Use Case 9: distributed command/script synchronization, dynamic network mode (cloud friendly)

This use case shows extends Use Case 8 and shows as auto-discovery feature works.

Before you can start:

Download and install flom on two different systems: they must be able to contact each other using IP network; it is suggested to play with Use Case 7 and Use Case 8 before trying this one.

UDP/IP multicast and firewalls

Please pay attention some Linux distros configure a default firewall that silently drop multicast datagrams: disable your firewall or configure it to not drop multicast datagrams.
openSUSE 12.2 is such a distribution.

Activate a flom network daemon and check it’s up & running:

System mojan will be our flom network daemon (server) system, so we have to activate it with the following commands:

tiian@mojan:/usr$ pgrep flom
tiian@mojan:/usr$ flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d -1 -- true
tiian@mojan:/usr$ pgrep flom
2634
tiian@mojan:/usr$ ps -ef | grep flom | grep -v grep
tiian     2695     1  0 22:09 ?        00:00:00 flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d -1 -- true
tiian@mojan:/usr$

There was no a running daemon before we started it, now there’s exactly one flom running process with process id 2695.

Check the daemon is serving local requests using auto-discovery feature (UDP/IP multicast):

tiian@mojan:/usr$ flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- ls
bin  games  include  lib  lib64  local	sbin  share  src
tiian@mojan:/usr$

Switch to the second terminal (second system) and try the same command using the auto-discovery feature:

tiian@presanella:/usr$ flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- ls
bin  games  include  lib  local  sbin  share  src
tiian@presanella:/usr$

Experiment synchronization:

1. inside the first terminal write this command at prompt, but do not press “enter”: “flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- ls”
2. inside the second terminal write this command at prompt: “flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- sleep 10”
3. now press “enter” key at the second terminal (where you have written “flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- sleep 10”)
4. switch to first terminal and press “enter” key

Expected result:

1. the second terminal (system presanella in the above example) pauses for 10 seconds
2. the first terminal (system mojan in the above example) pauses and displays the output of command “ls” after the second terminal sleeping terminates

Terminal 1 output:

tiian@mojan:/usr$ flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- ls
bin  games  include  lib  lib64  local	sbin  share  src
tiian@mojan:/usr$

Terminal 2 output:

tiian@presanella:/usr$ flom -A 239.255.0.1 -d 0 -- sleep 10
tiian@presanella:/usr$

Explanation:

command “sleep 10” and command “ls” synchronized: “ls” executed after “sleep 10” completion. flom command protects (synchronizes) the execution of the command (or script) specified after the -- separator on the command line.

Dynamic network mode explanation:

flom daemon has been activated on the first system: it automatically choose a valid IP address and port; using netstat command we can see the sockets opened by flom daemon:

tiian@mojan:/usr$ netstat -punta|grep flom
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:48210           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      2695/flom       
udp        0      0 239.255.0.1:28015       0.0.0.0:*                           2695/flom       
tiian@mojan:/usr$ 

The first row means that flom daemon is listening an all IP interfaces (address “0.0.0.0”) for TCP connections on port 48210.
The second row means that flom daemon subscribed to multicast group (UDP/IP) 239.255.0.1:28015.

Extra considerations related to -d option:

-d (--daemon-lifespan) is the parameter used to specify how long a flom daemon must run: using it with dynamic mode, if the network partitions, will lead to a new local undesired daemon, see also distributed features page
-d -1 is used in the above example with the meaning “start a daemon and don’t stop it”: using it with dynamic mode, if the network partitions, will lead to a new local undesired daemon, see also distributed features page
-d 0 is used in the above example with the meaning “don’t start a daemon”
First usage is typically server oriented, while the second usage is typically client oriented.
If you are not happy to specify “-d 0” for every client command, you can set Lifespan option in a configuration file.

Summary

This example of command flom allows you to synchronize commands/scripts running on different systems and you don’t have to start flom daemon on a specific system: it may be started on any system that can answer to UDP/IP multicast queries.
With dynamic network mode all the information needed to start and reach the flom daemon is the UDP/IP multicast address and port (multicast group): this can save you a lot of configuration pains, but exposes you to serious issues in case of network partitions (see distributed features for details).
The dynamic mode is cloud friendly because a pool of systems can elige automatically a daemon without a special node.