NAME¶

bos_create - Defines a new process in the BosConfig file and starts it

SYNOPSIS¶

bos create -server <machine name>
-instance <server process name> -type <server type>
-cmd <command lines>+ [-notifier <notifier program>]
[-cell <cell name>] [-noauth] [-localauth] [-help]

bos c -s <machine name> -i <server process name>
-t <server type> -cm <command lines>+
[-not <notifier program>] [-ce <cell name>] [-noa]
[-l] [-h]

DESCRIPTION¶

The bos create command creates a server process entry in the /usr/afs/local/BosConfig file on the server machine named by the -server argument, sets the process's status to "Run" in the BosConfig file and in memory, and starts the process.

A server process's entry in the BosConfig file defines its name, its type, the command that initializes it, and optionally, the name of a notifier program that runs when the process terminates.

CAUTIONS¶

A server process entry of type fs as described below will not work with a demand-attach File Server, and a server process entry of type dafs for a demand-attach File Server will not work with a traditional File Server. When switching from one File Server implementation to another, remove the existing server process entry and create a new one. See "EXAMPLES" below for an example of switching from a traditional File Server to a demand-attach File Server.

OPTIONS¶

-server <machine name>

Indicates the server machine on which to define and start the new process. Identify the machine by IP address or its host name (either fully-qualified or abbreviated unambiguously). For details, see bos(8).

-instance <server process name>

Names the process to define and start. Any name is acceptable, but for the sake of simplicity it is best to use the last element of the process's binary file pathname (or the instance type for fs and dafs), and to use the same name on every server machine. The conventional names, as used in all AFS documentation, are:

-type <server type>

Specifies the process's type. The acceptable values are:

-cmd <command lines>+

Specifies each command the BOS Server runs to start the process. Specify no more than six commands (which can include the command's options, in which case the entire string is surrounded by double quotes); any additional commands are ignored.

For a simple process, provide the complete pathname of the process's binary file on the local disk (for example, /usr/afs/bin/ptserver for the Protection Server). If including any of the initialization command's options, surround the entire command in double quotes (""). The upclient process has a required argument, and the commands for all other processes take optional arguments.

For the fs process, provide the complete pathname of the local disk binary file for each of the component processes: fileserver, volserver, and salvager, in that order. The standard binary directory is /usr/afs/bin. If including any of an initialization command's options, surround the entire command in double quotes ("").

For the dafs process, provide the complete pathname of the local disk binary file for each of the component processes: dafileserver, davolserver, salvageserver, and dasalvager, in that order. The standard binary directory is /usr/afs/bin. If including any of an initialization command's options, surround the entire command in double quotes ("").

For a cron process, provide two parameters:

-notifier <notifier program>

Specifies the complete pathname on the local disk of a program that the BOS Server invokes when the process terminates. The AFS distribution does not include any notifier programs, but this argument is available for administrator use. See "NOTES".

-cell <cell name>

Names the cell in which to run the command. Do not combine this argument with the -localauth flag. For more details, see bos(8).

-noauth

Assigns the unprivileged identity "anonymous" to the issuer. Do not combine this flag with the -localauth flag. For more details, see bos(8).

-localauth

Constructs a server ticket using a key from the local /usr/afs/etc/KeyFile file. The bos command interpreter presents the ticket to the BOS Server during mutual authentication. Do not combine this flag with the -cell or -noauth options. For more details, see bos(8).

-help

Prints the online help for this command. All other valid options are ignored.

EXAMPLES¶

The following command defines and starts the simple process "ptserver" on the machine "fs3.abc.com":

   % bos create -server fs3.abc.com -instance ptserver -type simple \
                -cmd /usr/afs/bin/ptserver

The following command defines and starts the simple process "upclientbin" on the machine "fs4.abc.com". It references "fs1.abc.com" as the source for updates to binary files, checking for changes to the /usr/afs/bin directory every 120 seconds.

   % bos create -server fs4.abc.com -instance upclientbin -type simple \
                -cmd "/usr/afs/bin/upclient fs1.abc.com -clear -t 120 \
                /usr/afs/bin"

The following command creates the fs process "fs" on the machine "fs4.abc.com" (a traditional File Server with associated processes). Type the command on a single line.

   % bos create -server fs4.abc.com -instance fs -type fs \
                -cmd /usr/afs/bin/fileserver /usr/afs/bin/volserver \
                /usr/afs/bin/salvager

The following command creates the dafs process "dafs" on the machine "fs4.abc.com" (a demand-attach File Server with associated processes). Type the command on a single line.

   % bos create -server fs4.abc.com -instance dafs -type dafs \
                -cmd /usr/afs/bin/dafileserver \
                /usr/afs/bin/davolserver \
                /usr/afs/bin/salvageserver /usr/afs/bin/dasalvager

The following command creates a cron process called "userbackup" on the machine "fs5.abc.com", so that the BOS Server issues the indicated vos backupsys command each day at 3:00 a.m. (the command creates a backup version of every volume in the file system whose name begins with "user"). Note that the issuer provides the complete pathname to the vos command, includes the -localauth flag on it, and types the entire bos create command on one line.

