'Best Practices' and configuring loghost on Sun Fire[TM] 3800,4800,4900,6800, and E6900 servers [Video]

Asset ID:	1-71-1008676.1
Update Date:	2012-08-21
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1008676.1 : 'Best Practices' and configuring loghost on Sun Fire[TM] 3800,4800,4900,6800, and E6900 servers [Video]

Applies to:

Sun Fire 6800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire E6900 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire 3800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire 4800 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire 4810 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
All Platforms

Goal

This document gives 'Best Practice's and step by step instructions on how to configure a loghost on the Sun Fire[TM] 3800-6800 and E4900/E6900 servers.

Available for this topic, a Video Tutorial; Brief how-to video tutorials that provide step-by-step instructions answering Sun's most frequently asked questions. View the video answer and/or follow the detailed instructions below.

Video - How to Archive SC Logs (05:30)

Fix

It is considered a 'Best Practice' to configure a 'loghost's for each server and production domain.
A 'Loghost' on a Solaris platform can permanently save messages that are logged in the System Controller's NVRAM buffer. This will insure that they are not lost due to either a power event, or by rolling off of the small first in first out buffer in the system controller. Properly stored, they can be quickly accessed if a domain outage occurs even if the server controlling the domain is unresponsive. These files when sent to SUN Engineers can speed up troubleshooting and resolve problems quickly and accurately.

Configuration Best practices.

1) Log files to an independent Solaris platform not the domain('s) associated with the server. This is to remove the issue which is created when the domain which is down is the same domain which was collecting the loghost data. This issue presents two problems. First, data, that is needed for troubleshooting becomes inaccessible. Secondly, as soon as Solaris goes down on the domain which is logging, all further messages from the system controller are lost forever. Failure to follow these best practices will lead to an increase in the time it takes to troubleshoot severe problems on the server and could drastically increase downtime if the situation arises.

2) The loghost could be any type of Solaris machine running on the same subnet as the system controllers. If the machine can ping the system consoles it could generally be used.

3) Capture Platform and also domain logs in the loghost. Platform logs give a great snapshot of what is happening globally in a server and domain logs give a much more detailed error report of what issues may be occurring on a failing domain.

Getting Started:
The first step is to create 'loghost's is to configure the 'loghost' on the System Controller(SC). Setup the IP address of the admin workstation, and then, configure the syslog.conf file on the admin workstation itself.

1. On the System Controller(SC) of the Sun Fire platform, do the following:

First, log on to the SC, either by telnet, ssh or through the serial port, then
issue the following command:

      r12-1a:SC> setupplatform -p loghost

      Loghosts
      --------

      Loghost []: 172.16.40.10
      Log Facility [local0]: local0

Note: You must not use a domain on the platform itself as the loghost.

The format is slightly different below 5.12.5, an OBP upgrade is long overdue.

Document 1003034.1 has links to the latest OBP patches.

This setting will send platform messages with facility local0, to the admin workstation with IP address 172.16.40.10. The local0 facility is used to differentiate messages coming from the platform.

Log Facility will default to local0, this setting allows syslogd on the admin workstation to determine which file to log the message into.

For domains, setup the loghost the same way, but use the 'setupdomain' command.
For instance, if you want to configure domains A and B loghost facility:

      r12-1a:A> setupdomain -p loghost

      Loghosts
      --------
      Loghost []: 172.16.40.10
      Log Facility [local0]: local1

      r12-1a:B> setupdomain -p loghost

      Loghosts
      --------
      Loghost []: 172.16.40.10
      Log Facility [local0]: local2

NOTE: local8 and higher are not allowed and won't work - there are 8 local facilities, local0-local7. See the syslog.conf(4) man page for more information.

It's also possible to leave the Log Facility set to it's default of "local0" but if this is done it will be more difficult to separate messages coming from the platform and domains, into different messages files on the admin workstation.

