if you want an exit to be used only by production regions and not by development ones, for example.
  • The exit module can be located outside the product directory, which is usually a better choice when developing a new user exit module.

Using a default module filename

If there is a module named saf_exit*.{dll|so} (where * is the suffix) in the product's bin or bin64 $COBDIR/lib directory (see ESF User Exit File Names), that module will automatically be loaded as the user exit. For example, you can copy the sample user exit module saf_refint_exit*.{dll|so} to saf_exit*.{dll|so} (or create a link to it from that name) to make the Referential Integrity sample module the user exit for all processes.

Using a default exit filename has the following advantages:

  • The use of the exit is automatic and mandatory. This enables administrators to use the exit to enforce certain behavior.
  • It makes it easier to use the exit as no configuration settings are required in the security configurations in Micro Focus Enterprise Server Administration, and no configuration file is required for the esfadmin utility.