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SMF(5)									SMF(5)

NAME
       smf - service management facility

DESCRIPTION
       The Solaris service management facility defines a programming model for
       providing persistently running applications called services. The facil‐
       ity  also  provides the infrastructure in which to run services. A ser‐
       vice can represent a running  application,  the	software  state	 of  a
       device,	or  a  set  of other services. Services are represented in the
       framework by service instance objects, which are	 children  of  service
       objects.	 Instance objects can inherit or override the configuration of
       the parent service object, which allows multiple service	 instances  to
       share  configuration  information. All service and instance objects are
       contained in a scope that  represents  a	 collection  of	 configuration
       information.  The configuration of the local Solaris instance is called
       the "localhost" scope, and is the only currently supported scope.

       Each service instance is named with a fault management resource identi‐
       fier  (FMRI)  with the scheme svc:. For example, the syslogd(1M) daemon
       started at system startup is the default service instance named:

	 svc://localhost/system/system-log:default
	 svc:/system/system-log:default
	 system/system-log:default

       Many commands also allow FMRI abbreviations. See the svcs(1)  man  page
       for one such example.

       In  the	above example, 'default' is the name of the instance and 'sys‐
       tem/system-log' is the service name. Service names can comprise	multi‐
       ple  components	separated  by  slashes (/). All components, except the
       last, compose the  category  of	the  service.  Site-specific  services
       should be named with a category beginning with 'site'.

       A  service  instance is either enabled or disabled. All services can be
       enabled or disabled with the svcadm(1M) command.

       The list of managed service instances on a system can be displayed with
       the svcs(1) command.

   Dependencies
       Service	instances can have dependencies on a set of entities which can
       include services and files. Dependencies govern	when  the  service  is
       started	and automatically stopped. When the dependencies of an enabled
       service are not satisfied, the service is kept in  the  offline	state.
       When  its  dependencies	are  satisfied, the service is started. If the
       start is successful, the service is transitioned to the online state.

       Whether a dependency is satisfied is determined by its grouping:

       require_all
		       Satisfied when all cited services are  running  (online
		       or degraded), or when all indicated files are present.

       require_any
		       Satisfied  when	one  of	 the cited services is running
		       (online or degraded), or when at least one of the indi‐
		       cated files is present.

       optional_all
		       Satisfied  if the cited services are running (online or
		       degraded) or do not run without	administrative	action
		       (disabled, maintenance, not present, or offline waiting
		       for dependencies which do not start without administra‐
		       tive action).

       exclude_all
		       Satisfied  when all of the cited services are disabled,
		       in the maintenance state, or  when  cited  services  or
		       files are not present.

       Once running (online or degraded), if a service cited by a require_all,
       require_any, or optional_all dependency is stopped  or  refreshed,  the
       SMF  considers why the service was stopped and the restart_on attribute
       of the dependency to decide whether to stop the service.

			    |  restart_on value
	 event		    |  none  error restart refresh
	 -------------------+------------------------------
	 stop due to error  |  no    yes   yes	   yes
	 non-error stop	    |  no    no	   yes	   yes
	 refresh	    |  no    no	   no	   yes

       A service is considered to have stopped due to an error if the  service
       has  encountered	 a  hardware  error or a software error such as a core
       dump. For exclude_all dependencies, the service is stopped if the cited
       service is started and the restart_on attribute is not none.

       The dependencies on a service can be listed with svcs(1) or svccfg(1M),
       and modified with svccfg(1M).

   Restarters
       Each  service  is  managed  by  a  restarter.  The  master   restarter,
       svc.startd(1M)  manages	states for the entire set of service instances
       and their dependencies. The master restarter acts on behalf of its ser‐
       vices  and  on delegated restarters that can provide specific execution
       environments for certain application classes. For  instance,  inetd(1M)
       is  a  delegated	 restarter that provides its service instances with an
       initial environment composed of a network connection as input and  out‐
       put  file  descriptors.	Each instance delegated to inetd(1M) is in the
       online state. While the daemon of a particular instance	might  not  be
       running, the instance is available to run.

