Managing the system attributes

Managing the system attributes

After you synchronize the KSYS cluster by using the ksysmgr sync ksyscluster command, the KSYS subsystem sets up the default system-wide persistent attributes. The KSYS subsystem uses these system-wide persistent attributes for activities such as automatic rediscovery of the resources, notification of critical events, removal of duplicate notification.

By default, the KSYS subsystem sets up the following system attributes:

deep_discovery

You can enable or disable the deep_discovery attribute at the system level through this tunable. The deep discovery process is similar to the discovery operation, except that the deep discovery process run automatically every 24 hours by default. During the deep discovery process, the KSYS subsystem collects all information that is collected during the quick discovery process and information about the storage systems. You can update the deep discovery process period by using the auto_discovery_time attribute.

ksysmgr modify system deep_discovery=<enable|disable>

By default, the deep_discovery attribute is enabled. If you change it to disable, KSYS subsystem does not discover the environment automatically for any new or modified resources.

auto_discovery_time

Specifies the time for daily discovery at which the KSYS subsystem rediscovers the environment automatically for any new or modified resources. By default, the value of the auto_discovery_timeattribute is 00:00, which means the KSYS subsystem discovers the resources and updates its database about the virtual machines every 24 hours at 00:00 hour.

The HMC and VIOS are also involved in the rediscovery process to update information about the virtual machines. Therefore, if your environment is large (for example, hundreds of logical partitions in the data center), you might want to set this to a time with minimal load on the HMC, VIOS, and the underlying I/O subsystems. Any configuration changes to the hosts, virtual machines, disks, and any other entities (for example, addition of new disks to a virtual machine) are captured when the rediscovery occurs. This attribute also specifies the time during which any changes in the configuration setting can be lost if a disaster occurs before the rediscovery.

quick_discovery

You can enable or disable the quick discovery property. The quick discover operation checks the states of existing VMs and does not consider configuration changes. By default, the quick_discovery attribute is enabled.

quick_discovery_interval

You can set time interval in minutes for quick discovery operation. By default, the quick_discovery_interval is 60 minutes.

custom_script_timeout

Specifies the timeout duration for a custom script. If the custom script is unable to complete the execution within the configured timeout duration, the KSYS subsystem terminates the execution of the custom script and proceeds with the next execution. By default, the custom_script_timeout attribute is 0, which is considered as no timeout is set, and the system waits indefinitely for the script to run. For more information, see Configuring the timeout duration for custom scripts.

trace_file_size

Specifies the size in MB of the trace files the IBM.VMR daemon uses. By default, the trace_file_size attribute is not set and the size of the trace files is dynamically determined by RSCT.

ksys_spooling

Enables or disables trace spooling for the IBM.VMR daemon. By default, the ksys_spooling attribute is disabled. For more information on trace spooling, see Configuring trace spooling.

spool_dest_dir

Specifies the destination directory for trace spooling files for the IBM.VMR daemon when the ksys_spooling attribute is enabled. If you enable the ksys_spooling attribute and the spool_dest_dir attribute is not specified, then the spool_dest_dir attribute will get a default value as /tmp/ksys/rm.

spool_dir_max_size

Specifies the size in MB of the trace spooling area for the IBM.VMR daemon when the ksys_spooling attribute is enabled. By default, the spool_dir_max_size attribute is not set.

notification_level
Enables or disables the notification for different types of events. The notification_level attribute supports the following values:
low (default)
Only critical error events are notified.
medium
Critical and warning error events are notified.
high
All events, which include informational events, are notified.
disable
None of the events are notified.
dup_event_processing
Reduces duplicate event notifications. The email and script notifications that are related to the duplicate events are also disabled. The dup_event_processing attribute can have the following values:
yes (default)
Notifies about only those events that are not repeated in the last 24 hours.
no
Notifies all the messages.
port_validation

Enables or disables port-level validation at the system level. By default, the port_validation attribute is disabled. If the port_validation attribute is enabled, the KSYS subsystem performs port-level validation instead of Logical Unit Number (LUN) level validation. To set the port-level validation, run the following command:

ksysmgr modify system port_validation=<enable|disable>
ha_monitor

Enables or disables HA monitoring at the system level. By default, the ha_monitor attribute is enabled. For more information, see HA monitoring.

proactiveha

Enables or disables the ProactiveHA monitoring feature at the system level. By default, the proactiveha attribute is disabled. For more information, see ProactiveHA monitoring.

host_failure_detection_time

Specifies in seconds the time that the KSYS waits on a non-responsive host before the KSYS declares the host to be in an inactive state. By default, the host_failure_detection_time is 90. For more information, see Host failure detection time.

vm_failure_detection_speed

Specifies the time that KSYS waits before KSYS declares the failure of a VM. By default, the vm_failure_detection_speed attribute is set to normal. For more information, see VM failure detection speed.

vm_auto_discovery

Enables or disables whether newly created VMs and undiscovered VMs will be managed automatically. By default, the vm_auto_discovery attribute is enabled.

ping

You can enable or disable the ping attribute at the system level through this tunable. The KSYS subsystem performs scheduled health checkups on the HMC and storage systems. The KSYS subsystem informs you about the health state of the HMC and storage systems through the ping attribute. If the ping attribute is disabled, the KSYS subsystem does not provide the health state notification about the HMC and storage systems. Also, when the ping attribute is disabled, the HMC_UNREACHABLE event and the STG_UNREACHABLE event are not triggered. To set the ping tunable at the system level, run the following command:

ksysmgr modify system ping=<enable|disable> 

ksysmgr modify system ping=<enable|disable>

lpm_support

Enables or disables the Live Partition Mobility (LPM) feature at the system level. By default, the lpm_support attribute is enabled. For more information, see Disabling LPM operations.

min_redundancy_paths

Sets the minimum number of redundant paths at the backup site allowed if the backup site disks have fewer paths than the home site disks.

