Archive

Archive for the ‘Server’ Category

Cluster Filesystem for FreeBSD – GFS, OCFS2, …?

09:45 AM 2 comments

To make it short: There is absolutely NO real Cluster-Filesystem (like GFS or OCFS2) for FreeBSD at present. Also other projects for distributed filesystems like GlusterFS, PVFS or DRBD are not ported to FreeBSD, or the ports are very old.
Since I was in the need to have four identical data-filesystems (which have to be in sync just seconds after the upload), I wrote a little work-around for rsync, using the FreeBSD audit-system. The idea to use the audit-system for triggering the rsync I got from Luke Marsden, who is monitoring filesystem activity with audit_control and some python-scripts.

Install & Configure Event Audit Support

First of all, the audit_system must be activated and configured. The event-auditing is part of FreeBSD and has to be compiled into the kernel.

Add the following line to your kernel configuration:

options AUDIT

Then rebuild and reinstall your kernel as described in the FreeBSD Handbook

After this, add the following line to your /etc/rc.conf

auditd_enable=”YES”

The next step is, to configure the audit-system: Open the file /etc/security/audit_control and change the config to:

dir:/var/audit
flags:fc,fd,fw
minfree:20
naflags:lo
policy:cnt
filesz:0

That’s all for now. You can now start the audit-system by either calling

/etc/rc.d/auditd start

or by rebooting your system.

Installing & Running rsync

If rsync isn’t already installed on your system, you may do this by using the ports:

cd /usr/ports/net/rsync
make
make install

Installation of rsync should be no issue.

Next step is, to set an alternative path to your data-directory, using a symbolic link (I’ll explain later why).

ln -s /path/to/your/data/ /alternative_data_path/

Now we have to configure rsync to run as daemon. Therfor we create (or change) the config for rsync: /etc/rsyncd.conf

max connections = 5
log file = /var/log/rsync.log
timeout = 30

[shareName]
comment = Name of this “Rsync mount”
path = /alternative_data_path/
read only = no
list = yes
uid = validUser
gid = validGroup
hosts allow = ,
hosts deny = *

To start the rsync daemon, you have to call:

/usr/local/bin/rsync –config=/etc/rsyncd.conf –daemon

It is perhaps a good idea to monitor the rsyncd with the daemontools to make sure, the rsync-service is always available (you have then to run it with the –no-detach option).

The rsync-audit-script

#!/usr/bin/perl
##
# This software is published under the Apchae 2.0 licenses.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
# 
#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
#   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
#   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
#   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
#   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
#   limitations under the License.
#   
#   Author: Erik Scholtz 
#   Web: http://blog.elitecoderz.net
###
# We are strict, cauz we are elitecoderz!
use strict;
use threads qw(yield);
use threads::shared;
use Thread::Semaphore;
 
# No caching
$|=1;
 
################
# Configuration
my $debug = 1;																			# 0/1 to enable logging to the console or disable
my $path = '/path/to/your/data/';				# Path to sync
my @cmds;																				# Syncer commands that should be executed
$cmds[0] = '/usr/local/bin/rsync -raz --progress --size-only /path/to/symboliclink/data/<!--target--> rsync:///shareName/<!--target-->';
$cmds[1] = '/usr/local/bin/rsync -raz --progress --size-only /path/to/symboliclink/data/<!--target--> rsync:///shareName/<!--target-->';
$cmds[2] = '/usr/local/bin/rsync -raz --progress --size-only /path/to/symboliclink/data/<!--target--> rsync:///shareName/<!--target-->';
 
###############################################################################
# DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE, UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! #
###############################################################################
 
###
# Set Threads yield
threads->yield();
 
# SetUp some thread-shared variables
my $commands :shared;
$commands = &share([]);
 
my $run :shared;
$run = &share({});
$run->{'status'} = 1;
 
my $sema :shared;
$sema = &share({});
 
# Local array where all syncer-threads are stored
my @threads;
 
# Create a thread for each syncer
my $maxid = -1;
for (my $i=0;$i<=$#cmds;$i++) {
	print "Starting syncer $i\n" if $debug;
	$sema->{$i} = Thread::Semaphore->new(0);
	my $syncer = threads->create('syncJob',$run,$sema,$i,$commands,$path,$cmds[$i],$debug);
	push(@threads,$syncer);
	$maxid = $i;
}
 
# Create the Checker thread, which cleanup the jobs and ensures the function of all syncers
$sema->{'checker'} = Thread::Semaphore->new(0);
my $syncer = threads->create('JobChecker',$run,$sema,$commands,$maxid,$debug);
push(@threads,$syncer);
 
# Create the audit thread
print "Starting audit\n" if $debug;
my $auditthread = threads->create('audit',$run,$sema,$commands,$path,$maxid,$debug);
print "Waiting for audi to terminatet\n" if $debug;
$auditthread->join();			# If the audit-thread gets joinable, we have to terminate everything
 
