perfSONAR Status Service: README

About

The perfSONAR-PS Status Collector and Service allows networks to monitor network elements and make available its operational and administrative status information.

The perfSONAR-PS Status Collector can collect status information via a number of methods. It can be configured to run a script allowing it to query devices that the service doesn't natively support, or to consult an existing database of status information. The collector can also be configured to obtain status information directly from the switches and routers. Currently, the status collector supports querying SNMP devices, Ciena CoreDirectors, Nortel HDXcs and Nortel OME6500s. The perfSONAR-PS Status Service can make this collected status data available to interested clients, including E2EMon clients.

Installation

Please read the INSTALL file for instructions.

Collector Configuration

The Status Service comes pre-configured, allowing for for immediate testing.

There are several files that may be adjusted manually to configure this service for a specific use case:

  • etc/database.conf:
    • Contains information that identifies which database the service and collector should interact with. There are several options that should be changed:
      • db_type -- The type of database to use. Currently supported are 'sqlite' and 'mysql'
      • db_prefix -- The prefix to prepend to the database table names. Defaults to "ps" if not set
      • db_file -- The filename for a SQLite database
      • db_name -- The database name for a MySQL database
      • db_host -- The host running the MySQL database
      • db_port -- The TCP port the MySQL database is listening on. Defaults to 3306
      • db_username -- The username to login to the database with. Defaults to no username
      • db_password -- The password to login to the database with. Defaults to no password
  • etc/elements.conf:
    • Contains the set of network elements to monitor. The elements can include The example configuration file provided contains examples of the different ways that elements can be monitored.
  • etc/e2emon_metadata.conf:
    • Contains the logical elements that E2EMon clients can query for. The example configuration file provided contains examples of the different kinds of E2EMon elements.
  • etc/service.conf:
    • Contains information that identifies the service uniquely and allows it to run in a given environment. There are also several options that may be changed for a configuration:
      • port -- Port the service listens on
      • endpoint -- Endpoint to contact the service
      • max_recent_age -- How many seconds before the data in the service becomes "stale"
      • enable_registration -- Turn on or off LS registration
      • ls_instance -- The Lookup Service to register with
      • external_address -- The address to advertise to the Lookup Service so that clients can contact this service
      • site_name -- The network or organization which owns this service
      • site_location -- The location of this service
      • ls_registration_interval -- Length of time (minutes) between updating information in the Lookup Service
      • enable_e2emon_compatibility -- Turn on or off responding to queries from E2EMon-compatible clients
      • e2emon_definitions_file -- The configuration file containing the E2EMon metadata
  • etc/service_logger.conf:
    • Contains information related to where the service logs, there are three modes:
      • Log::Dispatch::Screen -- Log messages to screen (useful for debugging)
      • Log::Dispatch::Syslog -- Log messages to syslog facility
      • Log::Dispatch::FileRotate -- Log messages to specified file
    • In the file, there are example instances of each of the above, with the Screen and Syslog sections commented out.
  • etc/collector_logger.conf:
    • Contains information related to where the collector logs, there are three modes:
      • Log::Dispatch::Screen -- Log messages to screen (useful for debugging)
      • Log::Dispatch::Syslog -- Log messages to syslog facility
      • Log::Dispatch::FileRotate -- Log messages to specified file
    • In the file, there are example instances of each of the above, with the Screen and Syslog sections commented out.

Starting/Stopping

The service and collector come with init scripts to start and stop them. If installed via RPM, the service can be started, stopped or restarted with:

/etc/init.d/perfsonar_status_service start
/etc/init.d/perfsonar_status_service stop
/etc/init.d/perfsonar_status_service restart

and the collector can be started, stopped or restarted with:

/etc/init.d/perfsonar_status_collector start
/etc/init.d/perfsonar_status_collector stop
/etc/init.d/perfsonar_status_collector restart

The service can also be run in a manual fashion (useful for debugging):

perl bin/daemon.pl --verbose --conf=etc/service.conf

The collector can also be started manually:

perl bin/collector.pl --verbose --conf=etc/collector.conf

Testing

The service comes with a client application and several test messages that can be used to test functionality once the service and collector have been configured:

etc/requests/EchoRequest.xml
etc/requests/PathStatusSetupDataRequest_now.xml

To test:

  1. Ensure the service is started, it helps if you have run it using debug mode. This is to monitor the service's activities.
  2. Run the client:

    perl bin/client.pl URL FILENAME

  3. If the result does not contain an error message, restart service with the init scripts.
Once the preliminary testing has been done, the service can be tested with E2EMon. This can be done by giving the service URL and the chosen domain name to an existing E2EMon installation.

Instructions for deploying your own E2EMon instance can be found at https://wiki.man.poznan.pl/perfsonar-mdm/index.php/LHC_e2e_mon_soft . You can then domain and service can be added to the configuration, and test the service.

Maintenance

Subscribe to the user mailing lists if you are seeking help on some problem related to this software. Announcements regarding availability of new releases will also be sent to these locations:

  • perfSONAR Users Group - https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/info/perfsonar-user
  • perfSONAR Announcements - https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/info/perfsonar-announce

  • Performance Node Users - https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/info/performance-node-users
  • Performance Node Announcements - https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/info/performance-node-announce
Also if you are using package management software and have installed the Internet2 software repository, a typical upgrade should download new releases:

yum update

Finally, check the following websites for news of software releases:

Fri Apr 3 12:38:12 EDT 2009


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