2. On the admin workstation, do the following:

Now, configure the syslog.conf file on the admin workstation, to place the messages into specific messages files. To do this, create the following message files, and simply add the following lines in the file /etc/syslog.conf:

      % ssh -l root 172.16.40.10

      # touch /var/adm/messages.platform
      # touch /var/adm/messages.domainA
      # touch /var/adm/messages.domainB

      # vi /etc/syslog.conf

      [...]
      #
      # non-loghost machines will use the following lines to cause "user"
      # log messages to be logged locally.
      #
      ifdef(`LOGHOST', ,
      user.err                                        /dev/sysmsg
      user.err                                        /var/adm/messages
      user.alert                                      `root, operator'
      user.emerg                                      *
      )
      local0.notice   /var/adm/messages.platform      <= ADD THIS LINE
      local1.notice   /var/adm/messages.domainA       <= ADD THIS LINE
      local2.notice   /var/adm/messages.domainB       <= ADD THIS LINE

NOTE: You must use TABs between the two entries spaces will not work.

Then restart the syslog daemon:

     # /etc/init.d/syslog stop
     # /etc/init.d/syslog start

or just force it to re-read the configuration file:

      # pkill -HUP syslogd

If the system is running Solaris 10 Update 3 or lower, logging should be accomplished using the smf services

First of all you'll need to allow remote logging in /etc/default/syslogd by enabling LOG_FROM_REMOTE=YES

then use the following commands:

     # svcadm restart svc:/system/system-log:default

or just force it to re-read the configuration file:

     # pkill -HUP syslogd

If the system is running Solaris 10 Update 4 or higher, logging should be accomplished using the smf services

Issue the following commands :

# svccfg -s system-log setprop config/log_from_remote = true
# svcadm refresh system-log

If you want this change to take effect immediately, you should also run:

# svcadm restart system-log

3. To test that your loghost configurations are working correctly, do the following:

To test the platform shell loghost file, on the main SC run setfailover off followed by setfailover on You should see the messages appear in the /var/adm/messages.platform file.

To test the domain shell loghost files, there are three methods. The first method requires an outage of the domain whereas the second does not. The third one is very simple and non-intrusive.

Method 1

From the domain shell, perform a "setkeyswitch on". Note, the keyswitch must be initially in the off position. If the keyswitch is initially in the on position, you will need to perform a "setkeyswitch off" followed by a "setkeyswitch on".
If the domain loghost setup is correct, you should see the output from LPOST appear in the domain shell's loghost file.

Method 2

If an outage is not acceptable, the following procedure may be performed. This procedure relies on a spare System Board being available, or a Dynamic Reconfiguration(DR) operation.

Spare System Board available

If there is a spare System Board available perform the following:

1) First, add the spare System Board to the domain for which you wish to test the loghost setup, at the platform shell.

2) Power off the System Board if it is powered on. If it is powered off already, ignore this step.

3) Power on the System Board

4) Perform a "testboard SB#" in the domain shell you are testing, where # is the System Board number.

The testboard command will cause an LPOST to be run on the specified System Board only, and will cause output to be displayed to the domain loghost(if configured correctly), as well as to the console.

5) You can then re-assign the System Board to another domain for testing, and follow the steps above, for each domain that is to be tested.

No spare System Boards, DR can be performed

If there are no spare System Boards, and a DR operation can be performed on a System Board in one of the domains, perform the following:

1) DR a System Board out from a domain on the system, via the cfgadm command from Solaris.

2) Ensure the System Board is assigned to the domain you wish to test. You may need to perform a deleteboard/addboard operation at the platform level.

3) Power off the System Board if it is powered on. If it is powered off already, ignore this step.

4) Power on the System Board

5) Perform a "testboard SB#" in the domain shell you are testing, where # is the System Board number.

6) You can then re-assign the System Board to another domain for testing, and follow the steps above for each domain that is to be tested.

7) Once finished, assign the System Board to the original domain, and DR the board back into the domain.

Method 3

If an outage is not acceptable and you do not have spare board or do not want to use DR then do the following:

1) Look at the current keyswitch setting in the domain shell

2) If it is 'on' then perform "setkeyswitch secure" and then "setkeyswitch on". If it is 'secure' then perform "setkeyswitch on" and then "setkeyswitch secure".

The setkeyswitch command will cause a transition of keyswitch between 'on' and 'secure' positions and will cause output to be displayed to the domain loghost (if configured correctly), as well as to the domain buffer (you may check it with "showlogs" command).

Product
Sun Fire 6800 Server
Sun Fire 4810 Server
Sun Fire 4800 Server
Sun Fire 3800 Server
Sun Fire E6900 Server
Sun Fire E4900 Server

Internal Comments

Keywords: loghost, system controller, test, configuration, sunfire

Previously Published As 27553

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