This document is the first place to go to get started using the production version of Rhino. It includes hardware and software requirements, installation instructions, and the basic steps for starting and stopping a Rhino SLEE.

Topics

Preparing to Install Rhino

Checking hardware and operating system requirements, installing Java and PostgreSQL, and configuring the network (IP addresses, host names and firewall rules).

Installing Rhino

Unpacking and installing the Rhino base, creating cluster nodes, and initialising the database.

Running Rhino

Creating the primary component, starting nodes, starting the SLEE and stopping nodes and clusters.

Appendixes

Optional configuration, installed files, runtime files and procedures for uninstalling.

Other documentation for the Rhino TAS can be found on the Rhino TAS product page.

Preparing to Install Rhino

Check Hardware & OS Prerequisites

Here are the requirements for a production system running Rhino.

Operating System

Warning Check the Rhino Compatibility Guide to ensure you’ve got a supported OS.

Rhino requires a process ulimit of at least 4096 processes to function reliably.

Hardware

The general hardware requirements below are for a Rhino production system, used for:

  • performance testing — to validate whether or not the combination of Rhino, resource adaptors and applications exceeds performance requirements

  • failure testing — to validate whether or not the combination of Rhino, resource adaptors and applications displays appropriate characteristics in failure conditions

  • and (ultimately) live deployment.

 

Minimum Recommended

Type of machine

Current commodity hardware and CPUs

Number of machines
(one cluster node per machine)

1

2 or more

Number of CPU cores
per machine

2

8+

Free RAM requirements
per machine

1 GB

2+ GB (Depending on installed applications)

Network interface

Switched ethernet

Network interface requirements
per machine

2 interfaces at 100MB
(one interface for cluster communication)

2 or more interfaces at 1GB
(one interface for cluster communication)

Warning

Sufficient disk IO performance must be available, depending on logging levels, load levels, and installed applications. In cloud deployments, Disk IO may be a concern. Care should be taken when choosing instance resources.

Performance measures and targets vary, based on the application deployed.

Tip

For more information on how to configure Rhino as a two-node cluster please see Cluster Membership in the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

If you would like help sizing Rhino for production deployments, please contact OpenCloud Professional Services.

Install Required Software

Before installing Rhino, you need to install Java and a Rhino database instance.

Install Java JDK

Warning Check the Rhino Compatibility Guide to ensure you’ve got a supported Java version.

Check the Java version

To check the the version of the Java installed in the system path, run java -version, for example:

$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_172"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_172-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.172-b11, mixed mode)

Install a Rhino database instance

Warning Check the Rhino Compatibility Guide to ensure you’re using a compatible database version.

The Rhino SLEE requires an RDBMS database for persisting the main working memory to non-volatile memory (the main working memory in Rhino contains the runtime state, deployments, profiles, resource adaptor entity configuration state, and so on). The Rhino SLEE remains available whether or not the database is available.

The database does not affect or limit how Rhino SLEE applications are written or operate — it provides a backup of the working memory only, so that the cluster can be restored if it has entirely failed and needs to be restarted.

The database can be installed on any network-reachable host, and only a single database is required for the entire Rhino SLEE cluster (the Rhino SLEE can replicate the main working memory across multiple servers).

Installing Oracle DBMS

Detailed instructions for the installation of Oracle are outside the scope of this documentation. Contact your Oracle database administrator for assistance.

Installing Postgres DBMS

1

Download and install PostgreSQL

To download and install the PostgreSQL platform:

2

Create a user for the SLEE

Once you have installed PostgreSQL, the next step is to create or assign a database user for the Rhino SLEE. This user will need permissions to create databases, but does not need permissions to create users.

To create a new user for the database, use the createuser script supplied with PostgreSQL, as follows.

For versions of PostgreSQL prior to 9.2
[rhino]$ su - postgres
[postgres]$ createuser rhino
Shall the new user be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y
Shall the new user be allowed to create more new users? (y/n) n
CREATE USER
120
For PostgreSQL version 9.2 and later
[rhino]$ su - postgres
[postgres]$ createuser -P -E -d -R rhino

Enter the password for the database user as prompted. (If you do not wish to configure a password, omit the -P and -E flags from the createuser command.)

3

Configure access-control rules

Instructions for configuring access-control rules differ depending on whether Rhino SLEE and PostgreSQL are on the same or separate hosts:

  • Rhino SLEE and PostgreSQL on the same host — The default installation of PostgreSQL trusts connections from the local host. If the Rhino SLEE and PostgreSQL are installed on the same host, the access control for the default configuration is sufficient. A sample access control configuration is shown below, from the file $PGDATA/pg_hba.conf:

    #TYPE  DATABASE  USER  IP-ADDRESS  IP-MASK          METHOD
    local  all       all                                trust
    host   all       all   127.0.0.1   255.255.255.255  trust
  • Rhino SLEE and PostgreSQL on separate hosts — When the Rhino SLEE and PostgreSQL need to be installed on separate hosts (for example, in a multi-host Rhino cluster, or when a stricter security policy is needed), the access control rules in $PGDATA/pg_hba.conf will need to be tailored to allow connections from Rhino to the database manager. For example, to allow connections from a Rhino instance on another host:

    #TYPE  DATABASE  USER      IP-ADDRESS   IP-MASK          METHOD
    local  all       all                                     trust
    host   all       all       127.0.0.1    255.255.255.255  trust
    host   rhino     postgres  192.168.0.5  255.255.255.0    password

    You will also need to configure postgresql.conf so that PostgreSQL listens for incoming connections on * (the null address) rather than localhost.

4

Restart the server

Once these changes have been made, you must completely restart the PostgreSQL server.

Warning Telling the server to reload the configuration file does not cause it to enable TCP/IP networking — TCP/IP is only initialised when the database is started.

To restart PostgreSQL, use one of the following:

  • the command supplied by the package (for example, /etc/init.d/postgresql restart)

  • the pg_ctl restart command provided with PostgreSQL.

Preparing your Network

Before installing Rhino, please configure the following network features.

Note Cluster communications may be done over multicast or a unicast mesh protocol referred to as scattercast.
One or other option must be selected at install time and should not be changed after installation.
Feature What to configure

IP address

Make sure the system has an IP address and is visible on the network.

Host names

Make sure that:

  • the system can resolve localhost to the loopback interface

  • the host name of the machine resolves to an external IP address, not a loopback address.

Multicast addresses
(firewall rules)

If the local system has a firewall installed, modify its rules to allow multicast UDP traffic:

  • Multicast addresses are, by definition, in the range 224.0.0.0/4 (224.0.0.0-239.255.255.255).
    (This range is separate from the unicast address range that machines use for their host addresses.)

  • Multicast UDP is used to distribute main working memory between cluster members. During the install it asks for a range of multicast addresses to use. By default, the port numbers which are required are: 45601,45602,46700-46800.

  • All nodes in the cluster must use the same multicast addresses — this is how they see each other.

  • Ensure that the firewall is configured to allow multicast messages through on the multicast ranges/ports that are configured during installation.

Scattercast addresses
(firewall rules)

If the system has a firewall installed, modify its rules to allow unicast UDP traffic for all nodes.

  • Scattercast endpoints should be determined in advance for all cluster members.

  • Scattercast uses point-to-point UDP mesh layout for cluster membership.

  • Scattercast uses point-to-point UDP mesh to distribute main working memory between cluster members. By default, the port numbers which are required are: 46700-46800.

