Understanding VCS custom agents
Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) agents are programs that manage resources, such as disk groups and mount points, within cluster environments. Each type of resource requires an agent. Agents act as intermediaries between VCS and the resources they manage. Typically, agents bring the resources online, monitor their state, and take them offline. VCS provides prebuilt agents for many enterprise applications. Additionally, VCS lets you create an agent for applications, in the form of a script or a C++ program. To monitor an application using the VCS agent, you must know how to start, stop, and monitor the application component. To build an agent, you must also know about the different application agent components and how they function. The VCS installation program provides the agent framework library, which is a set of predefined functions. These functions include the ability to connect to the VCS engine and to understand the common configuration attributes, such as RestartLimit and MonitorInterval. To build a custom agent, you must create the following components: Resource type definitions Agent binaries Agent entry points Resource type definitions The agent that you create requires a resource type definition. The VCS bundled agents, such as mount point, IP, and NIC have corresponding type definitions. Similarly, the agents such as Oracle and other applications have their own resource type definitions. The type definition file, types.cf, provides VCS with the information that an agent needs to control the resources of that type. Such information may include a general type definition of the resource and its unique attributes. Agent binaries Agent binaries are ready-to-use components, which have the in-built VCSAgStartup function implemented. These binaries are located in the /opt/VRTSvcs/bin directory. When you create your custom agent, you can create an agent directory under the /opt/VRTSagents/ha/bin directory and place a symbolic link pointing to the script agent. This symbolic link works as your agent binary. The VCS installation program also provides sample C++ files to aid agent development. Agent entry points Agents call the entry points in VCS to perform operations on a resource, such as bringing a resource online, monitoring it, or taking it offline. For your custom agent, you must create entry point scripts for the following functions, and place them in the agent directory: Online: Brings a resource online or starts the application component Offline: Takes a resource offline or stops the application component Monitor: Determines the resource state Clean: Terminates ongoing tasks associated with an online resource or a partially-online resource and then forcefully takes the resource offline For more information on how to build the custom agents, refer to the Symantec Cluster Server Agent Developer's Guide.
Symantec Cluster Server (VCS) 6.1 for Windows: Encrypting VCS agent passwords and user passwords
When you edit the VCS "main.cf" configuration file to perform any of the following tasks, you must encrypt the user passwords and the VCS agent passwords: Add VCS users Configure agents that require user passwords You can use the vcsencrypt utility to encrypt the passwords. To encrypt the user passwords, type the following command: vcsencrypt –vcs To encrypt the VCS agent passwords, type the following command: vcsencrypt –agent The VCS 6.1 for Windows release introduces a mode to generate a security key to create more secure passwords, for VCS agents. By default, security key-based encryption is not enabled. To generate a security key, you must add the "SecInfo" cluster attribute to the main.cf file, with a security key as the attribute value. By default, only administrators can generate security keys. Note: You can perform security key-based encryption only using the CLI. The service group configuration wizards do not use security keys to encrypt the agent passwords. For more information about encrypting the agent passwords using security keys, see: Encrypting agent passwords using security keys Generating a security key Encrypting the agent password VCS documentation for other releases and platforms can be found on theSORT website.
