Chapter 4. Administration Tools

You can perform IRIS FailSafe administration tasks using either the FailSafe Manager graphical user interface (GUI) or the cmgr(1M) command. Although these tools use the same underlying software command line interface (CLI) to configure and monitor a FailSafe system, the GUI provides the additional features that are particularly important in a production system; see “GUI Overview”.

FailSafe Manager GUI

The FailSafe Manager GUI lets you configure, administer, and monitor a FailSafe cluster and nodes.

Starting the GUI

When FailSafe daemons have been started, you must be sure to connect to a node that is running all of the FailSafe cluster daemons in order to obtain the correct cluster status (see “Verify that the Cluster Daemons are Running” in Chapter 5). When FailSafe cluster daemons have not yet been started in a cluster, you can connect to any node in the pool.


Note: The node from which you run the GUI affects your view of the cluster. You should wait for a change to appear in the tree view before making another change; the change is not guaranteed to be propagated across the cluster until it appears in the tree view. The entire cluster status information is sent each time a change is made to the cluster database; therefore, the larger the configuration, the longer it will take.

You should only make changes from one instance of the GUI running at any given time. (Changes made by a second GUI instance -- a second invocation of fstask -- may overwrite changes made by the first instance, because different GUI instances are updated independently at different times. In time, however, independent GUI instances will provide the same information.) However, multiple windows accessed via the File menu are all part of a single GUI instance; you can make changes from any of these windows.

To ensure that the required privileges are available for performing all of the tasks, you should log in to the GUI as root. However, some or all privileges can be granted to any user by the system administrator using the Privilege Manager, part of the IRIX Interactive Desktop System Administration (sysadmdesktop) product. For more information, see the Personal System Administration Guide.

To start the GUI, use one of these methods:

  • Enter the following command line:

    # /usr/sbin/fstask


    Note: If you invoke fstask before you have defined a cluster, you will get an error message. If you are in the process of defining a cluster, you can ignore it.

    The fsdetail command performs the identical function as fstask; both commands are kept for historical purposes.


  • Choose FailSafe Manager from the toolchest.

    You must restart the toolchest after installing FailSafe to see the FailSafe entry on the toolchest display. Enter the following commands to restart the toolchest:

    % killall toolchest
    % /usr/bin/X11/toolchest &

    In order for this to take effect, sysadm_failsafe2.sw.desktop must be installed on the client system, as described in the IRIS FailSafe Installation and Maintenance Instructions.

  • In your Web browser, enter http://server/FailSafeManager/ (where server is the name of node in the pool or cluster that you want to administer) and press Enter. At the resulting Web page, click on the shield icon.

    This method of launching FailSafe Manager works only if you have installed the Java Plug-in, exited all Java processes, restarted your browser, and enabled Java. If there is a long delay before the shield appears, you can click on the “non plug-in” link, but operational glitches may be the result of running in the browser-specific Java.

    You can use this method of launching the GUI if you want to run it from a non-IRIX system. If you are running the GUI on an IRIX system, the preferred method is to use toolchest or the /usr/sbin/fstask command.

GUI Overview

The FailSafe Manager GUI allows you to administer the entire cluster from a single point. It provides access to the tasks that help you set up and administer your cluster. Guided Configuration tasks consist of a group of tasks collected together to accomplish a larger goal. For example, Set Up a New Cluster steps you through the process for creating a new cluster and allows you to launch the necessary individual tasks by simply clicking their titles.

Online help is provided with the Help button. You can also click any blue text to get more information about that concept or input field.

The File menu lets you display multiple windows for this instance of the GUI, the /var/adm/SYSLOG system log file, and the /var/sysadm/salog system administration log file (which shows the commands accessed by the GUI). It also lets you close the current window and exit the GUI completely.

The Edit menu lets you expand and collapse the contents of the tree view. You can also choose to automatically expand the display to reflect new nodes added to the pool or cluster.