  • Ensure that all firewalls are configured to allow unicast messages through on addresses/ports configured during installation.

Further details about Scattercast Management within Rhino.

UDP buffer sizes

Rhino cluster communication requires large UDP send and receive buffers.

The operating system limits for socket transmit and receive buffers must be large enough to allow the buffer size to be set.

Ensure that the kernel parameters net.core.rmem_max and net.core.wmem_max are large enough.

To see the current values run:

sysctl net.core.wmem_max net.core.rmem_max

The values must be larger than the values set in config/savanna/cluster.properties for ocio_receive_buffer_size and ocio_send_buffer_size. The default value for these settings is 255KB.

To permanently set these kernel parameters, add or update the following lines in /etc/sysctl.conf

net.core.rmem_max = 262144
net.core.wmem_max = 262144

and reload the file with

sudo sysctl -p

System clock

As with most system services, it is not a good idea to make sudden changes to the system clock. The Rhino SLEE assumes that time will only ever go forwards, and that time increments are less than a few seconds.

  • Set the network time protocol (NTP) service to gradually slew the system clock to the correct time.

    Warning It is vitally important that system time is only ever gradually slewed when it is being set to the correct time. If the system clock is suddenly set to a time in the past, the Rhino SLEE may exhibit unpredictable behaviour. If the system clock is set to a value more than 8 seconds forward from the current time, nodes in the cluster will assume that they are no longer part of the quorum of nodes and will leave the cluster.
  • Use extreme care when manually setting the time on any machine that will host a Rhino node.
    Before starting any nodes on the machine, manually set the system clock to approximately the correct time and configure ntp in skew mode to correct any inaccuracies or clock drift. Manually setting the system clock should not be performed while a node is running on the machine.

  • When using a cluster of nodes, ntpd is useful to keep the system clocks on all nodes synchronised and to have all nodes configured to use the same timezone. This helps, for example, for keeping timestamps in logging output from all nodes synchronised.

  • Refer to the tzselect or tzconfig commands for instructions on how to configure the timezone.

NUMA architecture considerations

All modern (since 2007) server hardware uses a Non Uniform Memory Access(NUMA) architecture. This architecture makes access to some parts of RAM slower than others.

For this reason we strongly recommend running multiple Rhino nodes on multisocket hardware, and using NUMA binding. The optimum number of nodes should be determined by performance testing, but a good starting rule of thumb is one node per socket for CPU/Memory bound applications. for I/O bound applications, performance testing must be done to determine the optimum node count. In this case the optimum may exceed the number of processors.

Performance effects of NUMA

Internal performance testing results show that on a 2 socket machine, NUMA may be safely ignored but does offer quite small benefits to maximum and 99th percentile latencies.

For larger machines (4 socket and up) ignoring NUMA architecture was not possible. It is impossible to size a Rhino node such that it can exploit all sockets without crashing or exhibiting unacceptable latencies under load.

Linux Scheduling

Running multiple Rhino nodes on a multi-socket server should in theory be sufficient for production Rhino, as the default policy for all supported OSs is to attempt to keep threads from one process on the same CPU, and balance load equally amongst CPUs. Under low cluster load and during cluster startup this is not reliable, and may not remain stable over time with daily load cycles.

Using NUMA binding tools to restrict each Rhino node to a single CPU(using local memory) guarantees that the nodes will never migrate between CPUs, and is considered safer in a production environment where sudden performance changes are undesireable.

Installing Rhino

Unpack and Gather Information

To begin the Rhino installation:

1

Unpack the Rhino tar file

The Rhino SLEE comes as an uncompressed tar file. To unpack it, use the tar command:

$ tar xvf rhino-install-x.x.x.tar

This creates the distribution directory, rhino-install, in the current working directory.

Warning The rhino-install distribution directory is temporary — you create the actual program directory as part of the installation. You may remove rhino-install, if it is no longer required, after the installation is complete.
$ cd rhino-install

2

Read the release notes

Be sure to read any instructions and changes included with your release of Rhino.

  • Rhino Changelog - what’s changed between the previous version of Rhino and this one.

3

Gather information required for installation

The Rhino installation will prompt for the following information:

Parameter Default Comment

Postgres host

localhost

The Rhino SLEE install requires access to a PostgreSQL database server, for storing persistent configuration and deployment information. The database settings you enter here are required for the Rhino SLEE config files. The install script can optionally configure the database for you, you will be prompted for this later in the install process.

Postgres port

5432

Postgres user

user

Postgres password


              

Database name

rhino

Will be created in your Postgres server and configured with the default tables for Rhino SLEE support.

Directory to install Rhino SLEE

~/rhino

Where to install Rhino (~ = the user’s home directory on Linux/Unix).

Location of license

-

The Rhino SLEE requires a license file. Please enter the full path to your license file. You may skip this step by entering '-', but you will need to manually copy the license file to the Rhino SLEE installation directory.

Management interface remote method invocation (RMI) registry port

1199

Used for accessing the Management MBeans from a Java RMI client, such as the Rhino command-line utilities.

Interface JMX remote service port

1202

Used for accessing the JMX remote server. REM uses this for remote management.

Interface JMX remote service port (for SSL)

1203

Used for accessing the JMX remote server via SSL. REM uses this for remote management.

Profile snapshot base port

22000

The profile snapshot utility (client/bin/rhino-snapshot) requires a range of ports to operate correctly. The ports in this range are tested sequentially (starting at the base port) until a non-conflicting port is successfully bound. The bound port is later queried by the snapshot client via JMX to determine where to collect snapshot data from. In almost all cases, the default port will be suitable.

Java installation directory

Value of the JAVA_HOME environment variable (if it is set)

Location of your Java J2SE/JDK installation. (see Install Required Software).

Java heap size

1024

An argument passed to the JVM to specify the amount of main memory (in megabytes) which should be allocated for running Rhino. To prevent extensive disk swapping, this should be set to less than the total physical memory installed in the machine.

Cluster communication mode

MULTICAST

Networking implementation to send clustering traffic over. One of MULTICAST or SCATTERCAST.

Cluster ID

100

An integer ID that uniquely identifies this cluster.

Address Pool Start
(MULTICAST only)

224.0.50.1

A pool of multicast addresses that will be used for group communication by Rhino services.

Address Pool End
(MULTICAST only)

224.0.50.8

Scattercast Base Port
(SCATTERCAST only)

12000

Base port used for automatic endpoint port assignment in scattercast mode

Scattercast Port Offset
(SCATTERCAST only)

101

Offset used for automatic endpoint port assignment in scattercast mode

Scattercast Initial Endpoints
(SCATTERCAST only)


              

The scattercast initial endpoints, specified in the format: <node,ip-address[,port]>* As an example: 101,192.168.1.1 102,192.168.1.2 103,192.168.1.3,12500 In this example node 101 will use the defined Base Port and offset for the port (e.g. 12000 - offset + nodeID = 12000) and node 102 is doing the same (e.g. 12000 - offset + nodeID = 12001). Node 103 has explicitly set the port to 12500.

Install Nodes

Multiple nodes in a cluster provide resiliency against software error, and multiple nodes on separates machines add resiliency against hardware failure.

A typical and basic "safe-default" configuration for a Rhino SLEE cluster, is to use three machines, each hosting one node. Multiple nodes on separate machines for a cluster must be configured exactly the same (except for node ID). To do this, you can:

Method Description Pros/Cons

Install each node from the distribution .tar file, and be very careful to answer each question with exactly the same answer.

