piktc

Although you could use the '-I' routinely in all of your piktc commands, of course you shouldn't, for that would slow your piktc operations down dramatically.  Better to do this just occasionally, say once a day (overnight) only.

To auto-update your configuration and refresh your scripts and data sets with the very latest and most accurate information on all systems, you could regularly schedule (e.g., nightly) the sequence

piktc -cI +H piktmaster
piktc -iv ALL

Here is a short Pikt script to auto-update your #include and #verbatim files (as it would appear in alarms.cfg):

#if piktmaster

UpdateIncludeFilesAdmin         // auto-update the PIKT
                                // #include|#verbatim files

        exec wait "=piktc -cI +H piktmaster"

#endif  // piktmaster

#if piktmaster

Admin                   // for scripts aiding in the administration of
                        // the PIKT system

        timing          30 3 * * * 5

        mailcmd         "=mailx -s 'PIKT Alert on =pikthostname:
                                     Admin' =piktadmin"

        scripts

                        UpdateIncludeFilesAdmin
                        ...

#endif  // piktmaster

solaris28
        members
#verbatim 
          [for sys in `/pikt/bin/piktc -L -H down`;
          do /pikt/lib/programs/maxtime.exp 10
          /usr/bin/ssh $sys "uname -a |
          egrep 'SunOS.+ 5.8' >/dev/null && hostname";
          done 2>/dev/null]

solaris28
        members
#verbatim 
          [/pikt/bin/piktc -xI +C "=uname -a | =egrep 'SunOS .+ 5.8'
          >/dev/null && =hostname" -H down 2>/dev/null]

If you are running piktc and referencing an #include (or #verbatim) process [/pikt/bin/piktc ...], you will be running two concurrent piktc's.  Under ordinary circumstances, there are mechanisms in place to prevent multiple, concurrent piktc program runs.  However, using the -I option, as in [/pikt/bin/piktc -xI ...], makes concurrent runs possible.  If you fail to use the -I option in your [/pikt/bin/piktc -x ...] process, the embedded piktc run will simply abort.

You kill remote piktd daemons using the -k option.  The -r option both kills and restarts.

You kill the remote piktc_svc daemon with the -K option.  The -R option both kills and restarts.  (See the restart_piktc_svc_wait parameter in the PIKT.conf section below.)

The -l option lists config files on remote clients.

The -L option is used for generating command-line item lists.

To login to just your HP-UX machines, for example, you could

# for sys in `piktc -L +H hpux`
> do
> slogin $sys
> done

Or, you might put `piktc -L +H ... -H ...` statements in your shell (and other) scripts when you need to refer to custom system lists.

You can also list PIKT alerts/scripts, programs, files, and objects, for example

# piktc -Lv +S all +H vienna

processing vienna...
listing item(s)...
EMERGENCY
Urgent
Critical
...

The option -m[1-5] is used for doing checksum compares of slave alert/object/program/other files against the master's central configuration (the .cfg files).  So you may do things like this:

vienna# piktc -m5v +A all +H kiev0        [uses the MD5 checksum]

processing kiev0...
checksumming file(s)...
Admin.alt checksummed
Critical.alt checksums differ
Critical.alt checksummed
Debug.alt checksummed
EMERGENCY.alt checksums differ
EMERGENCY.alt checksummed
Info.alt not found
Info.alt not checksummed
Notice.alt checksummed
Urgent.alt checksummed
Warning.alt checksummed

vienna# piktc -m5 +A all +H kiev0
Critical.alt checksums differ
EMERGENCY.alt checksums differ
Info.alt not found

You may use -m1 through -m5 for any of the five supported checksums (BSD, SysV, POSIX, MD4, MD5).

You can use the -M and +M options to macro-expand any given string, for example

# piktc -M +M "=uptime; =dfk" +H kiev murmansk
/usr/bin/uptime; /usr/bin/df -k
/usr/ucb/uptime; /bin/df

When used with the -M option, +M and +C are interchangeable, so the above piktc command is equivalent with

# piktc -M +C "=uptime; =dfk" +H kiev munich

# piktc -xp15 +C "=rsyncd restart" +H servers

You may add a '-p#' pause to any piktc operation, not just command execs ('-x' & '-X').

(Note that the before, '-p' was used for PIKT.conf installs. You would now use 'piktc -Q' for that operation.)

The -Q option installs PIKT.conf.  See the keys.conf section of this Reference for further details.

The -r option both kills and restarts the piktd daemon.

The -s option reports whether an alert (or alerts) is (are) running on the remote client(s).

The -t option deletes files, as well as any history/log files associated with the deleted alert(s).

The -T option runs piktc in test mode.  'piktc -T' sets the global, built-in pikttest define (invariably) to TRUE; sets the =pikttest built-in macro to "test" (or some other string you set in PIKT.conf using the pikttest_substitution parameter; otherwise, the macro defaults to the null string); and appends '-T' to any pikt command string that piktc writes to piktd.conf.