   % bos create -server fs5.abc.com -instance userbackup -type cron  \
       -cmd "/usr/afs/bin/vos backupsys -prefix user -localauth" 03:00

To switch from a traditional File Server to a demand-attach File Server, run:

   % bos status localhost -instance fs -long

to see the current fileserver and volserver flags for an existing traditional File Server configuration. (Substitute the "dafs" instance for an existing demand-attach File Server.) Then, run:

   % bos stop localhost fs -localauth
   % bos delete localhost fs -localauth
   % bos create localhost dafs dafs \
       "/usr/afs/bin/dafileserver <fileserver-flags>" \
       "/usr/afs/bin/davolserver <volserver-flags>" \
       /usr/afs/bin/salvageserver /usr/afs/bin/dasalvager

replacing <fileserver-flags> and <volserver-flags> with the flags from the previous configuration. This will stop the traditional File Server and start a demand-attach File Server. The binaries at the paths provided must already be updated to binaries built with demand-attach enabled.

PRIVILEGE REQUIRED¶

The issuer must be listed in the /usr/afs/etc/UserList file on the machine named by the -server argument, or must be logged onto a server machine as the local superuser "root" if the -localauth flag is included.

The bos create command cannot be run against servers which are in restricted mode.

NOTES¶

If the -notifier argument is included when this command is used to define and start a process, the BOS Server invokes the indicated notifier program when the process exits. The intended use of a notifier program is to inform administrators when a process exits unexpectedly, but it can be used to perform any appropriate actions. The following paragraphs describe the bnode and bnode_proc structures in which the BOS Server records information about the exiting process.

The BOS Server constructs and sends on the standard output stream one bnode and one bnode_proc structure for each exiting process associated with the notifier program. It brackets each structure with appropriate "BEGIN" and "END" statements ("BEGIN bnode" and "END bnode", "BEGIN bnode_proc" and "END bnode_proc"), which immediately follow the preceding newline character with no intervening spaces or other characters. If the notifier program does not need information from a structure, it can scan ahead in the input stream for the "END" statement.

In general, each field in a structure is a string of ASCII text terminated by the newline character. The format of the information within a structure possibly varies slightly depending on the type of process associated with the notifier program.

The C code for the bnode and bnode_proc structures follows. Note that the structures sent by the BOS Server do not necessarily include all of the fields described here, because some are used only for internal record keeping. The notifier process must robustly handle the absence of expected fields, as well as the presence of unexpected fields, on the standard input stream.

For proper performance, the notifier program must continue processing the input stream until it detects the end-of-file (EOF). The BOS Server closes the standard input file descriptor to the notifier process when it has completed delivery of the data, and it is the responsibility of the notifier process to terminate properly.

struct bnode contents:

   struct bnode {
      struct bnode *next;      /* next pointer in top-level's list */
      char *name;              /* instance name */
      long nextTimeout;        /* next time this guy should be awakened */
      long period;             /* period between calls */
      long rsTime;             /* time we started counting restarts */
      long rsCount;            /* count of restarts since rsTime */
      struct bnode_type *type; /* type object */
      struct bnode_ops *ops;   /* functions implementing bnode class */
      long procStartTime;      /* last time a process was started */
      long procStarts;         /* number of process starts */
      long lastAnyExit;        /* last time a process exited for any reason */
      long lastErrorExit;      /* last time a process exited unexpectedly */
      long errorCode;          /* last exit return code */
      long errorSignal;        /* last proc terminating signal */
      char *lastErrorName;     /* name of proc that failed last */
      short refCount;          /* reference count */
      short flags;             /* random flags */
      char goal;               /* 1=running or 0=not running */
      char fileGoal;           /* same, but to be stored in file */
};

Format of struct bnode explosion:

   printf("name: %s\n",tp->name);
   printf("rsTime: %ld\n", tp->rsTime);
   printf("rsCount: %ld\n", tp->rsCount);
   printf("procStartTime: %ld\n", tp->procStartTime);
   printf("procStarts: %ld\n", tp->procStarts);
   printf("lastAnyExit: %ld\n", tp->lastAnyExit);
   printf("lastErrorExit: %ld\n", tp->lastErrorExit);
   printf("errorCode: %ld\n", tp->errorCode);
   printf("errorSignal: %ld\n", tp->errorSignal);
   printf("lastErrorName: %s\n", tp->lastErrorName);
   printf("goal: %d\n", tp->goal);

struct bnode_proc contents:

   struct bnode_proc {
      struct bnode_proc *next; /* next guy in top-level's list */
      struct bnode *bnode;     /* bnode creating this process */
      char *comLine;           /* command line used to start this process */
      char *coreName;          /* optional core file component name */
      long pid;                /* pid if created */
      long lastExit;           /* last termination code */
      long lastSignal;         /* last signal that killed this guy */
      long flags;              /* flags giving process state */
};

Format of struct bnode_proc explosion:

   printf("comLine: %s\n", tp->comLine);
   printf("coreName: %s\n", tp->coreName);
   printf("pid: %ld\n", tp->pid);
   printf("lastExit: %ld\n", tp->lastExit);
   printf("lastSignal: %ld\n", tp->lastSignal);

SEE ALSO¶

BosConfig(5), KeyFile(5), UserList(5), bos(8), buserver(8), dafileserver(8), dasalvager(8), davolserver(8), fileserver(8), kaserver(8), ptserver(8), salvager(8), salvageserver(8), upclient(8), upserver(8), vlserver(8), volserver(8), vos_backupsys(1)

COPYRIGHT¶

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.