Does not require any special installer options or files to be copied during installation.


Allows different nodes to be installed at different filesystem locations on each machine.


Error-prone.


Must copy keystores after installation.

Install each node from the distribution .tar file, but create an "answers" file from the first installation and use it in the subsequent ones.

Avoids typos entering the configuration.


Requires use of special installer options and copying a file during installation.


Still requires keystores to be copied after installation.


The Rhino directory must be in the same location on the filesystem on each machine, or configuration files must be edited.

Install one node, then copy the entire base directory to each machine.

This method is recommended for machines using the same configuration (program directory, JAVA_HOME, and so on).

Avoids typos.


Saves having to find the keystores or answer files to copy.


The Rhino directory must be in the same location on the filesystem on each machine, or configuration files must be edited.

Install Interactively

To install Rhino onto a machine (to use as a cluster node):

  • From within the distribution directory (rhino-install), run the rhino-install.sh script.

  • If the installer detects a previous installation, it will ask if it should first delete it.

  • Answer each prompt with information about your installation (see [2.1 Unpack and Gather Information]).

Tip The default values are normally satisfactory for a working installation. Following the installation you can always edit configuration values as needed.

Manually copy keystores for multiple nodes

Each time you run the rhino-install.sh script, it generates a matching set of server and client keys, for authenticating SSL connections. For a client to connect to a server, their keystores must match. If you have multiple nodes for a cluster, for different clients to connect to different nodes, you will need to copy over their keys.

The keys are stored in:

  • rhino-server.keystore — contains a key entry for the SSL server and a trust entry for the SSL client

  • rhino-client.keystore — contains a key entry for the SSL client and a trust entry for the SSL server.

To allow a single Rhino client to connect to multiple Rhino nodes, copy rhino-client.keystore, from the Rhino base directory of the node on which rhino-install.sh was run with that client, to the Rhino base directory on the other nodes to which you want that client to be able to connect.

To view the keys in each keystore, and to check that the keyEntry in a keystore matches the trustCertEntry in another, use the commands keytool -keystore rhino-client.keystore -list and keytool -keystore rhino-server.keystore -list.

Install Unattended

When you need to automate or repeat installations, you can set the installer to perform a non-interactive installation, based on an answer file, which the installer can create automatically from the answers you specify during an interactive installation.

Use -r, -a, and -d switches

The install script has the following options:

$ ./rhino-install.sh -h
Usage: ./rhino-install.sh [options]

Command line options:
-h, --help        - Print this usage message.
-a                - Perform an automated install. This will perform a
non-interactive install using the installation defaults.
-r <file>         - Reads in the properties from <file> before starting the
install. This will set the installation defaults
to the values contained in the properties file.
-d <file>         - Outputs a properties file containing the selections
made during install (suitable for use with -r).

You’ll use:

  • -d to create the answer file

  • -r to read the answer file

  • -a to install in non-interactive mode.

For example, to create the answer file:

$ ./rhino-install.sh -d answer.config

And then to install, unattended, based on that answer file:

$ ./rhino-install.sh -r answer.config -a
Warning After installing multiple nodes for a cluster unattended, you must manually copy the keystores between them, so the clients can connect.

Sample "answer" file

Below is an example of an answer file:

DEFAULT_RHINO_HOME=/home/rhino/rhino
DEFAULT_RHINO_BASE=/home/rhino/rhino
DEFAULT_RHINO_WORK_DIR=/home/rhino/rhino/work
DEFAULT_JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java
DEFAULT_JVM_ARCH=32
DEFAULT_FILE_URL=file:
DEFAULT_MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_NAME=rhino
DEFAULT_MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_HOST=localhost
DEFAULT_MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_PORT=5432
DEFAULT_MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_USER=rhino
DEFAULT_MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_PASSWORD=password
DEFAULT_RMI_MBEAN_REGISTRY_PORT=1199
DEFAULT_JMX_SERVICE_PORT=1202
DEFAULT_RHINO_SSL_PORT=1203
DEFAULT_SNAPSHOT_BASEPORT=42000
DEFAULT_HEAP_SIZE=1024m
DEFAULT_MAX_NEW_SIZE=128m
DEFAULT_NEW_SIZE=128m
DEFAULT_RHINO_PUBLIC_STORE_PASS=changeit
DEFAULT_RHINO_PRIVATE_STORE_PASS=changeit
DEFAULT_RHINO_PUBLIC_KEY_PASS=changeit
DEFAULT_RHINO_PRIVATE_KEY_PASS=changeit
DEFAULT_RHINO_PASSWORD=password
DEFAULT_RHINO_USERNAME=admin
DEFAULT_LOCALIPS="[fe80:0:0:0:230:1bff:febc:1f29%2] 192.168.0.1 [0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1%1] 127.0.0.1"
DEFAULT_RHINO_WATCHDOG_STUCK_INTERVAL=45000
DEFAULT_RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD=50
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_COMMS_MODE=MULTICAST
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_SCAST_BASE_PORT=12000
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_SCAST_PORT_OFFSET=101
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_CLUSTER_ID=100
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_CLUSTER_ADDR=224.0.50.1
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_MCAST_START=224.0.50.1
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_MCAST_END=224.0.50.8
DEFAULT_RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD=50
DEFAULT_LICENSE=-
DEFAULT_SAVANNA_SCAST_ENDPOINT_NODE=""

Transfer Installations

To transfer an existing Rhino installation from one host to another:

1

Copy the cluster configuration — issue the following commands on the local host:

$ cd /tmp
$ tar cvf rhino-cluster.tar $RHINO_HOME

2

Copy the tar file to the target host.

3

On the target host issue the following commands (in the example, the tarball has been copied to /tmp):

$ cd /tmp
$ tar xvf rhino-cluster.tar $RHINO_HOME

4

Once the cluster configuration has been transferred to the target host, it is important to edit the config_variables file in the config directory, to reflect the new machine’s local environment:

  • Put the IP addresses of the local machine into the LOCAL_IPS value.

  • Update RHINO_HOME and JAVA_HOME to reflect their respective locations.

  • Update any other variable required to accurately reflect the system environment on the machine.

Create New Nodes

After installing Rhino on a machine, you can create a new node by executing the $RHINO_HOME/create-node.sh shell script.

When a node-NNN directory is created, the default configuration for the node is copied from $RHINO_HOME/etc/default. Ideally any configuration changes should be made in the etc/defaults directory before creating new node directories (and made at the same time in any existing node-NNN directories). See also Configuring the Installation.

Warning Once a node has been created, its configuration cannot be transferred to another machine. It must be created on the host on which it will run.

In the following example, node 101 is created:

$ /home/user/rhino/create-node.sh
Choose a Node ID (integer 1..32767)
Node ID [101]: 101
Creating new node /home/user/rhino/node-101
Deferring database creation. This should be performed before starting Rhino for the first time.
Run the "/home/user/rhino/node-101/init-management-db.sh" script to create the database.
Created Rhino node in /home/user/rhino/node-101.

You can also use a node-id argument with create-node.sh, for example:

$ /home/user/rhino/create-node.sh 101
Creating new node /home/user/rhino/node-101
Deferring database creation. This should be performed before starting Rhino for the first time.
Run the "/home/user/rhino/node-101/init-management-db.sh" script to create the database.