# Terminate all threads and cleanup 
$run->{'status'} = 0;
while ($#threads >=0 ) {
	my $worker = shift(@threads);
	print "Shutdown of syncer ...\n" if $debug;
	$worker->join();
}
print "Shutdown clean completed\n" if $debug;
exit(0);
 
########################################################################################################################################
########################################################################################################################################
 
####################################################################################################
# audit thread
sub audit {
	my $r = shift;
	my $sp = shift;
	my $c = shift;
	my $p = shift;
	my $m = shift;
	my $d = shift;
 
	print "       audit started ...\n" if $d;
	# open listener on the audit device
	open(STATUS, "/usr/sbin/praudit /dev/auditpipe |") || die "can't fork: $!";
	while (<STATUS>) {
		my $line = $_;
		last if ($line eq '' || $r->{'status'}<=0);		# Terminate if audit terminated
		if ($line =~ /path,$p(.+)/) {					# Check if the changed file is in the observed path
			my $file = $1;
			print "Change detected on file: $file\n" if $d;
			my $hash :shared;							# Create a command for the syncers
			$hash = &share({});
			$hash->{'file'} = $file;
			$hash->{'status'} = '';
			$hash->{'time'} = '';
			for (my $j=0;$j<=$m;$j++) {					# init job done charta
				$hash->{$j} = 'no';
			}
			if (1) {
				lock($c);
				push(@{$c},$hash);
				print "Added new job for $file\n" if $d;
			}
			for (my $j=0;$j<=$m;$j++) {					# wakeup syncers
				$sp->{$j}->up();
			}
			$sp->{'checker'}->up();
		}
	}
	close STATUS || die "audit not closed correctly: $! $?";	
	print "       audit terminated ...\n" if $d;
	return(0);
}
 
####################################################################################################
# syncer thread
sub syncJob {
	my $r = shift;
	my $sp = shift;
	my $id = shift;
	my $c = shift;
	my $p = shift;
	my $e = shift;
	my $d = shift;
 
	print "       syncer $id started ...\n" if $d;
 
	while ($r->{'status'}>0) {
		if ($#{$c}>=0) {													# if there are any jobs to be done
			for (my $j=0; $j<=$#{$c}; $j++) {
				next if ($c->[$j]->{$id} eq 'ok');							# if my job is already done skip this job and check next
				my $file = $c->[$j]->{'file'};
				if (-e $p.$file)  {											# check if the file is existing
					$c->[$j]->{$id} = 'working';							# mark this job as being worked on
					my $dif = 1;
					while ($dif>0) {										# check if the file is in upload and changes size within 1,5 secs
						print "Checking Filesize ...\n" if $d;
						my $ssize = -s $p.$file;
						sleep(1.5);
						my $eesize = -s $p.$file;
						$dif = $eesize - $ssize;
						print "Checking Filesize $ssize - $eesize = $dif\n" if $d;
					}
					my $cm = $e;
					$cm =~ s/<!--target-->/$file/g;
					system($cm);											# rsync to other server
				}
				lock($c);
				$c->[$j]->{$id} = 'ok';										# mark job as done for me
			}
		}
		$sp->{$id}->down();
	}
	print "       syncer $id terminated ...\n" if $d;
	return(0);
}
 
####################################################################################################
# checker thread that checks if all jobs are done
sub JobChecker {
	my $r = shift;
	my $sp = shift;
	my $c = shift;
	my $m = shift;
	my $d = shift;
 
	print "       checker started ...\n" if $d;
 
