Remote Control Guide and Reference


Remote Power

The remote power command, rpower, reboots and resets hardware, powers hardware on and off, and queries node power state. See the rpower man page or the IBM Cluster Systems Management for Linux Technical Reference for detailed usage information.

The rpower command is structured so it can be easily expanded for another hardware type. It uses the PowerMethod attribute in the CSM database to determine which underlying hardware control routine will be used. If the PowerMethod attribute is netfinity, the hardware control routine called is /opt/csm/bin/netfinity_power. To use other hardware types you need to change the entry in CSM and write a new custom power method named /opt/csm/bin/PowerMethod_power. See Writing a Custom Power Method.


Remote Power Architecture

CSM hardware configuration consists of the following components:

For optimal security, the components must be configured so that the management server is the only PCI adapter attached to the management VLAN, and has sole access to the console servers and the RSA hardware control points.

For each node definition in the CSM database, the HWControlPoint attribute value must match the appropriate RSA host name. Likewise, the node SvcProcName attribute value in the database must match the text ID of the node's ISP or RSA.

In xSeries 330s, each RSA manages a group of up to ten nodes. By default, each group contains nodes with SvcProcName attributes node01 - node10. Since you may have more than one group of nodes, the host name HWControlPoint attribute specifies the RSA associated with each group.

Note:
The CSM definenode and addnode commands use nodexx as the default SVCProcName. Whether you accept these default names or specify others (for example, node short host names), you must manually set the ISP or RSA text IDs to match.

Remote Power Configuration

There is a direct relationship between the hardware configuration and the CSM database information created with the definenode and addnode commands. Planning is required prior to running definenode or addnode to ensure that nodes are defined correctly. For detailed information on the definenode and addnode commands, see the man page or the IBM Cluster Systems Management for Linux Technical Reference. For the define node procedure, see the IBM Cluster Systems Management for Linux Planning and Installation Guide.

You can use the lsnode command to verify the SvcProcName of the node, and the chnode commands to change the SVCProcName value when necessary.

You can telnet or establish an http connection to a node's HWControlPoint (the host name of an RSA) and use the Advanced Systems Management (ASM) panels or Web pages to verify RSA and ISP text IDs. (You need to know the ISP and RSA user IDs and passwords to make these connections.) To change an ISP's text ID, you must reboot the node of interest using the Remote Supervisor adapter Firmware Update Diskette. The diskette can be downloaded from the "Firmware updates" links at: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/clusters/software/csm.html. The same utilities are available on the Remote Supervisor Adapter Support CD that comes with the adapter. You can also use telnet or Web access to change its text ID by editing "ASM Name" under "Setup/Settings" / "System".

The RSA, and ISP user IDs and passwords are recorded in the /etc/opt/csm/netfinity_power.config file on the CSM management server. The file is created and updated by the addnode and definenode commands, and can be edited manually as required. For ISPs and RSAs, the default user ID shipped with the system is "USERID" and the default password is "PASSW0RD" (p-a-s-s-w-zero-r-d). The addnode and definenode commands write these default values to the netfinity_power.config file. IBM suggests you change these default values as soon as possible. To change ISP and RSA user IDs and passwords, use the RSA Firmware Update Diskette, the support CD, or telnet or Web access.

Writing a Custom Power Method

You can write a custom power method to suit your hardware environment. Each environment has its own routine (in /opt/csm/bin/PowerMethod_power). The rpower command runs the power method and passes the following parameters. If you write a new power method to manage another power type, you must include these parameters in the order shown in the interface definition:

  1. option_string
  2. target_node_hostname
  3. HWControlPoint_hostname
  4. SvcProcName
  5. remote_action

Node Configuration

Remote power requires the following CSM attributes for each node:

HWControlPoint
Host name of the RSA on the Management VLAN providing access to the node's remote power capabilities. For an xSeries 330 node, it is the host name of the RSA to which the node's ISP is daisy-chained. For an xSeries 342 node, it is the host name of the node's RSA (if the RSA is connected directly to the Management VLAN), or the host name of the RSA on the Management VLAN to which this node's RSA is daisy-chained.

PowerMethod
Determines the program to invoke for a specific type of hardware power control. For example: netfinity (which corresponds to /opt/csm/bin/netfinity_power).

SvcProcName
For x330s, the node's ISP text ID. For x342s, the node's RSA text ID. For example: node01.

To specify the user IDs and passwords for remote power, edit the /etc/opt/csm/netfinity_power.config file, and ensure that the ISPs, and RSAs in the nodes have the user IDs and passwords listed in this file.

To replace a node, set the user ID, password, and text ID of the new node's ISP or RSA to the values that were configured for the replaced node.

Adding a New Node

Adding a new node requires some initial planning using the Node Attributes Table and the lsnode command. The text ID of the node's ISP or RSA and the SvcProcName attribute must match. The host name of the RSA controlling the node and HWControlPoint attribute must also match. Verify that these attributes are correct before running the definenode or addnode command.


Testing Remote Control

Test your remote control functions before using them in a production environment. Use the rpower command to run query, power on, and power off on the nodes to verify that they are configured correctly and are responding accordingly. See the rpower man page or the IBM Cluster Systems Management for Linux Technical Reference for detailed examples.


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