detaching vmdk files on vmware vm
When the application failover happens in VMware Guest enviorments, the VCS is responsible for failing over the application to other vm/vcs node on diffrent ESX host. In a scenario where the ESX/ESXi host itself faults, the VCS agents begin to fail over the application to the failover target system that resides on another host. The VMwareDisks agent communicates with the new ESX/ESXi host and initiates a disk detach operation on the faulted virtual machine. The agent then attaches the disk to the new failover target virtual machine. In this senario, how are the stale i/o from failing over guest/ESX host avoided? Are we on the mercy of VMware to take care of it? With SCSI3 PR this was the main problem that was solved. Moreover in such senario's even a garceful online detach wouldnt have gone through. I didnt find any references on VMware discussions forums as well. My customer wants to know about it, before he can deploy the application. Thanks, RafNFS agent for CFS share
Dear All, I have setup CFSshare. I can see under cfsshare display, but if I run "cfsshare share /emm2 rw" is NOT sharing but from the Java Console of the cluster. The NFS resource has got a question MARK. So I am really not too what to do now., root@node_1# cfsmount /emm5 rw Mounting... [/dev/vx/dsk/mobile_dg/mobile_vol_4] already mounted at /emm5 onnode_0 [/dev/vx/dsk/mobile_dg/mobile_vol_4] already mounted at /emm5 on node_1 root@node_1# cfsshare share /emm5 Warning: V-35-465: Resource [share3] is not online on system [node_0]. Warning: V-35-465: Resource [share3] is not online on system [node_1]. root@node_1# cfsshare display CNFS metadata filesystem : /locks Protocols Configured : NFS #RESOURCE MOUNTPOINT PROTOCOL OPTIONS share1 /emm2 NFS rw share2 /emm3 NFS rw share3 /emm5 NFS rw root@node_1# Regards, Thokozani
SFHA Solutions (Linux): Configuring application monitoring using the Symantec High Availability Configuration Wizard
The Symantec High Availability Configuration wizard was introduced in the Storage Foundation and High Availability (SFHA) 6.0.2 release. In the SFHA 6.0.2 release, the following applications were supported in a VMware virtual environment: Generic application Oracle SAP Web AS WebSphere MQ In the SFHA 6.1 release, you can also use the Symantec High Availability Configuration wizard to configure monitoring for a generic application running on a physical Linux machine. SFHA 6.1 supports the following applications and environments: Application VMware virtual environment support Physical Linux environment support Generic application Yes Yes Oracle Yes No SAP Web AS Yes No WebSphere MQ Yes No The wizard allows you to configure a cluster and specify failover targets with just a few clicks. Before you start configuring application monitoring, ensure that you meet the application-specific prerequisites. For more information, refer to the topics appropriate for your application: Topic Application About configuring application monitoring Generic application Oracle SAP Web AS WebSphere MQ Before configuring application monitoring Generic application Oracle SAP Web AS WebSphere MQ To configure application monitoring in a VMware virtual environment, you can launch the wizard using one of the following options: VMware vSphere Client A browser window Veritas Operations Manager client haappwizard utility To configure application monitoring in a physical Linux environment, you can launch the wizard using one of the following options: Veritas Operations Manager client haappwizard utility For more information, see Launching the Symantec High Availability Configuration wizard. After you launch the wizard, follow the application-specific configuration steps described in the respective agent guide. For more information, see: Generic application Oracle SAP Web AS WebSphere MQ Symantec Storage Foundation and High Availability documentation for other releases and platforms can be found on the SORT website.Agent Pack: About Agent Pack application and database agents
Agent Pack application and database agents manage the availability of an application. These agents start, stop, and monitor the application resources in a service group. When an agent detects a failure, the agent enables Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) to gracefully shut down the application and restart it on an available server. VCS then connects the application to the appropriate storage device and resumes normal operations. The main components of an application or database agent are: Agent functions: Agent functions are scripts or functions that agents call to manage a resource and to perform specific operations on a resource on behalf of the VCS cluster engine. For example, agents use functions to bring a resource online, to take a resource offline, or to monitor the resource. For more information on agent functions, see the following page: About agent functions. For more information on the functions of a specific agent, see the installation and configuration guide for that agent. Agent attributes: Every agent has a set of attributes. The values assigned to these attributes uniquely identify the application for which the resource is configured. These values determine the behavior of the resource the agent manages. Some attributes are required, while others are optional. Required attributes must be assigned values for the agent to function properly. If you do not specify a value for a required attribute, a default value is used. For more information on specific agent attributes, see the installation and configuration guide for that agent. Agent information XML file: Every agent has an XML file that contains information about the agent, such as the name and version of the agent and the description of the agent attributes. When a resource is configured using the Cluster Manager (Java Console), the XML file displays attribute information, such as descriptions, examples, and default values. The XML file also contains information that the Cluster Manager (Java Console) uses to allow or disallow certain operations on resources managed by the agent. For more information about the agent information XML file, see the Veritas Cluster Server Agent Developer's Guide. For more information about the Cluster Manager (Java Console), see the following page: SFHA Solutions 6.0.1: About the Cluster Manager (Veritas Cluster Server Java Console) and Veritas Operations Manager Resource types definition file: Every agent has its own 'types.cf' types definition file—a text file that represents the VCS configuration definition of the agent. The types.cf file defines the attribute types and the parameters that are passed to the VCS engine through the ArgList attribute. For more information on the types.cf