The Tasks menu contains the following:

  • Find Tasks, which lets you use keywords to search for a specific task

  • Guided Configuration, which contains the task sets to set up your cluster, define filesystems, modify an existing cluster, and check status

  • Nodes, which contains tasks to define and manage the nodes

  • Cluster, which contains tasks to define and manage the cluster

  • Resource Types, which contains tasks to set up and configure highly available resource types such as volume

  • Resources, which contains tasks to set up and configure individual resources

  • Failover Policies, which contains tasks to determine how FailSafe should keep resource groups highly available

  • Resource Groups, which contains tasks to define resource groups and manage them

  • FailSafe HA Services, which allows you to start and stop highly available (HA) services, set the FailSafe tie-breaker node, and set the log configuration

  • Diagnostics, which contains the tasks to test connectivity, resources, and failover policies

By default, the window is divided into two sections: the tree view and the item view. You can use the arrows in the middle of the window to shift the display. To find a component in the current tree, enter the name of the component and click the Find button.

To deselect an item in the tree view, click anywhere in the tree view except on the name of an item.

Viewing the Cluster Components

Choose what you want to view from the View selection: the nodes in the cluster, the nodes in the pool (all defined nodes), or filesystems in the cluster.

Viewing Component Details

To view the details on any component, click on its icon name in the tree view. The configuration and status details will appear in the item view to the right. To see the details about an item in the item view, select its name (which will appear in blue); details will appear in a new window. Terms with glossary definitions also appear in blue.

You can view details about any of the following components by selecting the icon:

  • Cluster

  • Nodes

  • Resource types

  • Resources

  • Resource groups

  • Failover policies

Performing Tasks

To perform an individual task, do the following:

  1. Select the task name from the Task menu or click the right mouse button within the tree view. For example:

    Task -> Guided Configuration -> Set Up a New Cluster

    The task window appears.


    Note: You can click any blue text to get more information about that concept or input field.


  2. Enter information in the appropriate fields and click OK to complete the task. (Some tasks consist of more than one page; in these cases, click Next to go to the next page, complete the information there, and then click OK.) In every task, the cluster configuration will not update until you click OK.

    A dialog box appears confirming the successful completion of the task.

  3. Continue launching tasks as needed.

Screens

Figure 4-1 shows the FailSafe Manager window. Figure 4-2 shows details in the item view.

Figure 4-1. FailSafe Manager GUI


Figure 4-2. GUI Showing Details for a Resource


cmgr Command

The cmgr(1M) command is more limited in its functions. It enables you to configure and administer a FailSafe system using a command-line interface only on an IRIX system. It provides a minimum of help or formatted output and does not provide dynamic status except when queried. However, an experienced FailSafe administrator may find cmgr to be convenient when performing basic FailSafe configuration tasks, executing isolated single tasks in a production environment, or running scripts to automate some cluster administration tasks.

This section documents how to perform FailSafe administrative tasks by means of the cmgr command. You must be logged in as root.

The cmgr command uses the same underlying FailSafe commands as the GUI.

To use cmgr, enter either of the following:

# /usr/cluster/bin/cmgr
# /usr/cluster/bin/cluster_mgr

For more assistance, you can use the -p option on the command line; see “Using Prompt Mode”.

After you have entered this command, you will see the following:

Welcome to SGI Cluster Manager Command-Line Interface
cmgr>

Once the command prompt displays, you can enter the cluster manager commands.

At any time, you can enter ? or help to bring up the help display.

Getting Help

After the command prompt displays, you can enter subcommands. At any time, you can enter ? or help to bring up the cmgr help display.

Using Prompt Mode

The cmgr(1M) command provides an option which displays detailed prompts for the required inputs of that define and modify FailSafe components. You can run in prompt mode in either of the following ways:

  • Specify a -p option when you enter the cmgr command, as in the following example:

    # cmgr -p

  • Execute a set prompting on command while in normal interactive mode, as in the following example:

    cmgr> set prompting on

    This method of entering prompt mode allows you to toggle in and out of prompt mode as you execute individual cmgr commands.

    To get out of prompt mode, enter the following command:

    cmgr> set prompting off

For example, if you are not in the prompt mode and you enter the following command to define a node, you will see a single prompt, as indicated:

cmgr> define node cm1a
Enter commands, when finished enter either "done" or "cancel"

cm1a?

