WatchDog Commands

The WatchDog is responsible for bootstrapping Cisco IP Solution Center (ISC) and starting the necessary set of server processes. In addition, the WatchDog monitors the health and performance of each server to ensure it is functioning properly. In the event of a software error that causes a server to fail, the WatchDog automatically restarts the errant server.

The WatchDog is a background daemon process that is automatically installed as part of the installation procedure for ISC. After the installation procedure has completed, WatchDog is started automatically. You can execute the startwd command to run the WatchDog after the installation. The WatchDog can be configured to automatically start any time the machine is rebooted.

In addition to the commands that are specified in this chapter, in the product you can choose Admin > Control Center > Servers and from there you can start, stop, restart, and view log files for the individual ISC servers.

This chapter provides the description, syntax, and arguments (listed alphabetically) for the following WatchDog commands:

startdb Command

Description

Syntax

startns Command

Description

The startns command starts the name server. The orbd process provides the name server functionality. orbd (from JDK) is required, but startwd starts it if it is not already running. The startns and stopns commands deal with orbd.

Syntax

startwd Command

Description

The startwd command starts the WatchDog and all ISC processes. The startwd command includes the functionality of startdb (see the "startdb Command" section) and startns (see the "startns Command" section). Executing this command is a necessary procedure and occurs automatically as part of the installation. Use this startwd command after issuing a stopwd command to restart the WatchDog.

If for some reason the ISC host is stopped, either inadvertently or by issuing the stopwd command, it can be restarted by using the startwd command.

Syntax

The startwd command has no arguments and starts the WatchDog only for the machine where it is executed.

stopall Command

Description

The stopall command stops the database, name server, and WatchDog on the machine on which it is run. The stopall command includes the functionality of stopdb -y (see the "stopdb Command" section), stopns -y (see the "stopns Command" section), and stopwd -y (see the "stopwd Command" section). Normally this is only necessary before installing a new version of ISC.

Syntax

stopdb Command

Description

Syntax

-y indicates not to prompt before shutdown. If -y is not specified, you are prompted with the following message: "Are you absolutely sure you want to stop the database?" You are then prompted to reply yes or no.

stopns Command

Description

The stopns command stops the name server.The startns and stopns commands deal with orbd.

Syntax

-y indicates not to prompt before shutdown. If -y is not specified, you are prompted with the following message: "Are you absolutely sure you want to stop the nameserver?" You are then prompted to reply yes or no.

stopwd Command

Description

The stopwd command stops the WatchDog and all ISC processes other than the name server and the database.

Syntax

-y indicates not to prompt before shutdown. If -y is not specified, you are prompted with the following message: "Are you absolutely sure you want to stop the watchdog and all of its servers? Other users may be using this system as well. No activity (for example: collections, performance monitoring, provisioning) occurs until the system is restarted." You are then prompted to reply yes or no.

wdclient Command

This section provides the description, syntax, and options (listed alphabetically) for the wdclient subcommands. These subcommands are diagnostic tools. This section also describes the column format of the output of each of the subcommands.

Note If you enter wdclient -help, you receive a listing of all the wdclient subcommands.

wdclient disk Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient disk subcommand.

Description

The wdclient disk subcommand gives the disk space statistics for the directories where ISC is installed.

Syntax

wdclient group <group_name> Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient group <group_name> subcommand.

Description

The wdclient group <group_name> subcommand lists the servers in the specified server group. Server groups provide a convenient way to start or stop a group of servers with a single command.

Syntax

<group_name> is the name of a server group chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient groups command.

wdclient groups Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient groups subcommand.

Description

Syntax

wdclient health Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient health subcommand.

Description

The wdclient health subcommand indicates whether all the servers are stable.

Syntax

wdclient restart Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient restart subcommand.

Description

The wdclient restart subcommand restarts one or more servers. Any dependent servers are also restarted.

Note It is not necessary to restart servers in a properly functioning system. The wdclient restart command should only be run under the direction of Cisco Support.

Syntax

where you can choose one of the following arguments. If none are chosen, the default is all:

<server_name> is the name of a server chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient status command. See Table 2-1, " Servers and Their Functions," for server descriptions.

group <group_name> is the term group followed by the name of a server group chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient groups command.

wdclient start Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient start subcommand.