       As  dependencies are satisfied when instances move to the online state,
       svc.startd(1M) invokes start methods of other instances or directs  the
       delegated restarter to do so. These operations might overlap.

       The  current  set of services and associated restarters can be examined
       using svcs(1). A description of the common configuration	 used  by  all
       restarters is given in smf_restarter(5).

   Methods
       Each  service  or  service  instance  must define a set of methods that
       start, stop, and, optionally, refresh the  service.  See	 smf_method(5)
       for   a	more  complete	description  of	 the  method  conventions  for
       svc.startd(1M) and similar fork(2)-exec(2) restarters.

       Administrative methods, such as for the capture of legacy configuration
       information into the repository, are discussed on the svccfg(1M) manual
       page.

       The methods for a service can be listed and  modified  using  the  svc‐
       cfg(1M) command.

   States
       Each  service  instance	is always in a well-defined state based on its
       dependencies, the results of the execution  of  its  methods,  and  its
       potential contracts events. The following states are defined:

       UNINITIALIZED
			This  is  the initial state for all service instances.
			Instances are moved to maintenance, offline, or a dis‐
			abled  state  upon evaluation by svc.startd(1M) or the
			appropriate restarter.

       OFFLINE
			The instance is enabled, but not yet running or avail‐
			able  to  run.	If  restarter execution of the service
			start method or the equivalent method  is  successful,
			the instance moves to the online state. Failures might
			lead to a degraded or maintenance  state.  Administra‐
			tive action can lead to the uninitialized state.

       ONLINE
			The instance is enabled and running or is available to
			run. The specific nature of the online state is appli‐
			cation-model  specific and is defined by the restarter
			responsible for the service instance.  Online  is  the
			expected  operating  state  for	 a properly configured
			service with all dependencies satisfied.  Failures  of
			the  instance  can  lead  to a degraded or maintenance
			state. Failures of  services  on  which	 the  instance
			depends can lead to offline or degraded states.

       DEGRADED
			The  instance  is  enabled and running or available to
			run. The instance, however, is functioning at  a  lim‐
			ited  capacity	in  comparison	to  normal  operation.
			Failures of the instance can lead to  the  maintenance
			state.	Failures  of  services	on  which the instance
			depends	 can  lead  to	offline	 or  degraded  states.
			Restoration  of capacity should result in a transition
			to the online state.

       MAINTENANCE
			The instance is enabled, but not able to run. Adminis‐
			trative	 action	 (through svcadm clear) is required to
			move the instance out of the  maintenance  state.  The
			maintenance state might be a temporarily reached state
			if an administrative operation is underway.

       DISABLED
			The instance is disabled. Enabling the service results
			in a transition to the offline state and eventually to
			the online state with all dependencies satisfied.

       LEGACY-RUN
			This state represents a legacy instance	 that  is  not
			managed	 by the service management facility. Instances
			in this state have been started	 at  some  point,  but
			might  or  might not be running. Instances can only be
			observed using the facility and	 are  not  transferred
			into other states.

       States  can also have transitions that result in a return to the origi‐
       nating state.

   Properties and Property Groups
       The dependencies, methods, delegated restarter, and instance state men‐
       tioned  above  are  represented as properties or property groups of the
       service or service instance. A service or service instance has an arbi‐
       trary  number  of  property  groups in which to store application data.
       Using property groups in this  way  allows  the	configuration  of  the
       application  to	derive the attributes that the repository provides for
       all data in the facility. The application can also use the  appropriate
       subset of the service_bundle(4) DTD to represent its configuration data
       within the framework.

       Property lookups are composed. If a property group-property combination
       is  not found on the service instance, most commands and the high-level
       interfaces of libscf(3LIB) search for the same property	group-property
       combination  on	the  service  that contains that instance. This allows
       common configuration among service instances to be shared.  Composition
       can  be	viewed	as  an	inheritance  relationship  between the service
       instance and its parent service.

       Properties are protected from modification by  unauthorized  processes.
       See smf_security(5).