By default, the min_redundancy_paths attribute is 0, which disables the minimum redundancy path feature and requires that backup site disks have the same number of paths as the home site disks.

If the redundancy path is enabled and the XSD version of the host is earlier than version 8.0, during the discovery operation, the ksysmgr commands displays a warning message specifying that the redundancy path is not supported.

#ksysmgr discover hg HG1 
Running discovery on Host_group HG1, this may take few minutes... 
. 
. 
. 
Discovery has finished for HG1 
WARNING:Since Xsd_version for below host(s) is less than 8.0, Redundancy paths not supported 
XYamur-MNOP-LQT-ABCDEF 
XYyana-MNOP-LQT-GHIJKL 

The XSD version 8.0 requires VIOS version 3.1.3.10, or later.

hmc_ping_timer

Specifies in seconds the period between scheduled health checkups of the HMC when the ping attribute is enabled. By default, the hmc_ping_timer attribute is 0, which indicates a default period of 10 seconds.

vpmem_override

Enables or disables Virtual Persistent Memory (vPMEM). By default, the vpmem_override attribute is disabled. For more information, see vPMEM override.

sa_ping_timer

Specifies in seconds the period between scheduled health checkups of the storage systems when the ping attribute is enabled. By default, the sa_ping_timer attribute is 0, which indicates a default period of 10 seconds.

cleanup_files_interval

Specifies in days the maximum period since last modification time of temporary VMR log files before they are removed.

memory_capacity

Specifies memory capacity percentage for flexible capacity policy at system level. For more information, see Configuring the flexible capacity policies.

cpu_capacity

Specifies CPU capacity percentage for flexible capacity policy at system level. For more information, see Configuring the flexible capacity policies.

network_isolation

Specifies the IP addresses for network isolation detection. For more information, see Configuring network isolation events.

ksys_lang

Specifies language setting for ksysmgr and VMRM. By default, the ksys_lang attribute is set to en_US. For more information, see Enabling locale setting.

connection_timeout

Specifies in seconds the connection timeout for KSYS REST API calls. By default, the connection_timeout attribute is 75.

Examples for querying system properties and status
  • To query the information or status related to system-wide attributes, use the following command:
    ksysmgr query system [properties | status [monitor=<no|yes>]] 
  • To query the existing values of the system attributes, run the following command:
    ksysmgr query system properties 
  • An output that is similar to the following example is displayed:
    System-Wide Persistent Attributes 
    auto_discovery_time:            04:00 hours 
    notification_level:             medium 
    dup_event_processing:           no 
    HA_monitor:                     enable 
    host_failure_detection_time:    90 seconds 
    vm_failure_detection_speed:     normal 
    proactiveha:                    disable 
    quick_discovery_interval:       60 minutes 
    quick_discovery:                enable 
    deep_discovery:                 enable 
    vm_auto_discovery:              enable 
    custom_script_timeout:          none 
    trace_file_size:                not set 
    memory_capacity:                Priority Based Settings 
    low:                            100 
    medium:                         100 
    high:                           100 
    cpu_capacity:                   Priority Based Settings 
    low:                            100 
    medium:                         100 
    high:                           100 
    ping:                           disable 
    lpm_support:                    enable 
    port_validation:                disable 
    min_redundancy_paths:           disable 
    cleanup_files_interval:         7 days 
    ksys_lang: 
    connection_timeout:             75 seconds (default) 
    hmc_port_number:                443 
    vpmem_override:                 disable 
    hmc_ping_timer:                 0 seconds 
    sa_ping_timer:                  0 seconds 
    User Scripts for Site:          None 
    
    User Scripts for Host Group:    None 
    
    User Scripts for VM:            None 
    
  • To query the system status, run the following command:
    ksysmgr query system status 
  • The output might look similar to the following sample:
    Discovery is in progress for Site Site1. 
    Discovery is in progress for Site Site2. 
    Please use "ksysmgr query system status monitor=yes " to track the progress of the operation
    

If you specify the monitor=yes parameter, the KSYS monitors and displays all the current actions on the KSYS node. The actions include discovery, verification, movement, and recovery operations, which continue to progress even when the command is killed or when you close the command window. The monitor parameter also displays the encountered errors that are logged by the virtual machines, hosts, disk pairs, and disk groups. For example:

ksysmgr query system status monitor=yes 
Discovery is in progress for Site Site1. 
Discovery is in progress for Site Site2. 
Monitoring status... 
Running discovery on entire site, this may take few minutes... 
… 
  • To query the system status and monitor all entities of the system, run the following command:
    ksysmgr q system status monitor=yes 

This system-wide command monitors all entities of the KSYS subsystem. This command displays all operations that are being run on each entity, and it also displays all operations that were previously run on each entity.

  • To modify the system-wide attributes, use the following command:
    ksysmgr modify system <attribute>=<new_value> 
Examples for modifying the system-wide attributes
  • To enable the KSYS subsystem to automatically rediscover the resources at 04:00 every day, run the following command:
    ksysmgr modify system auto_discovery_time=04:00 
  • To change the notification level of your system to receive notification for all critical errors and warnings for all events, run the following command:
    ksysmgr modify system notification_level=medium 
  • To change the duplicate event processing option to receive notification for all events, even if the events are duplicated, run the following command:
    ksysmgr modify system dup_event_processing=no 
  • To set the minimum redundancy paths, run the following command:
    ksysmgr modify system min_redundancy_paths=<no. of paths>