	while ($r->{'status'}>0) {
		while ($#{$c} >= 0 && $r->{'status'}>0) {
			print "    Checker loop ...\n" if $d;
			my $rem = 0;
			foreach my $job (@{$c}) {						# loop through all jobs
				my $mem = 'ok';
				for (my $j=0;$j<=$m;$j++) {					# check job done charta
					if ($job->{$j} eq 'no') {				# job not handled
						$mem = 'no' if ($mem ne 'working');	# job not handled (may never override a job in progress state)
					} elsif ($job->{$j} eq 'working') {		# job in progress (always overrides not handled)
						$mem = 'working';
					}
				}
				# Job not completed
				if ($mem eq 'no') {							
					if ($job->{'time'} eq '') {				# Set timestamp to know, how long this job is already waiting
						$job->{'time'} = time;
					} else {								# Job already got a timestamp
						my $watch = time - $job->{'time'};
						print "Job age: $watch\n" if $d;
						if (time - $job->{'time'} > 300) {	# Job has waited for more than 5 minutes. terminate program
							print "TIME FOR JOB EXCEEDED - shutting down syncer";
							$r->{'status'} = 0;
							for (my $j=0;$j<=$m;$j++) {		# wakeup syncers
								$sp->{$j}->up();
								$sp->{'checker'}->up();		# wakeup ourself
							}
						}
					}
				} elsif ($mem eq 'working') {				# job in progress - just actualize the timestamp
					$job->{'time'} = time;
				} else {
					$job->{'status'} = 'complete';			# job is completely done and is marked for being removed
					$rem = 1;
				}
			}
			# Job to remove available
			if ($rem > 0) {
				lock($c);									# lock the command-queue
				my @arr;
				for (my $j=0;$j<=$#{$c};$j++) {				# store all not handled jobs / drop completed jobs
					my $ex = shift(@{$c});
					if ($ex->{'status'} ne 'complete') {
						push(@arr,$ex);
					}
				}
				for (my $j=0;$j<=$#arr;$j++) {				# put all stored (not finished) jobs back into the command queue
					push(@{$c},$arr[$j]);
				}
			}
			print "    Checker reloop ...\n" if $d;
			sleep(1);
		}
		print "    Checker sleeping (".$#{$c}.")...\n" if $d;
		$sp->{'checker'}->down();
	}
 
	print "       checker terminated ...\n" if $d;
	return(0);
}

This script does the whole magic: It listens via the audit-system for files changed or added and then uses rsync to sync the file to the other systems. And here we come to the part why we need a symbolic link to the data directory: when the script uses rsync to copy a file to a second system, the audit-system of this second system will notify the script there about this change. So the script on the second system would start to copy the file back to the first system and so on. So if you do not use a symbolic link for the rsync, you will create an endless loop of copy and recopy-processes!

Installation and configuration of the script is quite easy

Copy this script to each system that should be kept in sync with the others. I recommend to observe this script via daemontools too. Then edit the script on each system as shown below:

$debug can be set to 0 (for no debug output) or 1 (for debugging output).
$path should be set to the physical path of your data.

For each system that should be kept in sync add the following line. Please keep in mind to increase the number in the square-brakets ($cmds["number"]) by 1 in each line:

$cmds[0] = ‘/usr/local/bin/rsync -raz –progress –size-only /path/to/symboliclink/data/ rsync:///shareName/‘;

Some last important informations:

Before changing anything on your system, make sure you have a complete backup of your system! The usage of this script and howto is at your very own risk. So if you suffer any data-losses by using this howto or the script you can not hold me responsible for this.

To get close to a “realtime sync”, the script starts an own thread for each volume to keep in sync. So you need to have a perl-installation that is thread-enabled.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

maildirsmtp fails with cron – problem with serialmail

12:18 PM No comments

I consider, you already know how to configure your qmail for working together with maildirsmtp and serialmail. Basically, everything works fine for you, if you execute the maildirsmtp-command on your shell. But when moving the command to your crontab, the delivery of mails fail.

First what you should do is, to put absolute pathes in your crontab, since the cron-daemon does not respect systemwide pathes. Specify full paths in your crontab – anytime, everywhere!

So you crontab looks now something like this:

* * * * * /usr/local/bin/maildirsmtp /path/to/Maildir <remove-delivery-> 1.2.3.4 mail.host.net

Now you should enable logging for debugging:

* * * * * /usr/local/bin/maildirsmtp /path/to/Maildir <remove-delivery-> 1.2.3.4 mail.host.net 2>&1| /var/qmail/bin/splogger serialmail

Adding this will give you the result of the command in your system-logfile (in my case it is /var/log/maillog). There you will now find the following error-message:

Jul 10 11:45:00 mxhost serialmail: 1247219100.556374 maildirserial: fatal: unable to run tcpclient: file does not exist
Jul 10 11:45:00 mxhost serialmail: 1247219100.557665 maildirserial: fatal: unable to run tcpclient: file does not exist
Jul 10 11:45:00 mxhost serialmail: 1247219100.558582 maildirserial: fatal: unable to run tcpclient: file does not exist
Jul 10 11:45:00 mxhost serialmail: 1247219100.558801 maildirserial: fatal: making no progress, giving up

The problem is, that maildirsmtp does not find tcpclient, which is needed for the SMTP-connection. So open your maildirsmtp-script and add the following change (printed in bold):

#!/bin/sh
# WARNING: This file was auto-generated. Do not edit!

exec \
/usr/local/bin/maildirserial -b -t 1209600 — “$1″ “$2″ \
/usr/local/bin/tcpclient -RHl0 — “$3″ 25 \
/usr/local/bin/serialsmtp “$2″ “$4″

After this little change, running maildirsmtp from your crontab will work. Keep an eye on updates of your qmail. Since the script is autogenerated, this little change could be removed which will lead your crondaemon to fail again.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Categories: qmail Tags: , , ,