Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller
This chapter describes how to use the following nalcontrol commands for Nortel Alteon Controller:
You can use an abbreviated version of the nalcontrol command parameters
by typing the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on
the file save command, you can type nalcontrol he f instead
of nalcontrol help file.
To get the nalcontrol command prompt: type nalcontrol.
To end the command line interface: type exit or quit.
Note:
You must use English characters for all command parameter
values. The only exceptions are host names (used in server commands) and file
names (used in file commands).
nalcontrol consultant -- configure and control a consultant

>>-nalcontrol--consultant--+-add--scID--address--swIPAddr--+---------------------------+-+-><
| +-rcommunity--readCommName--+ |
| '-wcommunity--writeCommName-' |
+-binarylog--scID+scID2...;;--+-report------------------------+-+
| +-set--+-interval--interval---+-+ |
| | '-retention--retention-' | |
| +-start-------------------------+ |
| '-stop--------------------------' |
+-remove--scID+scID2...;;---------------------------------------+
+-report--scID+scID2...;;---------------------------------------+
+-set--+--------------------------------+---------------------+
| +-loglevel--level----------------+ |
| +-logsize--+-size------+---------+ |
| | '-unlimited-' | |
| +-sensitivity--weight percentage-+ |
| '-sleeptime--sec-----------------' |
+-start--scID+scID2...;;----------------------------------------+
'-stop--scID+scID2...;;-----------------------------------------'
- add
- Adds a switch consultant.
- scID
- A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
- address
- The IP address of the Nortel Alteon Web Switch to which the consultant provides weights.
- swIPAddr
- The IP address of the switch.
- rcommunity
- The read community name used in the SNMP get communications with the Nortel Alteon Web Switch.
The default is public.
- readCommName
- The string that represents the read community name, as it is configured
on the Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The default is public.
- wcommunity
- The write community name used in the SNMP set communications
- writeCommName
- The string that represents the write community name, as it
is configured on the Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The default is private.
- binarylog
- Controls binary logging for a consultant.
- report
- Reports on the characteristics of binary logging.
- set
- Sets how often, in seconds, information is written to the binary logs.
The binary logging feature allows service information to be stored in binary
log files for each service defined in the configuration. The information is
written to the logs only when the specified log interval seconds elapse after
the last record was written to the log. The default binary logging interval
is 60.
- interval
- Sets the number of seconds between entries in the binary log.
- retention
- Sets the number of hours that the binary log files are kept.
- start
- Starts binary logging.
- stop
- Stops binary logging.
- remove
- Removes a switch consultant.
- report
- Reports on the characteristics of switch consultants.
- set
- Sets the characteristics of switch consultants.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which the switch consultant logs activities. The default
value is 1.
- level
- The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible
values are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default
value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps;
when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written
from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot
be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped
so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the
log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can
quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
- size
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
- sensitivity
- Indicates the amount of change that must take place between the old
and new weights for the weight to change. The difference between the new and
old weight must be greater than the sensitivity percentage for the weight
to change. The valid range is 0-through-100; the default is 5.
- weight percentage
- An integer from 0-to-100, representing the sensitivity value.
- sleeptime
- Sets the number of seconds to sleep between weight-setting cycles. The
default is 7.
- seconds
- An integer, representing the sleeptime in seconds. Valid range
is from 0 to 2,147,460.
- start
- Starts collecting metrics and setting weights.
- stop
- Stops collecting metrics and setting weights.
Examples
- To add a switch consultant with a switch identifier of sc1, an IP address
of 9.37.50.17:
nalcontrol consultant add sc1 address 9.37.50.17
- To start binary logging:
nalcontrol consultant binarylog sc1 start
- To see a report on the characteristics of switch consultant sc1:
nalcontrol consultant report sc1
This command produces output similar
to:
Consultant ID: sc1 Switch IP addr: 9.37.50.1
Read Community: public
Write Community: private
Consultant has been started
Sleep time = 7
Sensitivity = 5
Log level = 5
log size = 1,048,576
Service(s):
Service svc1
- To set the sleeptime between weight-setting cycles for the sc1 switch
ID to 10 seconds:
nalcontrol consultant set sc1 sleeptime 10
- To start collecting metrics and setting weights for the consultant ID
of sc1:
nalcontrol consultant start sc1
nalcontrol controller -- manage the controller