Initialise the Database

Rhino uses a persistent datastore to keep a backup of the current state of the SLEE. Before you can use Rhino, you must initialise this datastore; and if it’s an Oracle database, you’ll need to reconfigure Rhino for it.

Initialise Postgres

Rhino is configured to use the Postgres database by default. To initialise it, execute the init-management-db.sh shell script from a node directory (see Create New Nodes).

For example:

$ cd $RHINO_HOME/node-101
$ ./init-management-db.sh
Note

This script only needs to be run once for the entire cluster.
The SLEE administrator can also use this script to wipe all state held within the SLEE.

The init-management-db.sh script produces the following console output:

$ ./init-management-db.sh
Initializing database..
Connected to jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/template1 (PostgreSQL 8.4.8)
Connected to jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/rhino (PostgreSQL 8.4.8)
Database initialized.

Reconfigure for Oracle

To use Oracle as Rhino’s persistent datastore, reconfigure before initialising:

1

Edit the config_variables file

In the file $RHINO_HOME/config/config_variables, update the following parameters with the appropriate values for your Oracle installation:

MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_NAME=rhino
MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_HOST=localhost
MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_PORT=1521
MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_USER=username
MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_PASSWORD=changeit

2

Edit the $RHINO_HOME/config/persistence.xml file

The $RHINO_HOME/config/persistence.xml only exists after the node has been started at least once. If the file does not yet exist, edit $RHINO_HOME/config/defaults.xml instead.

Find the <persistence-resource> elements in the file with the names management and profiles and change their <persistence-resource-ref> sub-elements to reference the persistence resource with the name oracle instead of postgres.

Note The external database configuration can also be changed while Rhino is running. For more information on this, refer to the External Databases section of the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

3

Run init-management-db.sh

To initialise the database, execute the init-management-db.sh shell script from a node directory (see Create New Nodes), passing oracle as a parameter.

For example:

$ cd $RHINO_HOME/node-101
$ ./init-management-db.sh oracle
Note

This script only needs to be run once for the entire cluster.
The SLEE administrator can also use this script to wipe all state held within the SLEE.

The init-management-db.sh oracle script produces the following console output:

$ ./init-management-db.sh oracle
Initializing database..
Connected to jdbc:oracle:thin:@vortex1:1521:rhino (Oracle Oracle Database 11g Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production)
Database initialized.

Running Rhino

This section includes the following topics:

  • Control Scripts Use these to manage Rhino nodes and the SLEE state

  • Init Scripts Use these to start and stop Rhino automatically with the operating system

  • Start Rhino Per-node start script, called by the control scripts to start nodes

  • Stop Rhino Per-node stop script

Tip See also the Operational State section of the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

Control scripts

Rhino ships with a pair of scripts for managing nodes and SLEE state. Rhino.sh controls the startup and shutdown of nodes on a host. Slee.sh controls the state of the SLEE in a cluster.

The scripts contain logic to detect the nodes running on a host, but it is recommended to set the RHINO_SLEE_NODES and RHINO_QUORUM_NODES variables explicitly (this is typically done in $RHINO_BASE/rhino.env).

rhino.sh

The rhino.sh script is used to start and stop Rhino nodes on a host. It can be used to manage individual nodes or all the nodes on the local host.

If starting a cluster for the first time (i.e. where no previous cluster state exists) and the 'make primary' option to create-node.sh was not specified for one of the nodes, then the cluster must be manually made primary (by using the make-primary.sh script in a node directory).

Warning

Do not add the '-p' start argument to the rhino.sh script, it will result in nodes failing to start correctly.

Usage

The rhino.sh script takes a command and an optional list of nodes to act on. rhino.sh start|stop|kill|status|restart [-nodes node1,node2,…​] The command may be:

Argument Description
start

Start Rhino nodes into operational state

stop

Shutdown Rhino nodes, first stopping the SLEE if needed

kill

Forcibly terminate Rhino nodes

status

get the status of the nodes installed on this host system

restart

Forcibly restart Rhino nodes regardless of SLEE state

Starting all local nodes
$ ./rhino.sh start
Rhino node 101 startup initiated with 0s delay
Rhino node 102 startup initiated with 30s delay
Rhino node 105 startup initiated with 60s delay
Starting a subset of the local nodes
$ ./rhino.sh start -nodes 101,105
Rhino node 101 startup initiated with 0s delay
Rhino node 105 startup initiated with 30s delay
Shutting down all local nodes
$ ./rhino.sh stop
Stopping Rhino nodes 101,102,105
Executing "rhino-console stop -ifneeded -nodes 101,102"
Stopping SLEE on node(s) [101,102]
SLEE transitioned to the Stopping state on node 101
SLEE transitioned to the Stopping state on node 102
Waiting for SLEE to enter the Stopped state on node(s) 101,102
Executing "rhino-console waitonstate stopped -nodes 101,102"
SLEE is in the Stopped state on node(s) [101,102]
Nodes to shut down: 105 101 102
Executing "rhino-console shutdown -nodes 105"
Shutting down node(s) [101] (using Rhino's default shutdown timeout)
Shutdown successful
Executing "rhino-console shutdown -nodes 101"
Shutting down node(s) [101] (using Rhino's default shutdown timeout)
Shutdown successful
Executing "rhino-console shutdown -nodes 102"
Shutting down node(s) [101] (using Rhino's default shutdown timeout)
Shutdown successful
Shutting down a single node
$ ./rhino.sh stop -nodes 101
Stopping Rhino nodes 101,102,105
Executing "rhino-console stop -ifneeded -nodes 101"
Stopping SLEE on node(s) [101]
SLEE transitioned to the Stopping state on node 101
Waiting for SLEE to enter the Stopped state on node(s) 101
Executing "rhino-console waitonstate stopped -nodes 101"
SLEE is in the Stopped state on node(s) [101]
Nodes to shut down: 101
Executing "rhino-console shutdown -nodes 101"
Shutting down node(s) [101] (using Rhino's default shutdown timeout)
Shutdown successful
Forcibly stopping a node
$ ./rhino.sh kill -nodes 201
Killing node 201 process id 5770
Killing node 201 startup script process id 4763
Forcibly restarting nodes
$ ./rhino.sh restart
Killing node 201 startup script process id 12547
Killing node 201 process id 13568
Killing node 202 startup script process id 12549
Killing node 202 process id 13794
Getting the status of the local nodes
$ ./rhino.sh status
Rhino node 101: found process with id 3660
Rhino node 102: no process found, waiting to start
Rhino node 105: no process found

slee.sh

The slee.sh script is used to control SLEE state for a cluster. It can be used to manage individual nodes or the whole cluster.