file, see the following page: About the types.cf file For information on how to import a types file for a specific agent, see the installation and configuration guide for that agent. To see a sample types definition file for a specific agent, see the installation and configuration guide for that agent. When an agent is started, it communicates with VCS through the agent framework and obtains the necessary configuration information from VCS. The agent also receives instructions regarding what action to take, if any are necessary, from the VCS engine. If any action is necessary, the agent calls the appropriate agent function to perform that action and returns the results of the action to the VCS engine. The agent then periodically monitors the resource or application and updates the VCS engine with the status. For more information on the agent framework, see the following page: VCS agent framework High availability agents and the agent installation and configuration guides are available on the SORT website.Agent Pack: About an Agent Pack release
Symantec provides a number of high-availability agents for many vendor applications, databases, and replication solutions that work with SFHA Solutions. The agents are made available through the Symantec release vehicle – Agent Pack. The agents act as a communication link between the Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) engine—the High Availability Daemon (HAD), and the application or the replication solution. An Agent Pack release contains agents that are compatible with VCS and Symantec ApplicationHA. These agents are classified as follows: Application agents Database agents Replication agents An Agent Pack release does not include the following types of VCS agents: Bundled agents that are packaged and installed along with VCS. Enterprise agents that are packaged with VCS. Unlike the VCS bundled agents and enterprise agents that are packaged with VCS, you must download Agent Pack agents from the SORT website separately. Symantec develops a new Agent Pack release every quarter to add support for additional applications, databases, and replication technologies through new agents. Changes in an Agent Pack release also include enhancements to existing agents, such as support for new features, additional platforms, and newer application versions. For more information on the changes in the latest Agent Pack release, see the Veritas High Availability Agent Pack Release Notes. For more information on an Agent Pack release, see the Veritas High Availability Agent Pack Getting Started Guide. Agent installation and configuration guides for the agents that are included in an Agent Pack release can be found on the SORT website.SFHA Solutions 6.0.1: Configuring Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) in an Oracle VM Server for Solaris SPARC environment
Oracle VM Server for SPARC is a virtualization technology on the Solaris SPARC platform that enables you to create multiple virtual systems called logical domains (LDoms), on a single physical host. The virtualized computing environment is abstracted from all physical devices and allows you to centrally manage your workloads on a system. The logical domains can be assigned different roles such as control domain, service domain, I/O domain, and guest domain. Each domain is a full virtual machine where operating systems can be started, stopped, and rebooted independently. VCS uses the LDom agent to manage the Oracle VM Server for SPARC guest domains. Storage agents such as Disk agent, DiskGroup agent, and Zpool agent can be used to manage storage services provided to a guest domain. Network agents such as the network interface card (NIC) agent can be used to manage networking services provided to the guest domain. VCS provides the following functions for LDoms: Enables logical domain availability in the host (control domain) Initiates external reboot (hard reboot) of guest domain Enables failover of the guest domain to another VCS node Responds to user-initiated guest domain migration Enables dynamic re-configuration of CPU and memory assigned to the guest domain Creates logical domain configuration from the configuration file Automatically synchronizes the domain configuration file across the cluster nodes For more information about VCS in an Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment: About Veritas Cluster Server in an Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment About Veritas Cluster Server configuration models in an Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment Oracle VM Server for SPARC guest domain migration in VCS environment Configuring VCS to manage a logical domain using services from multiple I/O domains Configuration scenarios For more information on configuring VCS in an Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment, see Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions Virtualization Guide VCS documentation for other platforms and releases can be found on the SORT website.SFHA Solutions 6.0.2 Documentation Available
Documentation for Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability(SFHA)Solutions 6.0.2 is now available at the following locations: PDF and HTML versions:SORT documentation page Hardware Compatibility List: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH170013 Software Compatibility List:http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC6146 Manual Pages: Linux The SFHA Solutions 6.0.2 documentation set includes the following manuals: Release Notes Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Release Notes Veritas Cluster Server Release Notes Veritas Cluster Server Veritas Cluster Server Installation Guide Symantec High Availability Solutions Guide for VMware Veritas Cluster Server Administrator's Guide Veritas Cluster Server Bundled Agents Reference Guide Veritas Cluster Server Agent for Oracle Installation and Configuration Guide Veritas Cluster Server Agent for DB2 Installation and Configuration Guide Veritas Cluster Server Agent for Sybase Installation and Configuration Guide Veritas Cluster Server Generic Application Agent Configuration Guide Veritas High Availability Agent for SAP WebAS Installation and Configuration Guide Veritas High Availability Agent for WebSphere MQ Installation and Configuration Guide Veritas Cluster Server Agent Developer's Guide Virtual Business Service–Availability User's Guide Veritas Storage Foundation Veritas Storage Foundation Administrator's Guide Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Installation Guide Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions Replication Administrator's Guide Legal Notices Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions Third-party Software License Agreements