SMF and monitored processes

Question

Hi Folks,
Please look at the following description.
I have implemented a manifest and method for the JES Messaging Server. The JES Messaging Server uses a script called start-msg to bring imap / pop / http /smtp services. I am running in to problems after implementing the manifest and the method.
Question 1: the ./start-msg script ( which we use to start the Messaging Services ), starts a bunch of processes. eg. imap / pop / http / etc. as shown below. I would assume since my manifest uses start-msg. All the services ( processes ) started by start-msg should be monitored under SMF ?
# svcs -p svc:/network/messaging_server:default
STATE STIME FMRI
online 11:20:01 svc:/network/messaging_server:default
11:19:54 3245 watcher
11:19:54 3247 stored
11:19:56 3248 imapd
11:19:58 3252 mshttpd
11:19:59 3254 imsched
11:19:59 3256 dispatcher
11:20:00 3259 job_controller
11:20:00 3260 tcp_smtp_server
11:20:00 3262 tcp_smtp_server
11:20:01 3267 AService
11:55:00 3293 msprobe
Question 2: So I tried killing one of the processes Example : kill -9 this restarts the entire messaging server, Well and good, but say that we don't want this to happen. We want only the process that died should be restarted. In other words Is it possible for us to have a fine granularity, so that only imap gets restarted ?.
Question 3: seems like SMF doesn't recognize pkill, if i repeat the same experiment above with pkill imapd it doesn't seem to notify the SMF
Question 4: By looking at the svcadm usage below, my method (msg) has start / stop / refresh will this suffice ?.
svcadm enable [-rst] ... - enable and online service(s)
svcadm disable [-st] ... - disable and offline service(s)
svcadm restart ... - restart specified service(s)
svcadm refresh ... - re-read service configuration
The following is a very detailed description:
# svcs -xv svc:/network/messaging_server:default
svc:/network/messaging_server:default (?)
State: online since Wed Feb 28 11:20:01 2007
See: /var/svc/log/network-messaging_server:default.log
Impact: None.
MANIFEST
# cat /var/svc/manifest/network/messaging.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
Sun Java Enterprise System Messaging Server
-->
< service_bundle type='manifest' name='messaging_server'>
< service
name='network/messaging_server'
type='service'
version='1'>
< create_default_instance enabled='false' />
< single_instance />
< dependency
name='network-service'
grouping='require_all'
restart_on='n one'
type='service'>
< /dependency>
< dependency
name='fs-local'
grouping='require_all'
restart_on='none'
type='service'>
< /dependency>
< dependency
name='name-services'
grouping='require_all'
restart_on='ref resh'
type='service'>
< service_fmri value='svc:/milestone/name-services' />
< /dependency>
< dependency
name='identity'
grouping='optional_all'
restart_on='refresh '
type='service'>
< service_fmri value='svc:/system/identity:domain' />
< /dependency>
< exec_method
type='method'
name='start'
exec='/opt/SUNWmsgsr/lib/svc/me thod/msg start'
timeout_seconds='180' >
< /exec_method>
< exec_method
type='method'
name='stop'
exec='/opt/SUNWmsgsr/lib/svc/met hod/msg stop'
timeout_seconds='180' >
< /exec_method>
< exec_method
type='method'
name='refresh'
exec='/opt/SUNWmsgsr/lib/svc/ method/msg refresh'
timeout_seconds='180' >
< /exec_method>
< property_group name='application' type='framework'>
< propval name='messaging_server_base' type='astring'
value='/opt/SUNWmsgsr' />
< /property_group>
< stability value='Unstable' />
< /service>
< /service_bundle>
METHOD
# cat /opt/SUNWmsgsr/lib/svc/method/msg
#!/sbin/sh -x
## Copy/Rename this script to /opt/csw/lib/svc/method/svnserve
## Please change $REPOS to the location of your SVN Repo
. /lib/svc/share/smf_include.sh
parser() {
PROPERTY=$1
#VALUE=`svcprop -p ${PROPERTY} ${SMF_FMRI}`
VALUE=`svcprop -p ${PROPERTY} test_server`
if [ "${VALUE}" = "\"\"" ] ; then
VALUE=
fi
echo $VALUE
MESSAGING_BASE=`parser application/messaging_server_base`
if [ -z "${MESSAGING_BASE}" ] ; then
exit $SMF_EXIT_ERR_CONFIG
fi
case $1 in
'start')
${MESSAGING_BASE}/sbin/start-msg
if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
exit $SMF_EXIT_ERR_FATAL
fi
exit $SMF_EXIT_OK
'stop')
${MESSAGING_BASE}/sbin/stop-msg
if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
exit $SMF_EXIT_ERR_FATAL
fi
exit $SMF_EXIT_OK
'refresh')
${MESSAGING_BASE}/lib/msstart -x
sleep 5
${MESSAGING_BASE}/sbin/start-msg
if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
exit $SMF_EXIT_ERR_FATAL
fi
exit $SMF_EXIT_OK
echo "Usage: $0 { start | stop | refresh }"
exit $SMF_EXIT_ERR_FATAL
esac
Thanks in Advance
-DD

Answer 1

Your problem is not due to a deadlock in SMF code. Your problem is that
not all of the processes which implement the service have been stopped, so
SMF assumes that the service hasn't been stopped yet.
By "simple modifications" I mean that if the processes that you need to be
in separate contracts are launched by a script, then you can just change
the script to launch them with "ctrun", which launches the processes in a
new process contract. This would usually be considered an unsupportable
modification of the software, though, so the vendor may choose not to
help you fix any problems you may encounter.
David