Cluster Tools (C3)

Cluster Command & Control (C3) tool suite

One of the problems with Cluster management software is that they try to put you some framework which might not what you want. So trying to help they overshoot and became a nuisance.  This is especially true about commercial software where complexity serves as protection from competitors. Often you need a tool that provides the necessary functionality, but at the same time allows to use it as a building block for your own more complex scripts. In this case you need something different form all-singing all dancing commercial tools.

So this is an area where open source tools have a chance.

The Cluster Command and Control (C3) tool suite is such open source tool (set of Python scripts, downloadable from C3 Software ). It was developed for use in operating the HighTORC Linux cluster at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

C3 tools package includes seven commands/scripts. All of them require ssh access to the nodes. Of them three are really valuable:

1. cpush - push a file across cluster
2. cexec - execute any command on each cluster node
3. cget - get a file across cluster

And other four are marginally valuable

1. crm - delete files or directories across cluster
2. cshutdown - shutdown command for cluster nodes
3. ckill - kill process across cluster
4. cpushimage - push disk image across cluster

There are also three management commands

1. clist - lists name and type of all clusters in the cluster configuration file
2. cname - returns a node position from a node name
3. cnum - returns a node name from a node position

There are four common options (each command has also command specific options)

• -h, --help  -- display help message
• -f, --file <filename>  --  alternate cluster configuration file, if one is not supplied then /etc/c3.conf will be used
• --all  -- execute command on all nodes in all clusters that are accessible. When specifying --head only the head nodes will participate. This ignores the [MACHINE_DEFINITIONS] section.
• -i  -- interactive mode, ask once before executing
• --head  -- execute command on head node, does not execute on compute nodes

Tools are controlled by a configuration file which can be specified as a parameter -f. Default is /etc/c3.conf. For example

cluster rhel {
	rhbox1 # head node 
	centos[1-6] # compute nodes
}
cluster sles {
	us0[1-7]
}
cluster solaris {
	mail[1-3]
	dns[1-2]
}

The first cluster in the file is called default cluster similar to the first declaration in a Makefile. Any instance of a C3 command that does not explicitly name the cluster executes on the first cluster in the configuration file.

Cluster configuration file should consist of one or more cluster descriptor blocks: syntactic objects that name and describe a single cluster that is accessible to that system's users. The following is an example of a default configuration file that contains exactly one cluster descriptor block: a block that describes a cluster of 64 nodes:

cluster rhel { 
	htorc-00:node0 #head node 
	node[1-64] #compute nodes 
} 

Cluster description blocks consist of the following basic elements:

• cluster tag: the word "cluster", followed by a label, which assigns a name to the cluster. This name (in the above example "local" )can be supplied to C3 commands as a way of specifying the cluster on which a command should execute. -. an open curly brace, which signals the start of the cluster's declaration proper.
• head node descriptor: a line that names the interfaces on the cluster's head node. The head node descriptor shown here has two parts: 1)The string to the left of the colon identifies the head node's **external** interface: a network device that links the head node to computers outside the cluster. This string can be the interface's IP address or DNS-style hostname. 2) The string to the right of the colon identifies the head node's **internal** interface: a network device that links the head node to nodes inside the cluster. This string can be the interface's IP address or DNS-style hostname. In the example above, the head node descriptor names a head node with an external interface named htorc-00, and an internal interface named node0. If a cluster has no external interface--i.e., a cluster that is on a closed system--it can be specified by either making the internal and external name the same, or dropping the colon, and using one name in the specifier.
• compute node descriptors: a series of individual descriptors that name the cluster's compute nodes. The example given above contains exactly one compute node descriptor. This descriptor uses a range to specify a cluster that contains 64 compute nodes, named node1, node2, etc., up through node64. A range qualifier consists of a nonnegative integer, followed by a dash, and then a second integer that is at least as large as the first. This range must be between the brackets at the end of the node name.

In the current version of the C3 tool set range values are treated as numbers, with no leading zeroes. A declaration like

node[01-64] #compute nodes 

Expands to node1, node2,... node64, not to node 01, node01,..., node64.

To specify a set of nodes with names like node01, node09, node10, ...node64, use declarations like

cluster local { 
   htorc-00:node0 #head node 
   node0[1-9] #compute nodes node01..node09 
   node[10-64] #compute nodes node10..node64 
} 

There can be multiple clusters defined in the c3.conf. For example: 

cluster local { 
orc-00:node0 #head node 
node[1-64] #compute nodes 
exclude 2 
exclude [55-60] 
} 

cluster torc { 
:orc-00b 
} 

cluster my-cluster { 
osiris:192.192.192.2 
woody 
dead riggs 
}

NEWS CONTENTS

• 200102 : Example of the usage of cexec command ( )

Old News ;-)

Example of the usage of cexec command

cexec 'yum -q -y install ntp'

Recommended Links

• C3 Software -main web page
• Version v5.1.3(22-Mar-2013) tar.gz] [rpm] [deb] [network-installs]

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Last modified: March, 12, 2019