Overall flow of Smart Assist

Edit online

When Smart Assist is installed, the fileset or installation script adds the appropriate Smart Assist registry entries to the PowerHA® SystemMirror® as ODM using the framework's API claddsa and then inserts its SMIT screens into the SMIT ODMs. The registration ODM contains name / value pairs that tie the Smart Assist Identifier and component Identifier.

Note: If you are using a IBM® in house developed Smart Assist, the entries will be automatically added in with the help from the build system (packdep.mk file in the packages folder is used).
From the main Smart Assist SMIT Add an Application to the PowerHA SystemMirror Configuration menu, complete the following steps:
  1. Check if both nodes are running latest framework for Smart Assists by looking at the value in the PowerHA SystemMirror ODM entry called SMARTASSIST_VERSION for GASA smart assist. If any of the nodes are running an old version go to Step 2. If the nodes are running the current version go to Step 3.
  2. Each Smart Assist in the PowerHA SystemMirror ODM runs a custom script (called a discovery script) that detects if the application code supported by the Smart Assist is installed at the time. The Smart Assist menu then informs the end user the status of each Smart Assist (see below) and allows the user to select any Smart Assist that has the base application code installed. For Smart Assists whose discovery scripts do not detect installed instances of the target application, an entry will appear. However once selected, the user will have to navigate further than the initial discover screen.
  3. Find out all the Smart Assists installed on both the nodes, and list them. Discovery scripts are not called at this time, and you should select a Smart Assist to proceed further (for ex. Smart Assist for SAP).
  4. Select Automatic Discovery and Configuration or Manual Configuration for the type of configuration.
    Note: If you select Automatic Discovery and Configuration the discovery scripts runs for all the components available for the previously selected smart assist.
  5. Select the component you want to work with. If there are more than one instance of the selected component that needs to be configured (for example, Different database instances in a given Oracle Database) you will have select the other instances. If there is only one instance that needs to be configured then it leads to a dialog screen.
Note: Note: If the user has already configured the cluster and nodes, there is no need to ask again for the communication path; the user would go directly from the Make Applications Highly Available > Add an Application to the PowerHA SystemMirror Configuration to the Selector screen.
|***************************************************
| Configure PowerHA SystemMirror Cluster and Nodes 
| 
| Enter Communication Path to Nodes <Entry Fields>
| 
|**************************************************
| 
| Select an Application from the List of Discovered...
| list of applications... 
|
|***************************************************
Note: Smart Assists with node names listed after their name are “active,” meaning that discovery detected instances of the application installed on the cluster nodes listed after the application type. In the figure above, no instances of DB2® or Oracle were discovered. When the Smart Assist is executed, it usually gets minimal information from the end user and then uses that information to detect any information it needs about the application instance it has to manage (file systems, volume groups, etc). It then uses the framework's configuration API to configure a PowerHA SystemMirror cluster and any necessary resource groups, applications and application monitors needed by the application instance. The Smart Assist framework used by the Smart Assist developer is:
  • Several commands (User Interface API) used by the Smart Assist to add itself to the SMIT and HACMPsa ODM structures.
  • A main Smart Assist SMIT menu (Make Applications Highly Available), which interfaces to the installed Smart Assists.
  • Support for a discovery script, provided by the Smart Assist, and called from the SMIT Add an Application to the PowerHA SystemMirror Configuration menu, which detects whether the base application code is installed on a given node.
  • A single command clvt (PowerHA SystemMirror Configuration API) gives access to 11 classes of objects representing the PowerHA SystemMirror components needed to make a base application instance highly available. The Smart Assist uses these commands to configure PowerHA SystemMirror to make the base application instance highly available.

The Smart Assist developer must use the framework, and develop a number of SMIT screens to create a Smart Assist for a particular application. There is a bit more to the Smart Assist framework but the above covers the basic functionality a Smart Assist developer must consider. 

                     Make Applications Highly Available (Use Smart Assists)

Move cursor to desired item and press Enter

 Add an Application to the HACMP Configuration
 Change/Show an Application's HACMP Configuration
 Remove an Application from the HACMP Configuration

 Manage Your Applications
 Change/Show the Resources Associated with Your Application

 Test Your Application for Availability





F1=Help        F12=Refresh      F3=Cancel     F8=Image
F9=Shell       F10=Exit         Enter=Do

The Make Applications Highly Available SMIT menu lists the functionality the Smart Assist offers. Smart Assist Basics of Operation This section presents information on how a Smart Assist works in more detail. It discusses what issues you must consider and what code you need to write for your own Smart Assist.