The -U option runs piktc in so-called "urgent" (or "unblocked") mode.

In many of your alarm scripts, you might be running instances of piktc, either in the script 'input' statement, else in an 'exec' or 'exec wait' statement (or possibly other ways), each of which would apply a lock file to block other piktc runs.  So your current command-line piktc operation might fail with the complaint

Jan 18 15:23:20 vienna piktc[29375]: [ID 2900 ERROR]
(../../../src/piktc/piktc.c, line 408, main()) /pikt/etc/piktc.lock found!
Another piktc session may be in progress.=nbsp Try again later (else rm the
/pikt/etc/piktc.lock lockfile).

# piktc -ivT +A Critical +H ankara

You may overcome these lock file blocks using the '-U' option.  So, for example, you might do

# piktc -ivTU +A Critical +H ankara

Note that you should not get in the habit of using '-U' in a knee-jerk fashion or unthinkingly.  Often there are good reasons to block concurrent piktc operations.  Try to use '-U' only in situations of special urgency or where you are fully confident that forging full speed ahead will not get you into trouble.

There is another PIKT utility, piktx, akin to piktc, for remote command execution.  Unlike piktc, which should only be run on the piktmaster system, piktx can run anywhere, and should never be blocked by another concurrent piktc or piktx operation.

The -v option turns on verbose mode, telling the client-side piktc_svc to provide feedback as to the success or failure of an operation.

The -V option will output version information, e.g., "PIKT piktc version 1.19.0".

The -w option allows you to view files (alerts, programs, objects, etc.) as they actually appear on clients.

The -W option allows you to view files (alerts, programs, objects, etc.) as they are specified in the PIKT configuration (in the piktmaster's .cfg file).  You may also redirect 'piktc -W' output to a different file name or pipe, say to scp or do something else with it.

The -x option tells piktc to direct the client-side piktc_svc to execute the indicated scripts or alerts.  This is useful, for example, for restarting inetd after installing a new inetd.conf.

The -X option is like -x except that piktc doesn't wait for any feedback from a client before proceeding to the next.  You would use -X when you are in a hurry, and -x when you need to know the result of a piktc command.

You may install and execute in a single piktc command as follows:

# piktc -ixv +F =aliases +C "=newaliases" +H vienna ...

processing vienna...
installing file(s)...
/etc/aliases installed
executing command(s)...
"=newaliases" executed

...

The -z option runs piktc in 'make check' mode.  You ordinarily wouldn't do this outside the installation 'make check'.

Using the -Z option, you can have piktc list all config file elements (stanza identifiers).

You can use piktc for remote program execution as an alternative to rsh or ssh.  The command

# piktc -xv +C "" +H 

on the specified , with command feedback, while

# piktc -Xv +C "" +H 

does the same thing but without on-screen feedback (and without any wait).

You can insert PIKT macros within +C command strings.  Because this forces piktc to parse the macros.cfg file, using macros in this way is slower than doing without.  So, this

# piktc -xv +C "ls -l /var/spool/mail" +H all

would be faster than this

# piktc -xv +C "=ll =maildir" +H all

Of course, in the first example, if some of your systems have the mail spool directory as /var/mail, the command will fail--hence the advantage of the second example.

You can execute more than one command at a time, either by separating them by a semicolon within a single command string, else by separating them into more than one distinct command string.  In other words, both

# piktc -xv +C "=rm -rf /tmp/SAS*; =du -sk /tmp" +H perf

and

# piktc -xv +C "=rm -rf /tmp/SAS*" "=du -sk /tmp" +H perf

achieve the same thing.

However, this

# piktc -xv +C "cd /var/tmp; =ll" +H perf

is not the same as this

# piktc -xv +C "cd /var/tmp" "=ll" +H perf

because in the second case the commands are executed in two separate subshells, and the directory change in the first command would not apply to the 'ls -l' command of the second (so the listing you would get in the second command string would be unpredictable).

You can combine, in a single 'piktc -x|X' command, +C and +|- A|S.  For example, on the machine warsaw,

# piktc -xv +C "=rm =logdir/* =hstdir/*"
            +S TouchPiktVarFiles +H warsaw

will empty the contents of the PIKT log and histories directories, then create empty (zero-length) files for all registered log and histories files (if you you wanted to start afresh after installing new PIKT binaries, say).

Note, however, that +C command strings are always executed before +A or +S (or -A or -S) Pikt scripts.