At the cm1a? prompt, enter the individual node definition commands in the following format (for full information on defining nodes, see “Define a Node with cmgr” in Chapter 5). For example:

cm1a? set hostname to hostname

A series of commands is required to define a node. If you are running cmgr in prompt mode, however, you are prompted for each required command, as shown in the following example:

cmgr> define node cm1a
Enter commands, you may enter "done" or "cancel" at any time to exit

Node Name [cm1a]? cm1a

Hostname[optional]? cm1a
Is this a FailSafe node <true|false> ? true
Is this a CXFS node <true|false> ? false
Node ID ? 1
Partition ID[optional] ? (0)
Reset type <powerCycle> ? (powerCycle)
Do you wish to define system controller info[y/n]:y
Sysctrl Type <msc|mmsc|l2>? (msc) msc
Sysctrl Password [optional]? ( )
Sysctrl Status <enabled|disabled>? enabled
Sysctrl Owner? cm2
Sysctrl Device? /dev/ttyd2
Sysctrl Owner Type <tty> [tty]?
Number of Network interfaces [2]? 2
NIC 1 - IP Address? cm1
NIC 1 - Heartbeat HB (use network for heartbeats) <true|false>? true
NIC 1 - (use network for control messages) <true|false>? true
NIC 1 - Priority <1,2,...>? 1
NIC 2 - IP Address? cm2
NIC 2 Heartbeat HB (use network for heartbeats) <true|false>? true
NIC 2 - (use network for control messages) <true|false>? false
NIC 2 - Priority <1,2,...>? 2

Completing Actions and Cancelling

When you are creating or modifying a component of a cluster, you can enter either of the following commands:

  • cancel, which aborts the current mode and discards any changes you have made

  • done, which commits the current definitions or modifications and returns to the cmgr> prompt

Command Line Editing within cmgr

The cmgr command supports the following cmgr command-line editing commands:

h [n] or history [n] 

Displays command line history.The optional n can be used to set the number commands that will be remembered.

!! 

Refers to the previous command. By itself, this substitution repeats the previous command.

!n 

Refers to command line n.

!-n 

Refers to the current command line minus n.

!string 

Refers to the most recent command starting with string.

exit 

Exits from the shell.

Ctrl-W 

Deletes the previous word.

Ctrl-D 

Deletes the current character.

Ctrl-A 

Goes to the beginning of the line.

Ctrl-E 

Goes to the end of the line.

Ctrl-F  

Moves forward one character.

Ctrl-B 

Moves backward one character.

Ctrl-H  

Deletes the previous character.

Ctrl-N 

Moves down in the history.

Ctrl-K  

Erases to the end of the line from the cursor.

Ctrl-L 

Clears the screen and redisplays the prompt.

Ctrl-P 

Moves up in the history.

Ctrl-U 

Erases to the beginning of line from the cursor.

Ctrl-R  

Redraws the input line.

Esc-f  

Moves forward one word.

Esc-b  

Moves backward one word.

Esc-d  

Deletes the next word.

Esc-DEL  

Deletes the previous word.

Long-Running Tasks

The tasks to define the cluster and to stop HA services are long-running tasks that might take a few minutes to complete. The cmgr command will provide intermediate task status for such tasks. For example:

cmgr> stop ha_services in cluster nfs-cluster
Making resource groups offline
Stopping HA services on node node1
Stopping HA services on node node2

Startup Script

You can set the environment variable CMGR_START_FILE to point to a startup cmgr script. The startup script that this variable specifies is executed when cmgr is started (with or without the -p option). Only the set and show commands of the cmgr are allowed in the cmgr startup file.

The following is an example of a cmgr startup script file called cmgr_rc:

set cluster test-cluster
show status of resource_group oracle_rg

To specify this file as the startup script, execute the following command at the IRIX prompt:

# setenv CMGR_START_FILE /cmgr_rc

Whenever cmgr is started, the cmgr_rc script is executed. The default cluster is set to test-cluster and the status of resource group oracle_rg in cluster test-cluster is displayed.