Usage

The slee.sh script takes a command and an optional list of nodes to act on. slee.sh start|stop|reboot|shutdown|state [-ifneeded] {-local | -cluster | -nodes node1,node2,…​} -states {running|r|stopped|s},…​ The command may be:

Command Description
start

Start the SLEE

stop

Stop the SLEE

reboot

Shutdown and restart nodes cleanly

shutdown

Shutdown nodes

state

Get the SLEE state

The start, stop, reboot and shutdown commands take an argument specifying which nodes to act on. That argument can be

Argument Description
-local

Only change the state of the nodes on this host

-cluster

Change the state on the entire cluster

-nodes node1,node2…​

Change the state of the listed nodes

The reboot command also takes an argument specifing the states the nodes should be rebooted to. That argument can be a single value to apply to all nodes or a list of one state per node. The states are: running (r) and stopped (s)

Argument Description
-states

The state to restart the nodes to. Can be one of running (r) or stopped (s) Specify either once or for each node separated with commas

Starting the SLEE on all local nodes
$ slee.sh start -local
Node 101 is Running
Node 102 is Stopped
Stopping the SLEE on all nodes in the cluster
$ ./slee.sh stop -cluster
Executing "rhino-console stop -ifneeded"
Stopping SLEE on node(s) [101,102,103]
SLEE transitioned to the Stopping state on node 101
SLEE transitioned to the Stopping state on node 102
SLEE transitioned to the Stopping state on node 103
Waiting for SLEE to enter the Stopped state
Executing "rhino-console waitonstate stopped"
SLEE is in the Stopped state
Rebooting node 101 and 102 to Running and Stopped respectively
$ ./slee.sh reboot -nodes 101,102 -states r,s
Stopping Rhino nodes 101,102
Executing "rhino-console stop -ifneeded -nodes 101,102"
SLEE is not running on specified nodes
Waiting for SLEE to enter the Stopped state on node(s) 101,102
Executing "rhino-console waitonstate stopped -nodes 101,102"
SLEE is in the Stopped state on node(s) [101,102]
Nodes to reboot: 101,102 into state r,s
Executing "rhino-console reboot -nodes 101,102 -states r,s"
Restarting node(s) [101,102] (using Rhino's default shutdown timeout)
Restarting
Getting the SLEE state
$ slee.sh state
Node 101 is Running
Node 102 is Stopped

Node 101 is running and ready to process traffic Node 102 is stopped and must be started before it will accept traffic

Init scripts

Production rhino ships with a set of scripts for running rhino as an autostarted system service.

To use these scripts on system start, the scripts can be copied into /etc/init.d and then symlinked into /etc/rc*.d/ as appropriate.

By default, the scripts will start Rhino with all JVM and console output redirected to a rolling log file in work/log/console.log. The main Rhino logs will be written to work/log/rhino.log, and all associated configuration logging will be written to work/log/config.log.

By default, Rhino will be started as the user who originally created the script (via create-node.sh). This can be modified by editing the RHINO_USER variable in the script.

There are two variants of the scripts, a per node variant, and a host wide variant. We recommend using the host wide script variant when housing multiple nodes on each host.

Per-node script

Every node contains an init.d script for managing itself. This script can be found at ${NODE_HOME}/init.d/rhino-node-xxx

If node xxx is intended to operate as a quorum node, the rhino-node-xxx script will need to be modified before use to replace the '-s' argument with '-q'. The command line options used during Rhino start can be found in the script in the RHINO_START_ARGUMENTS variable.

If configuring a cluster for the first time (i.e. where no previous cluster state exists) and the 'make primary' option to create-node.sh was not specified for one of the nodes, then the cluster must be manually made primary.

The recommended initial setup procedure is to start each node via its associated init.d script and then run 'make-primary.sh' on one (and only one) of them. This additional setup step should only be performed once to initialise the cluster state.

Warning

Adding the '-p' start argument to the init.d script itself is NOT supported and will result in nodes failing to start correctly.

Host-wide script

There is an init.d script that manages multiple nodes, in ${RHINO_HOME}/init.d/rhino.

The script requires two variables to be set.

  • RHINO_BASE: location of the Rhino installation

  • RHINO_USER: user to run Rhino as

It will detect nodes automatically, but it is recommended to set the RHINO_SLEE_NODES and RHINO_QUORUM_NODES variables explicitly (this is typically done in $RHINO_BASE/rhino.env which is also used by the rhino.sh control script).

If starting a cluster for the first time (i.e. where no previous cluster state exists) and the 'make primary' option to create-node.sh was not specified for one of the nodes, then the cluster must be manually made primary (by using the make-primary.sh script in a node directory).

Warning

Do not add the '-p' start argument to the init.d script, it will result in nodes failing to start correctly.

Systemd service

There is a sample Systemd service control file equivalent to the host-wide init script for use on RHEL 7 and similar systems.

The service file assumes a Rhino installation in /opt/opencloud/rhino. It delegates to rhino.sh and expects RHINO_SLEE_NODES and RHINO_QUORUM_NODES to be set in rhino.env. This service file must be modified to match the Rhino install path on the system and should have the dependency on PostgreSQL removed if using Oracle.

Like the host-wide init script it does not cause a new cluster to become primary automatically. This must be done on node creation or by using the make-primary.sh script in a node directory.

Start Rhino

This topic summarises the startup phase of a cluster lifecycle, which includes: creating and starting the primary component, starting other nodes, then starting the SLEE.

For normal cluster management this script has been superseded by the rhino.sh script in the $RHINO_HOME directory. This script remains to provide the operational functions for node startup, restart and failure handling. If customising the rhino.sh script refer to the Startup options below.

Starting a node

To start a node, run the start-rhino.sh shell script ($RHINO_HOME/node-NNN/start-rhino.sh), which causes the following sequence of events:

  1. The host launches a Java Virtual Machine process.

  2. The node generates and reads its configuration.

  3. The node checks to see if it should become part of the primary component. If it was previously part of the primary component, or the -p option was specified on startup, it tries to join the primary component.

  4. The node waits to enter the primary component of the cluster.

  5. The node connects to PostgreSQL and synchronises state with the rest of the cluster.

    Warning Only one node in the cluster connects to Postgres to load and store the persistent state. Once that data is loaded into memory, all other nodes obtain their copies from the in-memory state, not from Postgres.
  6. The node starts per-node (or per-machine if not already started by another node in the Rhino cluster, running on the same machine) m-lets (management agents).

  7. The node becomes ready to receive management commands.

Tip For more information on cluster lifecycle management, see the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

Startup options

The start-rhino.sh script supports the following arguments:

Argument Description
-p
-q
-k
-d

delete per-node activation state from the starting node. Any installed services and resource adaptor entities will revert to the INACTIVE state on this node. The SLEE will also revert to the STOPPED state, unless the -s option is also specified.

-c <nodeid>

copy per-node activation state from the given node to the starting node. The starting node will assume the same activation state for installed services, resource adaptor entities, and the SLEE, as the given node.

-s

transition the SLEE to the RUNNING state on the node after bootup is complete.

-x

force the SLEE to remain in the STOPPED state on the node after bootup is complete. This can be useful if the node was previously in the RUNNING state but administrative tasks need to be performed on the node before event processing functions are restarted.

The -s, -x, -d, and -c options cannot be used in conjunction with the -q option. The -s and -x options are also mutually exclusive and cannot be used together. The -d and -c options must be used together if the starting node already has per-node activation state and you want that state replaced with the state from another node.

Primary component

The primary component is the set of nodes which know the authoritative state of the cluster. A node will not accept management commands or perform work until it is in the primary component, and a node which is no longer in the primary component will shut itself down.

At least one node in the cluster must be told to create the primary component, typically only once — the first time the cluster is started. The primary component is created when a node is started with the -p option.

When a node is restarted, it will remember whether it was part of the primary component without the need to specify the -p option. It does this by looking at configuration written to the work directory. If the primary component configuration already exists in the work directory then the node will refuse to start if the -p option is specified.

The following command will start a node and create the primary component. The SLEE on the node will transition into the state it was previously in, or the STOPPED state if there is no existing persistent state for the node.