>>-nalcontrol--controller--+-report--------------------------+-><
'-set--+------------------------+-'
+-loglevel--level--------+
'-logsize--+-size------+-'
'-unlimited-'
- report
- Display characteristics of the controller. Version information displays
as part of this report.
- set
- Set characteristics of the controller.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which the controller logs activities. The default
value is 1.
- level
- The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible
values are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default
value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps;
when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written
from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot
be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped
so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the
log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can
quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
- size | unlimited
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
Examples
- To display a report on the controller:
nalcontrol controller report
This command produces output similar to:
Controller Report:
------------------------
Version . . . . . . . . . Version: 05.00.00.00 - 03/21/2002-09:49:57-EST
Logging level . . . . . . 1
Log size. . . . . . . . . 1048576
Configuration File. . . . config1.xml
Consultants:
Consultant consult1 -Started
- To set the level of logging to zero for better performance:
nalcontrol set loglevel 0
- To set the controller log size to 1,000,000 bytes:
nalcontrol controller set logsize 1000000
nalcontrol file -- manage configuration files

>>-nalcontrol--file--+-delete--filename-+----------------------><
+-load--filename---+
+-report-----------+
'-save--filename---'
- delete
- Deletes the specified configuration file.
- filename
- A configuration file. The file extension must be .xml. If this extension
is not specified, it will be assumed.
- load
- Loads the configuration stored in the specified file.
Note:
Loading a file appends the configuration stored in that file to
the running configuration. If you want to load a new configuration,
you must stop and restart the server before you load the file.
- report
- Lists the configuration files.
- save
- Saves the current configuration to the specified file.
Note:
Files are saved into and loaded from the following directories:
Examples
- To delete a file named file1:
nalcontrol file delete file1
- To load a new configuration file to replace the current configuration:
nalcontrol file load config2
- To see a report of files that you have previously saved:
nalcontrol file report
This command produces output similar to:
FILE R EPORT:
------------
file1.xml
file2.xml
file3.xml
- To save your configuration file in a file named config2:
nalcontrol file save config2
nalcontrol help -- display or print help for this command

>>-nalcontrol--help--+-controller-------+----------------------><
+-consultant-------+
+-file-------------+
+-help-------------+
+-highavailability-+
+-metrinalllector--+
+-ownercontent-----+
'-service----------'
Examples
- To get help on the nalcontrol command, type:
nalcontrol help
This command produces output similar to:
The following commands are available:
controller - operate on the controller
consultant - operate on switch consultants
file - operate on configuration files
help - operate on help
highavailability - operate on high availability
metriccollector - operate on metric collectors
server - operate on servers
service - operate on services
- The following symbols are used in the online help syntax:
- < >
- Braces enclose parameters or a sequence of characters.
- [ ]
- Brackets enclose optional items.
- |
- A vertical bar separates alternatives within brackets and braces.
- :
- A colon is a separator between names; for example, consultant1:service1.
nalcontrol highavailability -- control high availability

>>-nalcontrol--highavailability--+-add--+-address--address---------------+-+-><
| +-partneraddress--partneraddress-+ |
| +-port--port---------------------+ |
| '-role--+-primary---+------------' |
| '-secondary-' |
+-dropreach--address----------------------+
+-remove----------------------------------+
+-report----------------------------------+
+-set--+-beatinterval--time-----+---------+
| +-takeoverinterval--time-+ |
| +-loglevel--level--------+ |
| '-logsize--+-size------+-' |
| '-unlimited-' |
+-start--+-auto---+-----------------------+
| '-manual-' |
+-stop------------------------------------+
+-takeover--------------------------------+
'-usereach--address-----------------------'
- add
- Configures a high-availability node, partner, and reach targets.
- address
- The address from which to receive heartbeats.
- address
- The IP address of the high-availability node.
- partneraddress
- The address to which to send heartbeats. This is the IP address or
host name configured on the partner node. This address is used to communicate
with the partner high-availability machine.
- address
- The IP address of the partner.
- port
- The port used to communicate with the partner. The default is 12345.
- port
- The port number.
- role
- The high-availability role.
- primary | secondary
- The primary or secondary role.
- dropreach
- Remove this reach target from high availability criteria.
- address
- The IP address of the reach target.
- remove
- Remove the node, partner and reach target from high availability configuration.
High availability must be stopped before using this command.
- report
- Displays high availability information.
- set
- Sets the characteristics of high availability.
- beatinterval
- Sets how often, in milliseconds, heartbeats are sent to the partner.
The default is 500.
- time
- A positive integer representing the beat interval time, in milliseconds.
- takeoverinterval
- Sets the amount of time, in milliseconds, that must lapse (during which
no heartbeats are received) before a takeover occurs. The default is 2000.
- time
- A positive integer representing the takeover interval time, in milliseconds.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which activities are logged. The default value is
1.
- level
- The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible
values are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log
file. The default value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log
file, the file wraps; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent
entries are written from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log
entries. Log size cannot be set smaller than the current size of the log.
Log entries are time-stamped so you can tell the order in which they were
written. The higher you set the log level, the more carefully you must choose
the log size, because you can quickly run out of space when logging at the
higher levels.
- size | unlimited
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log. You
can specify either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
- start
- Starts using high availability. A high availability node, partner, and
reach target must be configured before using this command.
- auto | manual
- Determines whether to start high availability with a recovery strategy
of automatic or manual.
- stop
- Stops using high availability.
- takeover
- Takes control from the active high availability node.
- usereach
- The reach target address that will start using high availability. Add
a reach target that can be pinged so that the high availability partners can
determine how reachable their targets are.
- address
- The IP address of the reach target.
Examples
- To add a high availability node with an IP address of 9.37.50.17 with
a primary role on port 12345, and a partner address of 9.37.50.14:
nalcontrol highavailability add
address 9.37.50.17 role primary port 12345 partneraddress 9.37.50.14
- To add a reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
nalcontrol highavailability usereach 9.37.50.9
- To remove the reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
nalcontrol highavailability dropreach 9.37.50.9
- To start high availability with a recovery strategy of manual:
nalcontrol highavailability start manual
- To get a statistical snapshot of high availability:
nalcontrol highavailability report
This command produces output similar to:
High Availability Status:
-------------------------
Node . . . . . . . . . . . primary
Node Address . . . . . . . 9.37.50.17
Port . . . . . . . . . . . 12345
Partner Address. . . . . . 9.37.50.14
Recovery Strategy. . . . . manual
Heartbeat Interval . . . . 500
Takeover Interval. . . . . 2000
Started. . . . . . . . . . N
State. . . . . . . . . . . idle
Sub-state. . . . . . . . . unsynchronized
Reachability Status : Node/Partner
---------------------------------------
nalcontrol metriccollector -- configure metric collector

