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Administration Guide


Cluster Systems Management overview

IBM Cluster Systems Management for Linux (CSM) provides a distributed system management solution for machines, or nodes, that are running the Linux operating system. With this software, an administrator can easily set up and maintain a Linux cluster by using functions like installation, hardware control, monitoring, and configuration file management. The concepts and software are derived from IBM Parallel System Support Programs for AIX(R) (PSSP) and from applications available as open source tools.

You can install CSM alone on the management server, assuming that Red Hat Linux has been installed there first. For the nodes, the CSM-only installation process allows you to install just CSM, assuming you have already installed Linux on the nodes. The full installation process involves installing the operating system with CSM on the cluster nodes. For more information about installing CSM, see IBM CSM for Linux: Software Planning and Installation Guide.

Within a CSM cluster, you can add, remove, change, or list nodes or node groups. You can run commands across nodes or node groups in the cluster, and gather responses. Nodes and applications can be monitored as to whether they are up or down. For instance, CPU, memory, and system utilization can be monitored, and automated responses can be run when events occur in the cluster. Configuration File Manager is provided for synchronization of files across multiple nodes. A single management server is the control point for the CSM cluster.

CSM works in conjunction with Reliable Scalable Cluster Technology (RSCT), which is a set of software components that together provide a comprehensive clustering environment for Linux. RSCT is the infrastructure used by a variety of IBM products to provide clusters with improved system availability, scalability, and ease of use. Included with RSCT is the Resource Monitoring and Control subsystem (RMC). RMC provides a common abstraction for the resources of the individual system or the cluster of nodes. RMC provides global access to subsystems of resources throughout the cluster, thus providing a single monitoring/management infrastructure for clusters. RSCT also provides a set of resource managers for mapping programmatic abstractions in RMC into the actual calls and commands of a resource. For more information about RSCT and RMC, see IBM RSCT for Linux: Guide and Reference.

Note that CSM manages a loose cluster of machines. It does not provide high availability services or fail-over technology, although high-availability clusters can be part of the set of machines that CSM is managing.

CSM works with various configurations of IBM and vendor hardware, most notably the IBM e(logo)server Cluster 1300 (xSeries(TM)) 330 Cluster and 1300 (xSeries) 342 nodes. See IBM CSM for Linux: Hardware Planning and Control Guide for more information about CSM hardware support.

This chapter provides information on the following CSM tasks:

  1. Installing CSM
  2. Managing node and node group information
  3. Monitoring and controlling hardware
  4. Running commands remotely
  5. Monitoring system events
  6. Managing configuration files with Configuration File Manager
  7. Providing security


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