$ cd node-101
$ ./start-rhino.sh -p

Quorum node

Quorum nodes are lightweight nodes that do not perform any event processing, nor do they participate in management-level operations. They are intended to be used strictly for determining which parts of the cluster remain in the primary component, in the event of node failures.

To run a node as a quorum node, specify the -q option with the start-rhino.sh shell script, as follows:

$ cd node-101
$ ./start-rhino.sh -q

Auto-restart

To set a node to automatically restart in the event of failure (such as a JVM crash), use the -k option with start-rhino.sh. This option works by checking for a $RHINO_HOME/work/halt_file file after the node exits. Rhino writes the halt file if the node:

  • fails to start (because it has been incorrectly configured)

  • is manually shutdown (using the relevant management commands)

  • is killed (using the stop-rhino.sh script).

If Rhino does not find the halt file, start-rhino.sh assumes that the node exited unexpectedly and restarts it after 30 seconds. If the node originally started with the -p, -s or -x options, Rhino restarts it without any of these options, to avoid changing the cluster state.

Tip For more information on Rhino startup options, see the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

Starting the SLEE

You can start and stop SLEE event-routing functions on each individual cluster node. To transition the SLEE on a node to the RUNNING state:

  • Use the -s option, when starting the node with the start-rhino.sh command. For example:

$ cd $RHINO_HOME/node-101
$ ./start-rhino.sh -s
  • Invoke the start operation after the node has booted, and once connected through the command console (see the [Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide]). For example:

    To start all nodes currently in the primary component:

    $ cd $RHINO_HOME
    $ ./client/bin/rhino-console start

    To start only selected nodes:

    $ cd $RHINO_HOME
    $ ./client/bin/rhino-console start -nodes 101,102

Typical startup sequence

To start a cluster for the first time and create the primary component, the system administrator typically starts the first node with the -p option and all nodes with the -s option, as follows.

On the first machine:

$ cd node-101
$ ./start-rhino.sh -p -s

On the second machine:

$ cd node-102
$ ./start-rhino.sh -s

On the last machine:

$ cd node-103
$ ./start-rhino.sh -s

Stop Rhino

This topic summarises the steps for stopping Rhino. This script has been superseded by the rhino.sh and slee.sh scripts in the $RHINO_HOME directory.

Stop a node

You can stop a node using the $RHINO_HOME/node-NNN/stop-rhino.sh shell script. This script has the following options:

$ cd node-101
$ ./stop-rhino.sh --help
Usage: stop-rhino.sh (--cluster|--node|--kill) [node-id]  [--restart]

Terminates either a node or the entire Rhino cluster.

Options:
 --cluster        - Performs a cluster wide shutdown.
 --node <node-id> - Cleanly removes the node with the given node ID from the
                    cluster.
 --kill           - Terminates this node's JVM.
 --restart        - Restart the nodes after shutdown. Only used with --cluster
                    or --node

For example:

$ cd node-101
$ ./stop-rhino.sh --node 101
Shutting down node 101.
Shutdown complete.

This terminates the node process, while leaving the remainder of the cluster running.

Stop the cluster

Use the following command to stop and shutdown the cluster.

$ cd node-101
$ ./stop-rhino.sh --cluster
Shutting down cluster.
Stopping SLEE on node(s) 101,102,103.
Waiting for SLEE to enter STOPPED state on node(s) 101,102,103.
Shutting down SLEE.
Shutdown complete.

This transitions the Rhino SLEE to the STOPPED state on every node in the cluster, and then terminates them all.

Restart a node

Use the following command to restart a node.

$ cd node-101
$ ./stop-rhino.sh --node 101 --restart
Restarting node 101.
Restarting.

This will first stop the SLEE on the node then shut it down. The node will automatically restart to the state it was in before the command was invoked.

Warning The --restart option is not currently supported if a user-defined namespace exists in Rhino with a SLEE state that is not INACTIVE.

Restart the cluster

Use the following command to restart the cluster.

$ cd node-101
$ ./stop-rhino.sh --cluster --restart
Restarting cluster.
Shutting down SLEE.
Restarting.

This will first stop the SLEE on every node in the cluster then shut them down. The nodes will automatically restart to the state each was in before the command was invoked.

Warning The --restart option is not currently supported if a user-defined namespace exists in Rhino with a SLEE state that is not INACTIVE.

Appendixes

This document includes the following appendixes:

Configuring the Installation

If you have already created a node directory (using create-node.sh), just editing the configuration file in etc/default/config won’t work.

When you create a node directory, the system copies files from etc/default/config to node-NNN/config. If the environment changes, you should always modify $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults_config/config_variables. And if node-NNN directories already exist, apply the same changes to the node-NNN/config/config_variables file (for all NNN).

Warning Note also that a Rhino node only reads the configuration file when it starts — so if you change the configuration, the node must be restarted for the changes to take effect.

Follow the instructions below to configure: default variables, ports, usernames and passwords and watchdog.

Default configuration variables

After installation, you can modify the default configuration variables if needed, for each node, by editing node-NNN/config/config_variables. This file includes the following entries:

Entry Description
RHINO_BASE

Absolute path to installation

RHINO_WORK_DIR

Absolute path to working directory for node. (present but not meaningful in $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults)

RHINO_HOME

Absolute path to your installation/node. (installation for $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults/)

FILE_URL

Internal setting, do not change.

JAVA_HOME

Absolute path to the JDK.

JVM_ARCH

Whether to use the default 32-bit JVM (JVM_ARCH=32), or the 64-bit JVM on platforms with 64-bit CPUs (JVM_ARCH=64).

MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_NAME

Name of the database where the SLEE stores its state.

MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_HOST

TCP/IP host where the database resides.

MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_PORT

TCP/IP port that the database listens to.

MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_USER

Username used to connect to the database.

MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_PASSWORD

Password used to connect to the database, in plaintext.

RMI_MBEAN_REGISTRY_PORT

Port used for RMI connections.

JMX_SERVICE_PORT

Port used for JMX connections.

RHINO_SSL_PORT

Port used for SSL connections.

SNAPSHOT_BASEPORT=22000

Port used for creating Rhino snapshots.

HEAP_SIZE

Maximum heap size that the JVM may occupy in the local computer’s memory.

MAX_NEW_SIZE

Maximum new space size in heap (must be smaller than HEAP_SIZE)

NEW_SIZE

Initial new space size.

RHINO_CLIENT_STORE_PASS

Password for the Rhino client keystore

RHINO_SERVER_STORE_PASS

Password for the Rhino server keystore

RHINO_CLIENT_KEY_PASS

Password for the Rhino client private key.

RHINO_SERVER_KEY_PASS

Password for the Rhino server private key.

RHINO_PASSWORD

Rhino JMX administrator password

RHINO_USERNAME=admin

Rhino JMX administrator username

LOCAL_IPS

List of IP addresses (delimited by white spaces) that refer to the local host. IPv6 addresses are expressed in square brackets.

RHINO_WATCHDOG_STUCK_INTERVAL

The period (in milliseconds) after which a worker thread is presumed to be stuck.

RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD

Percentage of alive threads required. (100 means all threads must stay unstuck)

SAVANNA_COMMS_MODE

Communication mode to use for cluster membership. Every node in the cluster must have the same mode.

SAVANNA_SCAST_BASE_PORT

Base port to use in scattercast mode when automatically assigning ports. Every node in the cluster must have the same value.