>>-nalcontrol--metricollector--+-report--scID+scID2+...;;:mN+mN2...;;--------------------------+-><
'-set--scID+scID2+...;;:mN+mN2...;;--+-connecttimeout--sec----+-'
+-loglevel--level--------+
+-logsize--+-size------+-+
| '-unlimited-' |
+-receivetimeout--sec----+
'-sleeptime--sec---------'
- report
- Displays the characteristics of a metric collector.
- scID (switch consultant ID)
- A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
- mN (metric name)
- Name that identifies the provided or custom metric.
- set
- Sets the characteristics of a metric collector.
- connecttimeout
- Set how long a metric collector waits before reporting that a connection
fails.
- sec
- A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the
metric collector waits before reporting that a connection to a service has
failed.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which the specified consultant logs activities. The
default is 1.
- level
- The number of the level. The default is 1. The higher the number, the
more information that is written to the consultant log. The possible values
are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default
value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps;
when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written
from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot
be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped
so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the
log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can
quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
- size | unlimited
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
- receivetimeout
- Sets how long the consultant waits before reporting that a receive from
service fails.
- sec
- A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the
consultant waits before reporting that a receive from a service has failed.
- sleeptime
- Sets the amount of time in seconds that the metric collector
sleeps between metric-collecting cycles.
- sec
- A positive integer representing the number of seconds of sleep time.
Examples
- To see a report on the characteristics of a metric collector:
nalcontrol metrinalllector report sc1:http
This command produces output similar to:
Metrinalllector sc1:http
collected metric(s).... http
loglevel............... 5
logSize................ 1048576
sleepTimeSeconds....... 7
timeoutConnectSeconds.. 21
timeoutReceiveSeconds.. 21
- To set a connecttimeout of 15 seconds and a logsize of unlimited for the
sc1 switch consultant and the http metric:
nalcontrol metrinalllector set sc1:http connecttimeout 15 logsize unlimited
nalcontrol server -- configure a server

>>-nalcontrol--serer--+-report--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;:serverID+svrID2...;;-----------------------------------+-><
'---set--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;:serverID+svrID2--+--------------------------------+---'
+-fixedweight--+-integer-+-------+
| '-off-----' |
+-requestsourceip--IPAddress-----+
+-metricserveraddress--IPAddress-+
'-metricserverport--portNumber---'
- report
- Display characteristics of servers.
- scID
- A user-defined string that represents the consultant.
- svcID
- A user-defined string that represents the virtual service identifier
and the virtual port number on the switch.
- serverID
- An integer that represents the server on the switch.
- set
- Set characteristics of servers
- fixedweight
- Sets a fixed weight for this server. The default is off. The maximum
fixedweight is 48.
- integer | off
- A positive integer representing the fixed weight for this server, or
the word off to specify no fixed weight.
- requestsourceip
- Sets the address from which to contact the server for application requests.
- IPAddress
- The IP address from which to contact the server, as a symbolic name
or in IP address format.
- metricserveraddress
- Sets the address from which to contact the server for metric server
requests.
- IPAddress
- The IP address of the metric server, as a symbolic name or in IP address
format.
- metricserverport
- Sets the port to use for contacting the metric server.
- portNumber
- The port number used to contact the metric server.
Examples
- To display a report on server 1 for the sc1 consultant:
nalcontrol server report sc1:svc1:1
This command produces output similar to:
Server sc1:svc1:1 has weight -99
Fixed weight is off
Request Source Ip...... 9.27.24.156
Application port....... 99
MetricServer address... 9.99.99.98
MetricServer port...... 10004
Metric activeconn has value -99
Metric connrate has value -99
- To set a metric server address for service 2:
nalcontrol server set sc1:svc1:2 metricserveraddress 9.37.50.17
nalcontrol service -- configure a service