Description

The wdclient start subcommand starts one or more servers. Other servers that depend on the specified server(s) might also start.

Note It is not necessary to stop and start servers in a properly functioning system. The wdclient start command should only be run under the direction of Cisco Support.

Syntax

where you can choose one of the following arguments. If none are chosen, the default is all:

<server_name> is the name of a server chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient status command. See Table 2-1, " Servers and Their Functions," for server descriptions.

group <group_name> is the name of a server group chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient groups command.

wdclient status Subcommand

This section provides the description, syntax, and information produced for the wdclient status subcommand.

Description

Syntax

-poll <seconds> is an optional parameter. <seconds> is the number of seconds. A number other than zero indicates that when new status data is available it is displayed every <seconds> seconds, where <seconds> is the specified number of seconds. The default -poll value is zero (0), which shows the status just once.

Information Produced: Name Column

The Name column provides the name of each of the servers. Table 2-1 provides a list of the servers and a description of the function that each server provides.

Table 2-1 Servers and Their Functions
Server	Function
cnsserver	Handles TIBCO messages from Cisco CNS IE2100 appliances and takes appropriate actions.
dbpoller	Monitors database server.
discovery	Devices and Service Discovery Engine.
dispatcher	Manages workers. Distributes work to other hosts (if any).
httpd	Web server.
lockmanager	Handles device locking so a router's configuration is not modified by multiple service requests at the same time.
nspoller	Monitors name service.
rgserver	Executes various ISC traffic engineering computations, such as tunnel repairing.
scheduler	Enables you to schedule tasks immediately or later in time, for one-time or repeated execution.
worker	Executes various ISC tasks/jobs such as Provisioning.

Information Produced: State Column

The State column provides the current state of the server. Table 2-2 provides a description of each of the states in normal progression order.

Table 2-2 Valid States
State	Description
start_depends	This server has been asked to start, but is waiting for servers it depends on to start. After all dependent servers have started, this server transitions to the state of starting.
starting	This server is currently starting. After a successful heartbeat occurs, this server transitions to the state of started.
started	This server is currently started and running.
stop_depends	This server is supposed to be stopped, but it is waiting for servers it depends on to be stopped first.
stopping_gently	This server is in the process of stopping in a gentle fashion. That is, it was notified that it is to stop.
stopping_hard	This server is in the process of being killed because either it did not have a way to stop gently or because the gentle stop took too long.
stopped	This server is stopped. The WatchDog either starts it again or disables it if it has been frequently dying.
disabled_dependent	This server is disabled because one or more servers it depends on are disabled. If all servers it depends on are started, this server automatically starts.
disabled	This server is disabled and must be manually restarted.
restart_delay	This server is delaying before restarting. There is a short delay after a server stops and before it is restarted again.

Information Produced: Gen Column

The Gen column provides the generation of the server. Each time the server is started, the generation is incremented by 1.

Information Produced: Exec Time Column

Information Produced: PID Column

The PID column provides the UNIX process identifier for each server, except for dbpoller and nspoller.

Information Produced: Success Column

The Success column provides the number of successful heartbeats since the server was last started. Heartbeats are used to verify that servers are functioning correctly.

Information Produced: Missed Column

The Missed column provides the number of missed heartbeats since the server was last started.

A few missed heartbeats could simply indicate the system was busy. However, more than a couple of missed heartbeats per day could indicate a problem. See the logs to diagnose the reason.

wdclient stop Subcommand

This section provides the description and syntax for the wdclient stop subcommand.

Description

The wdclient stop subcommand stops one or more servers. Other servers that depend on the specified servers also stop.

Note It is not necessary to stop servers in a properly functioning system. The wdclient stop command should only be run under the direction of Cisco Support.

Syntax

where you can choose one of the following arguments. If none are chosen, the default is all.

<server_name> is the name of a server chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient status command. See Table 2-1, " Servers and Their Functions," for server descriptions.

group <group_name> is the name of a server group chosen from the list displayed by the wdclient groups command.

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