SAVANNA_SCAST_PORT_OFFSET

Offset to use in scattercast mode when automatically assigning ports. Every node in the cluster must have the same value

SAVANNA_CLUSTER_ID

Integer that must be unique to the entire cluster, but must be the same value for every node in this cluster. Several clusters sharing the same multicast address ranges can co-exist on the same physical network provided that they have unique cluster IDs.

SAVANNA_MCAST_START

Start of an address range that this cluster uses to communicate with other cluster nodes. (multicast only) Every node on this cluster must have the same settings for SAVANNA_MCAST_START and SAVANNA_MCAST_END.

SAVANNA_MCAST_END

End of an address range that this cluster uses to communicate with other cluster nodes. (multicast only)

NODE_ID

Unique integer identifier, in the range of 0 to 255, that refers to this node. Each node in a cluster must have a unique node ID.

Warning

Typically, these values should not need to be changed unless environmental changes occur, for example:

  • If a new JVM is installed, JAVA_HOME will need to be updated to reflect that change.

  • If the IP addresses of the local host change or if a node is moved to a new machine, LOCAL_IPS must be updated.

Configure ports

The ports chosen during installation time can be changed at a later stage by editing the file $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults/config/config_variables.

Configure usernames and passwords

The default usernames and passwords for remote JMX access can be changed by editing the file $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults/config/rhino.passwd. For example,

# Rhino password file used by the FileAuthLoginModule JAAS login module (to authenticate JMX Remote connections)
# Format is username:password:rolelist

# Rhino admin user (admin role has all permissions)
${RHINO_USERNAME}:${RHINO_PASSWORD}:admin

# Additional users
rhino:rhino:rhino,view
view:view:view
Note For more on usernames and passwords, see the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

Configure watchdog

The watchdog thread is a lightweight thread which monitors the Rhino SLEE for undesirable behaviour. Currently, the only user-configurable settings for the watchdog thread relate to its behaviour when dealing with stuck worker threads. A stuck worker thread is a thread which has taken more than a reasonable period of time to execute the service logic associated with an event. The cause for this may be faulty service logic, or service logic which blocks while waiting on an external resource (such as a database).

The period (in milliseconds) after which a worker thread is presumed to be stuck can be configured by editing the RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD variable in $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults/config/config_variables, for example:

RHINO_WATCHDOG_STUCK_INTERVAL=45000

If too many worker threads become stuck, there can be a performance impact on the Rhino SLEE, and in extreme cases can prevent all future event processing entirely. The watchdog thread can be configured to terminate a node in the event that a certain percentage of its worker threads have become stuck by modifying the variable;

RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD=50

The value specified for RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD in $RHINO_HOME/etc/defaults/config/config_variables is the percentage of worker threads which must remain alive (unstuck) before a node will self-terminate. If RHINO_WATCHDOG_THREADS_THRESHOLD is set to 100, it means that if any of the worker threads become stuck, the node will terminate itself. If this setting is set to 0, it means that the node will never terminate itself due to stuck worker threads. This provides a mechanism for cluster nodes which have stuck worker threads to free up those threads by terminating the JVM and restarting (assuming the nodes have been configured to restart automatically). By default, the watchdog thread will kill a node in which less than half (50) of the worker threads are still alive.

Installed Files

Rhino files and directories

A typical Rhino installation includes the following files.

File or directory Description
client

Directory containing remote Rhino management clients.

client/bin

Directory containing all remote management client scripts.

client/bin/ant

Script for starting bundled version of Ant.

client/bin/cascade-uninstall

Script for undeploying a component and all components that depend on that component.

client/bin/generate-client-configuration

Script for generating configuration files for Rhino’s management clients based on the Rhino configuration specified as a command-line argument.

client/bin/rhino-console

Script for starting the command-line client.

client/bin/rhino-export

Script for exporting Rhino configuration to disk.

client/bin/rhino-import

Script for importing a previous Rhino configuration export.

client/bin/rhino-passwd

Script for generating a password hash for rhino.passwd.

client/bin/rhino-snapshot

Script for quickly generating a snapshot of deployed profiles.

client/bin/rhino-stats

Script for starting the Rhino statistics and monitoring client

client/bin/snapshot-decode

Script for converting a profile snapshot into a .csv file.

client/bin/snapshot-to-export

Script for converting a profile snapshot into a Rhino configuration export.

client/etc

Directory containing configuration for remote management clients.

client/etc/client.policy

Security policy for Rhino management clients.

client/etc/client.properties

Configuration settings common to all Rhino management clients.

client/etc/common.xml

Ant task definitions used for remote deployments using Ant.

client/etc/dtd/*

Client related DTDs

client/etc/jdk.logging.properties

log4j logging configuration used by JMX Remote implementation.

client/etc/rhino-client-common

Contains script functions common to multiple scripts.

client/etc/rhino-common

Contains script functions common to multiple scripts.

client/etc/rhino-console-log4j.properties

Log4j configuration for the command line management client.

client/etc/templates/*

Templates used by generate-client-configuration to populate the client/etc/ directory.

client/lib/*

Java libraries used by the remote management clients.

client/log

Directory used for logj4 output from the remote management clients.

client/rhino-public.keystore

Keystore used to secure connections.

client/work

Temporary working directory.

create-node.sh

Script for generating new Rhino node directories from the templates stored in etc/defaults/.

doc

Rhino documentation

doc/CHANGELOG

Release notes.

doc/dtd/*

Rhino and SLEE related DTDs

doc/README

Documentation README

etc

Directory containing configuration defaults used by create-node.sh.

etc/defaults
etc/defaults/config

Directory containing Rhino configuration.

etc/defaults/config/config_variables

Contains configuration of various Rhino settings.

etc/defaults/config/defaults.xml

Default Rhino configuration used when starting Rhino for the first time.

etc/defaults/config/permachine-mlet-jmx1.conf
etc/defaults/config/permachine-mlet.conf

Mlet configuration.

etc/defaults/config/pernode-mlet.conf

Mlet configuration.

etc/defaults/config/rhino-config.xml

Configuration file for settings not covered elsewhere.

etc/defaults/config/rhino.jaas

Configuration for remote and command-line console login contexts.

etc/defaults/config/rhino.passwd

Usernames, passwords, and roles for file based login context.

etc/defaults/config/rhino.policy

Rhino security policy.

etc/defaults/config/rmissl.jmxr-adaptor.properties

Secure RMI configuration.

etc/defaults/config/savanna/*

Internal clustering configuration.

etc/defaults/dumpthreads.sh

Script for sending a SIGQUIT to Rhino to cause a threaddump.

etc/defaults/generate-configuration

Script used internally to populate a node’s working directory with templated configuration files.

etc/defaults/generate-system-report.sh

Script used to produce an archive containing useful debugging information.

etc/defaults/init-management-db.sh

Script for reinitializing the Rhino postgres database.

etc/defaults/read-config-variables

Script used internally for performing templating operations.

etc/defaults/README.postgres

Postgres database setup information.

etc/defaults/rhino-common

Contains script functions common to multiple scripts.

etc/defaults/run-compiler.sh

Script used by Rhino to compile dynamically generated code.

etc/defaults/run-jar.sh

Script used by Rhino to run the external 'jar' application.

etc/defaults/start-rhino.sh

Script used to start Rhino.

etc/defaults/stop-rhino.sh

Script used to stop Rhino.

etc/defaults/consolelog.sh

Script used to capture Rhino console logging to file. Used primarily by system Rhino boot scripts.

examples/*

Example services.

lib/*

Libraries used by Rhino.

licenses/*

Third-party software licenses.

