7.12 Customizing Cluster Services Management

Some portions of Novell Cluster Services management can be performed and customized using virtual XML files that exist on the _admin volume. These files are created automatically on each server when cma.nlm is loaded. See Managing Novell Cluster Services Through XML for more information on virtual files and the _admin volume.

The cluster-related virtual XML files (management access points) are created on each server's _admin volume and on the _admin volume of the cluster's virtual NCP™ server when cma.nlm is loaded. These files let you manage the cluster from any node in the cluster and also from the cluster's virtual NCP server (which is dynamically created on the current master node in the cluster). Using the cluster's virtual NCP server ensures cluster management is possible regardless of which physical servers happen to be available at the time. This means that as long as the cluster is running, you can always access the cluster-related XML virtual files in the \\cluster\_admin\manage_cluster directory.

There are two types of virtual files in the _admin:\manage_cluster directory, XML files and CMD files. The XML files are read-only and contain cluster configuration or cluster state information. The CMD files are write-then-read command files that are used to issue commands to the cluster and retrieve resulting status.

A customizable PERL script named cluster.pl is included with NetWare 6.5 and is located in the sys:perl\scripts directory. This script can be used with node.cmd, cluster.cmd, and resource.cmd to perform custom cluster management. See Using Command Line Perl to Manage Cluster Services for more information on creating and using PERL scripts with NetWare.

The following table lists the cluster-related virtual XML files and gives a brief description of each.

Table 7-2 Cluster-Related Virtual XML Files

Virtual XML Filename

Description

Config.xml

Provides the combined information from ClusterConfig.xml, NodeConfig.xml, ResourceConfig.xml, and PoolConfig.xml.

ClusterConfig.xml

Provides cluster configuration information.

NodeConfig.xml

Provides node configuration information for all nodes in the cluster that were active at the time the cluster was brought up.

ResourceConfig.xml

Provides resource configuration information for each resource in the cluster.

PoolConfig.xml

Provides cluster-enabled pool and volume configuration information for each pool and volume.

State.xml

Provides the combined information from NodeState.xml, ResourceState.xml, and PoolState.xml.

NodeState.xml

Provides current information on the state of each node in the cluster (cluster membership).

ResourceState.xml

Provides current information on the state of each resource in the cluster.

PoolState.xml

Provides current information on the state of each cluster-enabled pool in the cluster.

Node.cmd

Write-then-read command file used in conjunction with a PERL script to issue node-specific commands to the cluster and retrieve resulting node status and configuration information.

Cluster.cmd

Write-then-read command file used in conjunction with a PERL script to issue cluster-specific commands to the cluster and retrieve resulting cluster status and configuration information.

Resource.cmd

Write-then-read command file used in conjunction with a PERL script to issue resource-specific commands to the cluster and retrieve resulting resource status and configuration information.