IS::Init - Clusterwide "init", spawn cluster applications

  use IS::Init;

  my $init = new IS::Init;

  # spawn all apps for resource group "foo", runlevel "run"
  $init->tell("foo","run");

  # spawn all apps for resource group "foo", runlevel "runmore"
  # (this stops everything started by runlevel "run")
  $init->tell("foo","runmore");

This module provides basic "init" functionality, giving you a single inittab-like file to manage initialization and daemon startup across a cluster or collection of machines.

This module's package includes a script 'isinit', which is intended to be a bolt-in cluster init tool, calling IS::Init. The script is called like 'init', with the addition of a new "resource group" argument.

This module is intended to be used like 'init' and 'telinit' -- the first execution runs as a daemon, spawning and managing processes. Later executions talk to the first, requesting it to switch to different runlevels.

The module references a configuration file, /etc/isinittab by default, which is identical in format to /etc/inittab, with a new "resource group" column added. This file must be replicated across all hosts in the cluster by some means.

A "resource group" is a collection of applications and physical resources which together make up a coherent function. For example, sendmail, /etc/sendmail.cf, and the /var/spool/mqueue directory might make up a resource group. From /etc/isinittab you could spawn the scripts which update sendmail.cf, mount mqueue, and then start sendmail itself.

The constructor accepts an optional hash containing the paths to the configuration file and to the socket, like this:

  my $init = new IS::Init (
      'config' => '/etc/isinittab',
      'socket' => '/var/run/is/init.s'
      'initstat' => '/var/run/is/initstat'
			  );

The first time this method is executed on a machine, it opens a UNIX domain socket, /var/run/is/init.s by default. Subsequent executions communicate with the first via this socket.

This method talks to a running IS::Init daemon, telling it to switch the given resource group to the given runlevel.

All processes listed in the configuration file (normally /etc/isinittab) which belong to the new runlevel will be started if they aren't already running.

All processes in the resource group which do not belong to the new runlevel will be killed.

Other resource groups will not be affected.

	Steve Traugott
	CPAN ID: STEVEGT
	stevegt@TerraLuna.Org
	http://www.stevegt.com

Copyright (c) 2001 Steve Traugott. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.

perl(1).