Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) cheat sheet

Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) is a High-availability cluster software, for Unix, Linux and Microsoft Windows computer systems, created by Veritas Software. It provides application cluster capabilities to systems running databases, file sharing on a network, electronic commerce websites or other applications.

VCS uses two components LLT and GAB to share data over the private networks amongst systems. These components provide the performance and reliability required by VCS.

LLT Low Latency Transport (LTT) provides fast, kernel-to-kernel communications and monitors network connections. The system admin configures the LLT by creating a configuration file llttab that describes the systems in the cluster and private network links among them.
GAB Group membership and Atomic Broadcast (GAB) provides the global message order required to maintain a synchronised state among the systems, and monitors disk communicationa such as that required by the VCS heartbeat utility. The system admin configures GAB driver by creating a configuration file gabtab.

Configuration files

/etc/llthosts The file is a database, containing one entry per system, that links the LLT system ID with the hosts name. The file is identical on each server in the cluster.
/etc/llttab The file contains information that is derived during installation and is used by the utility lltconfig.
/etc/gabtab The file contains the information needed to configure the GAB driver. This file is used by the gabconfig utility.
/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/main.cf The VCS configuration file. The file contains the information that defines the cluster and its systems.

VCS Initialisation

DescriptionCommandOptions
initialize a GAB disk region gabdiskconf -i Initialises the disk region -s Start Block -S Signature
sets up and maintains GAB driver heartbeat gabdiskhb -a- Add a gab disk heartbeat resource -s Start Block -p Port -S Signature
sets up and maintains the configuration of the GAB driver gabconfig -c Configure the driver for use -n Number of systems in the cluster.

VCS Commands

DescriptionCommand
Verifying that links are active for LLT lltstat -n
verbose output of the lltstat command lltstat -nvv | more
open ports for LLT lltstat -p
display the values of LLT configuration directives lltstat -c
lists information about each configured LLT link lltstat -l
List all MAC addresses in the cluster lltconfig -a list
stop the LLT running lltconfig -U
start the LLT lltconfig -c
verify that GAB is operating gabconfig -a Note: port a indicates that GAB is communicating, port h indicates that VCS is started
stop GAB running gabconfig -U
start the GAB gabconfig -c -n <number of nodes>
override the seed values in the gabtab file gabconfig -c -x

GAB Port Membership

List Membership gabconfig -a
Unregister port f /opt/VRTS/bin/fsclustadm cfsdeinit
Port Function a gab driver b I/O fencing (designed to guarantee data integrity) d ODM (Oracle Disk Manager) f CFS (Cluster File System) h VCS (VERITAS Cluster Server: high availability daemon) o VCSMM driver (kernel module needed for Oracle and VCS interface) q QuickLog daemon v CVM (Cluster Volume Manager) w vxconfigd (module for cvm)

Cluster daemons

High Availability Daemon had
Companion Daemon hashadow
Resource Agent daemon <resource>Agent
Web Console cluster managerment daemon CmdServer

CVS log files

Log Directory /var/VRTSvcs/log
primary log file (engine log file) /var/VRTSvcs/log/engine_A.log

Starting/Stopping VCS

CommandDescription
hastart [-stale|-force] -stale instructs the engine to treat the local config as stale -force instructs the engine to treat a stale config as a valid one
hasys -force <server_name> Bring the cluster into running mode from a stale state using the configuration file from a particular server
hastop -local Stop the cluster on the local server. Note: This will also bring any clustered resources offline.
hastop -local -evacuate Stop cluster on local server but evacuate (failover) the application/s to another node within the cluster
hastop -all -force Stop the cluster on all nodes but leave the clustered resources online.

CVS Status

display cluster summary hastatus -summary
continually monitor cluster hastatus
verify the cluster is operating hasys -display

VCS details

information about a cluster haclus -display
value for a specific cluster attribute haclus -value <attribute>
modify a cluster attribute haclus -modify <attribute name> <new>
Enable LinkMonitoring haclus -enable LinkMonitoring
Disable LinkMonitoring haclus -disable LinkMonitoring

Users

add a user hauser -add <username>
modify a user hauser -update <username>
delete a user hauser -delete <username>
display all users hauser -display

Users

add a system to the cluster hasys -add <sys>
delete a system from the cluster hasys -delete <sys>
Modify a system attributes hasys -modify <sys> <modify options>
list a system state hasys -state
Force a system to start hasys -force
Display the systems attributes hasys -display [-sys]
List all the systems in the cluster hasys -list
Change the load attribute of a system hasys -load <system> <value>
Display the value of a systems nodeid /etc/llthosts hasys -nodeid
Freeze a system (No offlining system, No groups onlining) hasys -freeze [-persistent][-evacuate] Note: main.cf must be in write mode
Unfreeze a system ( reenable groups and resource back online) hasys -unfreeze [-persistent] Note: main.cf must be in write mode

Dynamic configuration

The VCS configuration must be in read/write mode in order to make changes. When in read/write mode the configuration becomes stale, a .stale file is created in $VCS_CONF/conf/config. When the configuration is put back into read-only mode the .stale file is removed.