   General Property Group
       The  general  property  group  applies  to  all	service	 instances. It
       includes the following properties:

       enabled (boolean)
			    Specifies whether the instance is enabled. If this
			    property  is  not present on an instance, SMF does
			    not tell the instance's restarter about the	 exis‐
			    tence of the restarter.

       restarter (fmri)
			    The restarter for this service. See the Restarters
			    section for more information. If this property  is
			    unset, the default system restarter is used.

   Snapshots
       Historical  data about each instance in the repository is maintained by
       the service management facility. This data is made available  as	 read-
       only  snapshots for administrative inspection and rollback. The follow‐
       ing set of snapshot types might be available:

       initial
		      Initial configuration of the  instance  created  by  the
		      administrator or produced during package installation.

       last_import
		      Configuration  as prescribed by the manifest of the ser‐
		      vice that is taken during svccfg(1M)  import  operation.
		      This  snapshot provides a baseline for determining prop‐
		      erty customization.

       previous
		      Current configuration captured  when  an	administrative
		      undo operation is performed.

       running
		      The running configuration of the instance.

       start
		      Configuration captured during a successful transition to
		      the online state.

       The svccfg(1M) command can be used to interact with snapshots.

   Special Property Groups
       Some property groups are marked as "non-persistent". These  groups  are
       not  backed  up in snapshots and their content is cleared during system
       boot. Such groups generally hold an active program state which does not
       need to survive system restart.

   Configuration Repository
       The  current  state of each service instance, as well as the properties
       associated with services and service instances, is stored in  a	system
       repository managed by svc.configd(1M). This repository is transactional
       and able to provide previous versions of properties and property groups
       associated with each service or service instance.

       The  repository	for  service  management  facility  data is managed by
       svc.configd(1M).

   Service Bundles, Manifests, and Profiles
       The information associated with a service or service instance  that  is
       stored  in  the	configuration  repository can be exported as XML-based
       files. Such XML files, known as service bundles, are portable and suit‐
       able for backup purposes.  Service bundles are classified as one of the
       following types:

       manifests
		    Files that contain the complete set of properties  associ‐
		    ated with a specific set of services or service instances.

       profiles
		    Files  that	 contain a set of service instances and values
		    for the enabled property  (type  boolean  in  the  general
		    property group) on each instance.

		    Profiles can also contain configuration values for proper‐
		    ties in services and instances. Template  elements	cannot
		    be defined in a profile.

       Service bundles can be imported or exported from a repository using the
       svccfg(1M) command. See service_bundle(4) for a description of the ser‐
       vice bundle file format with guidelines for authoring service bundles.

       A service archive is an XML file that contains the description and per‐
       sistent properties of every service in the repository, excluding	 tran‐
       sient  properties  such as service state. This service archive is basi‐
       cally a 'svccfg export' for every service which is not limited to named
       services.

   Milestones
       An smf milestone is a service that aggregates a multiple service depen‐
       dencies. Usually, a milestone does nothing useful itself, but  declares
       a  specific  state  of  system-readiness	 on  which  other services can
       depend. One  example  is	 the  name-services  milestone,	 which	simply
       depends upon the currently enabled name services.

   Legacy Startup Scripts
       Startup	programs in the /etc/rc?.d directories are executed as part of
       the corresponding run-level milestone:

       /etc/rcS.d
		     milestone/single-user:default

       /etc/rc2.d
		     milestone/multi-user:default

       /etc/rc3.d
		     milestone/multi-user-server:default

       Execution of each program is  represented  as  a	 reduced-functionality
       service	instance named by the program's path. These instances are held
       in a special legacy-run state.

       These instances do not have an enabled property (type  boolean  in  the
       general	property group) and, generally, cannot be manipulated with the
       svcadm(1M) command. No error diagnosis or restart  is  done  for	 these
       programs.

SEE ALSO
       svcs(1),	   inetd(1M),	 svcadm(1M),	svccfg(1M),   svc.configd(1M),
       svc.startd(1M),	exec(2),  fork(2),  libscf(3LIB),  strftime(3C),  con‐
       tract(4),     service_bundle(4),	   smf_bootstrap(5),	smf_method(5),
       smf_restarter(5), smf_security(5)

				  Jul 6, 2009				SMF(5)
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