README

Rhino README.

rhino-common

Contains script functions common to multiple scripts.

rhino-private.keystore

JKS keystore used for secure connections from management clients.

rhino-public.keystore

rhino-public.keystore

Runtime Files

A Rhino installation includes the following runtime files, in the node directory and logging output.

Node directory

Creating a new Rhino node (by running the create-node.sh script) involves making a directory for that node. This directory contains the following files, which that node uses to store state, including configuration, logs and temporary files. The following table summarises the files for a node with id 101.

File or directory Description
node-101

Instantiated Rhino node.

node-101/config/*

Directory containing a set configurations files, which Rhino uses when a node starts (or re-starts). Once the node joins the cluster, it stores and retrieves settings from the in-memory database ("MemDB"). The Rhino SLEE can overwrite files in the config/ directory — for example, if the administrator changes the SLEE’s logging configuration (using management tools), the SLEE updates each node’s logging.xml file at runtime. Before a node can join the cluster, Rhino needs to load the logging configuration from logging.xml and then load rest of the cluster’s configuration from the database.

node-101/dumpthreads.sh

Script for sending a SIGQUIT to Rhino to cause a threaddump.

node-101/generate-configuration

Script used internally to populate a node’s working directory with templated configuration files.

node-101/generate-system-report.sh

Script used to produce an archive containing useful debugging information.

node-101/init-management-db.sh

Script for reinitializing the Rhino postgres database.

node-101/read-config-variables

Script used internally for performing templating operations.

node-101/README.postgres

Postgres database setup information.

node-101/rhino-common

Contains script functions common to multiple scripts.

node-101/run-compiler.sh

Script used by Rhino to compile dynamically generated code.

node-101/run-jar.sh

Script used by Rhino to run the external 'jar' application.

node-101/start-rhino.sh

Script used to start Rhino.

node-101/stop-rhino.sh

Script used to stop Rhino.

node-101/consolelog.sh

Script used by some Rhino boot scripts to capture Rhino console logging to file.

node-101/work

Rhino working directory.

node-101/work/deployments

Directory that stores deployable units, component jars, code generated as a result of deployment actions, and any other deployment-related information Rhino requires.

node-101/work/gc.log

Log containing Java garbage collection messages. This log is configured, by default, to roll over at 100MB with a maximum of 5 files kept.

node-101/work/log

Directory containing Rhino’s main log files. These constantly change and rotate, as the Rhino SLEE continually outputs logging information. Rhino automatically manages the total size of the most volatile logs in this directory (to keep them from taking up too much disk space).

node-101/work/log/alarms.csv

Log containing information on all alarms that have been raised. This log is configured, by default, to roll over at 100MB with a maximum of 10 files kept.

node-101/work/log/audit.log

Log containing licensing auditing. This log rolls over at 10MB, but older log files will not be cleaned up automatically. Messages are logged to here extremely minimally during regular operations, so accumulation should not be of any concern.

node-101/work/log/permissions.log

Log containing management permissions access information. This log rolls over at 100MB, but older log files will not be cleaned up automatically. Messages are logged to here extremely minimally during regular operations, so accumulation should not be of any concern.

node-101/work/log/management.csv

Log containing information on all administrative operations that were performed. This log rolls over at 100MB, but older log files will not be cleaned up automatically. Messages are logged to here extremely minimally during regular operations, so accumulation should not be of any concern.

node-101/work/log/rhino.log

Log combining all Rhino logs. This log is configured, by default, to roll over at 100MB with a maximum of 10 files kept.

node-101/work/logging-status.log

Log containing diagnostic information about the logging system itself (Log4j 2 status logger). If the logging system itself is critically broken then errors will be output to here. This log rolls over at 100MB, but older log files will not be cleaned up automatically. Messages are logged to here extremely minimally during regular operations, so accumulation should not be of any concern.

node-101/work/start-rhino.sh

Temporary directory. Used when starting the Rhino SLEE — the system copies files in the config directory here, and then makes all variable substitutions (replacing all @variables@ in the configuration files with their values from the config_variables file).

node-101/work/start-rhino.sh/config/*

Working set of configuration files in use by an active Rhino node

node-101/work/state

Temporary directory.

node-101/work/tmp/*

Savanna primary component runtime state.

Warning The tmp/, deployments/ and start-rhino.sh/ directories are temporary directories. However nothing in the work directory should be deleted while the node is running (except for tmp/ — as long as no deployment action is in progress, and any old logs in log/.)

Logging output

The Rhino SLEE uses the Apache Log4j 2 libraries for logging. In the default configuration, it sends logging output to both the standard error stream (the user’s console) and also the following log files in the work/log directory:

  • rhino.log — all logs Rhino has output

  • audit.log — auditing information

  • alarms.csv — raised alarms information

  • management.csv — management operations performed

  • permissions.log — management permissions access information

Tip For more on Rhino SLEE’s logging system and how to configure it, see the Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

Log File Format

Each statement in the log file has a particular structure. Here is an example:

2005-12-13 17:02:33.019+1200 INFO [rhino.alarm.manager] <Thread-4> {} Alarm 56875825090732034 (Node 101, 13-Dec-05 13:31:54.373):
Major [rhino.license] License with serial '107baa31c0e' has expired.

This includes:

Example Field Description
2005-12-13 17:02:33.019+1200

Current date

The 13th of December, 2005 at 5:02pm, 33 seconds and 19 milliseconds in UTC+1200 timezone. The milliseconds value is often useful for determining if log messages are related; if they occur within a few milliseconds of each other, then they probably have a causal relationship. Also, if there is a time-out in the software somewhere, that time-out may often be found by looking at this timestamp.

INFO

Log level

INFO is standard. This can also be WARN for more serious happenings in the SLEE, or DEBUG if debug messages are enabled.

[rhino.alarm.manager]

Logger name

Every log message has a key, and this shows what part of Rhino this log message came from. Verbosity of each logger key can be controlled, as also discussed in Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide.

<Thread-4>

Thread identifier

The name of the thread that output this message.

{}

Mapped diagnostic context (MDC)

Map containing contextual information pertaining to the thread that logged this message. By default, this contains the ID of the SLEE transaction (if one was active) and the current namespace (if running in the non-default namespace). An example could be {txID=101:217880712154627}. See Logging Context Facility for more information.

Alarm 56875825090732034 (Node 101, 13-Dec-05 13:31:54.373): Major [rhino.license] License with serial '107baa31c0e' has expired.

Actual log message

In this case, an alarm message.

Uninstalling

To uninstall the Rhino SLEE:

  1. Stop the Rhino SLEE.

  2. Remove the database that the Rhino SLEE was using (see below).

  3. Delete the directory into which the Rhino SLEE was installed.

    The Rhino SLEE keeps all of its files in the same directory and does not store data elsewhere on the system except for the state kept in the PostgreSQL database.

  4. To remove the database, run psql -d

    The name of the database is stored in the file node-NNN/config/config_variables as the setting for MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_NAME.

    Do the following, substituting MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_NAME for the value from config_variables:

    $ psql -d template1
    Welcome to psql 8.0.7, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.
    
    Type: \copyright for distribution terms
          \h for help with SQL commands
          \? for help with psql commands
          \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
          \q to quit
    
    template1=# drop database MANAGEMENT_DATABASE_NAME;
    DROP DATABASE
    template1=#