Windchill System Administrator's Guide

Windchill Configuration Properties
Windchill uses standard Java property files to dynamically configure many
optional or site-dependent settings. The primary properties file, wt.properties, is
located in the Windchill codebase directory, where it is available for downloading
into clients. It contains properties that affect both client and server Java classes.
Properties available only to server-side classes are located in separate property
files. For example, properties that control access to the database, including a
database password, are located outside the codebase in the Windchill db directory,
in the file named db.properties.
To manage site property settings, Windchill no longer recommends that you use a
text editor to edit individual property files. Instead, all site changes to property
files are maintained in the site.xconf file that is located in the directory where
Windchill is installed. Use the following utilities to update the site.xconf file and
then propagate the changes to property files:
• The xconfmanager is a command line utility that you can run to add, remove,
or modify properties in any Windchill property file. The utility saves your
changes in the site.xconf file and provides an option to generate updated
property files using the updates in the site.xconf file.
• The System Configurator provides an interface for updating properties in the
most common set of property files. From this application, authorized users
can modify property values, save the changes to the site.xconf, and generate
updated property files.
The changes made through either of these utilities are saved in the site.xconf file
and propagated to respective property files. When you restart your Windchill
system, the resulting changes are implemented.
Windchill creates the site.xconf file when Windchill Info*Engine is installed and
adds all properties that are set during the installation of all Windchill solutions to
the file. During the installation process, Windchill also creates the
declarations.xconf file that contains a list of configuration references to
PTC-supplied XCONF files that are used to specify the out-of-the-box default
values for properties in many of the property files. Although not all property files
are initially generated from XCONF files, you should always make changes to
Windchill properties through either the xconfmanager or the System
Configurator.
Note: By using these utilities, your site.xconf file will always contain your
site-specific changes. By maintaining site-specific changes to properties in the
site.xconf file, you can easily identify what changes were made and these changes
can be maintained when you make updates to your Windchill solution.
As shown in the following diagram, making property changes through the utilities
that Windchill provides always updates the site.xconf file. Then Windchill
propagates the changes to properties files using the site.xconf file and the XCONF
files that it maintains. In this diagram, the declarations.xconf file has references to
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