Entering Subcommands on the Command Line

You can enter some cmgr subcommands directly from the command line using the following format:

cmgr -c "subcommand"

where subcommand can be any of the following with the appropriate operands:

  • admin, which allows you to perform certain actions such as resetting a node

  • delete, which deletes a cluster or a node

  • help, which displays help information

  • show, which displays information about the cluster or nodes

  • start, which starts FailSafe HA services and sets the configuration so that HA services will be automatically restarted upon reboot

  • stop, which stops FailSafe HA services and sets the configuration so that HA services are not restarted upon reboot

  • test, which tests connectivity

For example, to display information about the cluster, enter the following:

# cmgr -c "show clusters"
1 Cluster(s) defined
      eagan

See Chapter 5, “Configuration”, and the cmgr(1M) man page for more information.

Using Script Files

You can execute a series of cmgr commands by using the -f option and specifying an input file, as follows:

cmgr -f input_file

Or, you could include the following as the first line of the file and then execute it as a script:

#!/usr/cluster/bin/cmgr -f

Each line of the file must be a valid cmgr command line, comment line (starting with #), or a blank line. (You must include a done command line to finish a multilevel command and end the file with a quit command line.)

If any line of the input file fails, cmgr will exit. You can choose to ignore the failure and continue the process by using the -i option with the -f option, as follows:

cmgr -if input_file

Or include it in the first line for a script:

#!/usr/cluster/bin/cmgr -if


Note: If you include -i when using a cmgr command line as the first line of the script, you must use this exact syntax (that is, -if).


For example, suppose the file /tmp/showme contains the following:

cxfs6# more /tmp/showme
show clusters
show nodes in cluster cxfs6-8
quit

You can execute the following command, which will yield the indicated output:

cxfs6# /usr/cluster/bin/cmgr -if /tmp/showme

1 Cluster(s) defined
        cxfs6-8


Cluster cxfs6-8 has following 3 machine(s)
        cxfs6
        cxfs7
        cxfs8

Or you could include the cmgr command line as the first line of the script, give it execute permission, and execute showme itself:

cxfs6# more /tmp/showme
#!/usr/cluster/bin/cmgr -if
#
show clusters
show nodes in cluster cxfs6-8
quit

cxfs6# /tmp/showme

1 Cluster(s) defined
        cxfs6-8


Cluster cxfs6-8 has following 3 machine(s)
        cxfs6
        cxfs7
        cxfs8

Template Scripts

Template files of scripts that you can modify to configure the different components of your system are located in the /var/cluster/cmgr-templates directory.

Each template file contains a list of cmgr commands to create a particular object, as well as comments describing each field. The template also provides default values for optional fields.

Table 4-1 shows the template scripts for cmgr that are found in the var/cluster/cmgr-templates directory.

Table 4-1. Template Scripts for cmgr

File name

Description

cmgr-create-cluster

Creation of a cluster

cmgr-create-failover_policy

Creation of failover policy

cmgr-create-node

Creation of node

cmgr-create-resource_group

Creation of Resource Group

cmgr-create-resource_type

Creation of resource type

cmgr-create-resource-resource type

Script template for creation of resource of type resource type

To create a FailSafe configuration, you can concatenate multiple templates into one file and execute the resulting script. If you concatenate information from multiple template scripts to prepare your cluster configuration, you must remove the quit at the end of each template script, except for the final quit. A cmgr script must have only one quit line.

For example, for a three-node configuration with an NFS resource group containing one volume, one filesystem, one IP_address, and one NFS resource, you would concatenate the following files, removing the quit at the end of each template script except the last one:

  • Three copies of the cmgr-create-node file

  • One copy of each of the following files:

    • cmgr-create-cluster

    • cmgr-create-failover_policy

    • cmgr-create-resource_group

    • cmgr-create-resource-volume

    • cmgr-create-resource-filesystem

    • cmgr-create-resource-IP_address

    • cmgr-create-resource-NFS

Invoking a Shell from within cmgr

You can invoke a shell from within the cmgr. Enter the following command to invoke a shell:

cmgr> sh

To exit the shell and to return to the cmgr prompt, enter exit at the shell prompt.