>>-nalcontrol--service--+-add--scID+scID2...;;:serviceID+svcID2...;;--vsid--virSvrID--vport--virPortNum------+-><
+-metrics--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;--mN--importance--mCN2--i2---------------+
+-refresh--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;-----------------------------------------+
+-remove--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;------------------------------------------+
+-report--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;------------------------------------------+
'-set--scID+scID2...;;:svcID+svcID2...;;----metric--mN----+-requeststring--string--+-'
+-responsestring--string-+
'-retry--numretries------'
- add
- Adds a service to the specified consultant.
- scID (switchConsultantID)
- A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
- svcID (serviceID)
- A user-defined string that identifies the service.
- vsid
- The virtual service identifier keyword.
- virSvrID (virtualServerID)
- The number on the switch that represents the virtual server.
- vport
- The virtual port keyword.
- virPortNum (virtualPortNumber)
- The port number for the service that is currently configured
on the switch.
- metrics
- Specifies the set of metrics used in calculating weights and
the importance of each metric. The importance is expressed as a percentage
of the total. The sum of importance values must total 100. The metrics can
be any combination of the connection data metric, application advisor metrics,
and metric server metrics. The defaults are active connection (activeconn)
and connection rate (connrate) metrics with 50/50 importance.
- mN (metric name)
- Name that identifies the metric collector that will collect
measurements to determine the weight of the server.
Following is a list
of valid metric names and their associated ports.
Advisor Name |
Protocol |
Port |
connect |
ICMP |
12345 |
db2 |
private |
50000 |
dns |
DNS |
53 |
ftp |
FTP |
21 |
http |
HTTP |
80 |
https |
SSL |
443 |
cachingproxy |
HTTP (via Caching Proxy) |
80 |
imap |
IMAP |
143 |
ldap |
LDAP |
389 |
nntp |
NNTP |
119 |
ping |
PING |
0 |
pop3 |
POP3 |
110 |
sip |
SIP |
5060 |
smtp |
SMTP |
25 |
ssl |
SSL |
443 |
telnet |
Telnet |
23 |
WLM |
private |
10,007 |
activeconn |
n/a |
n/a |
connrate |
n/a |
n/a |
cpuload |
n/a |
n/a |
memload |
n/a |
n/a |
- importance
- A number from 0-to-100 that represents the importance of this
metric in calculating server weights.
- refresh
- Refreshes a service with information from the Nortel Alteon Web Switch.
- remove
- Removes a service.
- report
- Reports characteristics of a service.
- set
- Sets characteristics of a service.
- metric
- Sets the characteristics of a configured metric.
- mN (metric name)
- The name of the desired metric.
- requeststring
- Sets a request string for the specified metric. This represents the
request sent by a metric collector to gather metric information.
- string
- The request string sent by the metric collector to the server.
- responsestring
- Sets a response string for the specified metric. The specified
response string is used by the metric collector to compare the responses it
receives from servers and subsequently determine server availability.
- string
- The response string to which the metric collector compares
received server responses.
- retry
- Retry sets the number of retries that can be made before marking
a server down.
- numretries
- An integer greater than or equal to zero. This value should
be no larger than 3. If retries keyword is not configured, the number of retries
defaults to zero.
Examples
- To add a service named svc1 (with an virtual server ID of 1 and
a virtual port of 80) to the switch consultant ID of sc1:
nalcontrol service add sc1:svc1 vsid 1 vport 80
- To specify a proportion of 50 each to the activeconn and http metrics:
nalcontrol service metrics sc1:svc1 activeconn 50 http 50
- To see a report of characteristics of ownercontents:
nalcontrol service report sc1:svc1
This command produces output similar to:x
Service sc1:svc1
Weightbound = 48
Metric activeconn has proportion 50
Metric connrate has rpoportion 50
Contains Server 4
Contains Server 3
Contains Server 2
Contains Server 1
- To set an http request string:
nalcontrol service set sc1:svc1 metric http requeststring getLastErrorCode