Change configuration to read/write mode haconf -makerw
Change configuration to read-only mode haconf -dump -makero
Check what mode cluster is running in haclus -display |grep -i 'readonly' 0 = write mode 1 = read only mode
Check the configuration file hacf -verify /etc/VRTS/conf/config Note: you can point to any directory as long as it has main.cf and types.cf
convert a main.cf file into cluster commands hacf -cftocmd /etc/VRTS/conf/config -dest /tmp
convert a command file into a main.cf file hacf -cmdtocf /tmp -dest /etc/VRTS/conf/config

Service Groups

add a service group haconf -makerw hagrp -add groupw hagrp -modify groupw SystemList sun1 1 sun2 2 hagrp -autoenable groupw -sys sun1 haconf -dump -makero
delete a service group haconf -makerw hagrp -delete groupw haconf -dump -makero
change a service group haconf -makerw hagrp -modify groupw SystemList sun1 1 sun2 2 sun3 3 haconf -dump -makero Note: use the hagrp -display <group> to list attributes
list the service groups hagrp -list
list the groups dependencies hagrp -dep <group>
list the parameters of a group hagrp -display <group>
display a service group's resource hagrp -resources <group>
display the current state of the service group hagrp -state <group>
clear a faulted non-persistent resource in a specific grp hagrp -clear [-sys] <host> <sys>
Change the system list in a cluster # remove the host hagrp -modify grp_zlnrssd SystemList -delete <hostname> # add the new host (don't forget to state its position) hagrp -modify grp_zlnrssd SystemList -add <hostname> 1 # update the autostart list hagrp -modify grp_zlnrssd AutoStartList <host> <host>

Service Group Operations

Start a service group and bring its resources online hagrp -online -sys <sys>
Stop a service group and takes its resources offline hagrp -offline -sys <sys>
Switch a service group from system to another hagrp -switch to <sys>
Enable all the resources in a group hagrp -enableresources <group>
Disable all the resources in a group hagrp -disableresources <group>
Freeze a service group (disable onlining and offlining) hagrp -freeze [-persistent] note: use the following to check "hagrp -display <group> | grep TFrozen"
Unfreeze a service group (enable onlining and offlining) hagrp -unfreeze [-persistent] note: use the following to check "hagrp -display | grep TFrozen"
Enable a service group. Enabled groups can only be brought online haconf -makerw hagrp -enable [-sys] haconf -dump -makero Note to check run the following command "hagrp -display | grep Enabled"
Disable a service group. Stop from bringing online haconf -makerw hagrp -disable [-sys] haconf -dump -makero Note to check run the following command "hagrp -display | grep Enabled"
Flush a service group and enable corrective action. hagrp -flush -sys

Resources

add a resource haconf -makerw hares -add appDG DiskGroup groupw hares -modify appDG Enabled 1 hares -modify appDG DiskGroup appdg hares -modify appDG StartVolumes 0 haconf -dump -makero
delete a resource haconf -makerw hares -delete haconf -dump -makero
change a resource haconf -makerw hares -modify appDG Enabled 1 haconf -dump -makero Note: list parameters "hares -display"
change a resource attribute to be globally wide hares -global
change a resource attribute to be locally wide hares -local
list the parameters of a resource hares -display
list the resources hares -list
list the resource dependencies hares -dep

Resource Operations

Online a resource hares -online [-sys]
Offline a resource hares -offline [-sys]
display the state of a resource( offline, online, etc) hares -state
display the parameters of a resource hares -display
Offline a resource and propagate the command to its children hares -offprop -sys
Cause a resource agent to immediately monitor the resource hares -probe -sys
Clearing a resource (automatically initiates the onlining) hares -clear [-sys]

Resource Types

Add a resource type hatype -add
Remove a resource type hatype -delete
List all resource types hatype -list
Display a resource type hatype -display
List a partitcular resource type hatype -resources
Change a particular resource types attributes hatype -value

Resource Agents

add a agent pkgadd -d .
remove a agent pkgrm
change a agent n/a
list all ha agents haagent -list
Display agents run-time information i.e has it started, is it running ? haagent -display <agent_name>
Display agents faults haagent -display |grep Faults

Resource Agent Operations

Start an agent haagent -start <agent_name>[-sys]
Stop an agent haagent -stop <agent_name>[-sys]