Here is a sample 'piktc -xv +C' command with feedback:

# piktc -xv +C "=ll /etc/nologin" +H fac

processing kiev...
executing command(s)...
/etc/nologin: No such file or directory
"/bin/ls -l /etc/nologin" executed

processing kiev2...
remote piktc_svc not running

processing kiev0...
executing command(s)...
-rw-r--r--  1 root     staff           0 Jul 24 15:47 /etc/nologin
"/bin/ls -l /etc/nologin" executed

Here is an alternative form (without '-v' and adding =hostname and echo to the command line) resulting in reduced clutter (but note the absence of feedback about piktc_svc not running on kiev2, because we have turned off verbose mode):

# piktc -x +C "=hostname; =ll /etc/nologin; echo ''" +H fac
kiev

kiev0
-rw-r--r--  1 root     staff           0 Jul 24 15:47 /etc/nologin

You set (to TRUE) defines with the +D option, and unset them (to FALSE with -D .  Command-line +D defines and -D undefines override any defines.cfg settings, but #def(ine) and #undef(ine) directives in the config files have the highest precedence overall.

Combining -|+ D switches with +C command strings is perfectly legal (e.g., to toggle the effect of a macro within the command string).  (Combining +C with +O, +F or +P is illegal, since you exec +C commands, but you don't exec +O, +F, or +P files.  You can't combine exec'ing with file installation or other file management in the same piktc command.)

Using the +E option, you set the environment variable (by default to 1).  +E = sets to .  +E = "" sets to the character string .  (Note the mandatory quote marks, also the spaces around the '=' sign, when assigning a multi-word string.)  -E unsets .  You may unset and set environment variables in the same piktc command, for example:

# piktc ... -E fee fie +E fo fum foo=bar flim = "flam man" ...

(Note that legal environment variable names begin with a letter, followed by any sequence of letters, digits, and/or _ (underscore).)

When specifying alerts/objects/programs, you include items using the "+" option, and exclude using the "-" option.  "+A all" includes all alerts.  "+A all -A EMERGENCY Info" includes all alerts except EMERGENCY and Info.  Another way to achieve the same effect is with just "-A EMERGENCY Info" (leaving out the "+A all", which is implicit).

In piktc commands, 'A' (for alerts) and 'S' (for scripts) are effectively synonymous.  You might prefer to use 'A' when processing alerts, and 'S' when processing non-alert scripts.

hosts may refer to operating systems, host aliases, and host groups defined in the systems.cfg file.

"ALL" on the piktc command-line translates to "+A all +S all +P all +F all +O all +H all".  So,

# piktc -ierv ALL

will install, enable, and restart everything on all systems.  You may combine ALL with the - options to exclude certain items.  This command, for example, does everything on all systems except the solaris systems:

# piktc -ierv ALL -H solaris

This command reports the status of all alerts except EMERGENCY on all machine except the linux machines:

# piktc -sv ALL -A EMERGENCY -H linux

You may use item macros in your piktc commands, for example

# piktc -iv +F =apacheconf +H webserver

So, in your macros.cfg file (or some appropriate macro #include file), you might have

apacheconf      access.conf
                httpd.conf
                magic
                mailman.conf
                [and so on...]

The above piktc command would be equivalent to

# piktc -iv +F access.conf httpd.conf magic mailman.conf
               [...] +H webserver

In your macros.cfg files, you might define file subsets, including for example

somestuff
                somestuff1
                somestuff2
                [and so on...]

otherstuff
                =somestuff
                otherstuff1
                otherstuff2
                [and so on...]

morestuff
                morestuff1
                morestuff2
                [and so on...]

[and so on...]

allstuff        =otherstuff       // includes =somestuff
                =morestuff
                [and so on...]
                stillmorestuff1
                stillmorestuff2
                [and so on...]

To update all of your "stuff", you might then use

# piktc -iv +F =allstuff +H [...]

To diff all of your "stuff", except for the "morestuff", you might use

# piktc -fv +F =allstuff -F =morestuff +H [...]

You may use similar macros in your piktc +/-A, +/-O, and +/-P specifications.  (Macros are not permitted in +/-H specifications, since you already have the needed functionality by means of host aliases and groups in systems.cfg.  Nor are macros allowed in +/-D or any other piktc item specifications.)

Note that by means of command-line item macros, you may effectively alias alert, program, file, and object names (much like you can alias hostnames in systems.cfg).

When piktc launches, it creates a lock file in the =piktdir/etc directory, and removes that file upon completion.  The lock file mechanism is to prevent concurrent piktc program runs.  In cases of abnormal piktc termination, it will be necessary to manually remove the lock file.

Before shipping a .alt, .obj, or program file to a client, piktc: strips out any // and /* */ comments from the central config file; preprocesses the #if and #ifdef directives in the config file; and performs macro substitutions.  In addition, the resultant client-side file loses much of the line and space formatting in the original central config file, and may bear little resemblance to its parent file.

The "f" option suffix tells piktc to "fix" (or "freeze") a file, which leaves all // and /* */ comments in place.  (The #fix-#unfix preprocessor directives have a similar effect.)  This is especially relevant to programs.cfg, which might possibly include //, /*, and/or */ character sequences.  If you choose not to fix a file, you can still include // and /* */ character sequences, but additional backslash escapes may be necessary.  (See Regular Expressions.)

Note that the "f" option does not pertain to PIKT #if preprocessing, or to macro substitutions.  piktc always honors #if preprocessing directives and macros where present.

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