Setting permissions to run the agent as a different user

Describes necessary directory and file permissions if you need to run the agent as a different user than the default user for DSE or DSC, which is cassandra.

Running the agent as the same user running DSE or DSC is highly recommended because directory and file permissions do not need to be set manually. By default, the DataStax agent when installed by deb or rpm packages runs as the same user as DSE and DSC, which is cassandra. Those who install the agent from a tarball are responsible for manually configuring running the agent and DSE or DSC as different users.

Prerequisites

Ensure the necessary read and write permissions are set for the user or group running the agent:

Directory and File Permissions
Feature functionality	Permissions required
General agent functionality	Read permission to `cassandra.yaml`
Configuring a cluster	Read/write permissions to configuration directories and files
Backup and restore	Read/write permissions to configuration directories and files Read/write permissions to Cassandra data directories Note: A umask must also be set to accommodate group permissions for new tables and data. If commitlog archiving is enabled, the DSE process must also have permissions to run the agent's archive script and write permissions to the configured backup directory.

Directory and File Locations
Directory/File	Location
`cassandra.yaml`	See Configuration directories and files below.
Configuration directories and files	DSE package: /etc/dse DSE tarball: <install location>/conf Cassandra package: /etc/cassandra Cassandra tarball: <install location>/conf
Data directories	Default: /var/lib/cassandra Note: Location is user-configurable; set in `cassandra.yaml`.
Commitlog archiving script	Agent package install: /usr/share/datastax-agent/bin/archive_commitlog.sh Agent tarball install: <install location>/bin/archive_commitlog.sh

To set up the umask:

Procedure

Open a terminal.

To give read/write permissions for new tables and data, edit the appropriate shell file for the DSE or DSC environment:

File	Location
`dse-env.sh`	/etc/dse/ `<install location>`/conf/
`cassandra-env.sh`	/etc/cassandra `<install location>`/conf

Add the command umask 002 to the top of the file.
Setting the umask to 002 is required because Cassandra creates new directories or files as 0700 by default, which does not grant read or write permissions.
```
umask 002
```