sponsor_resources and accounts-client

IncludeSponsorResourcesAccountsClient

Run the sponsor_resources program to process the changes

IncludeSponsorsDataRunSponsorResources

Note: everyone who runs the sponsor_resources command should be aware that it is really just a portion of the accounts-master command. If only one procedure needed to be chosen, the correct thing to do is run accounts-master, not sponsor_resources. accounts-master does a superset of what sponsor_resources does. However, after editing sponsors data, sponsor_resources alone is usually sufficient.

sponsor_resources takes the data under /software/accounts-master/data/sponsors and produces per-user requirements in per-machine (actually per-region) files under /software/accounts-master/data/resources. Along the way, it might detect errors in the changes you made. Fix any problems that are reported and keep rerunning sponsor_resources until all your errors have gone away.

In particular, never leave the sponsors data in a state where sponsor_resources does not produce the three lines which begin with FYI:. (The first being FYI: ... computings ...). The error, warnings, notes line can actually have non-zero errors if you can assert they are not a result of your changes. (Corollary; run sponsor_resouces before you even start making changes so you can be sure what noise you did not cause).

Typically you can simply use the command sponsor_resources with no arguments. However, it is often prudent to redirect standard output and error output.

Here is an example of a "bad run":

@cs-xh-admin[140]% sponsor_resources
Error: /software/accounts-master/data/sponsors/Research/Terry line 63: Userid 'bjlafren' is not a standard userid
FYI:  137970(29794) computings, 1292(1274) printers, 530(403) aliases, 0(0) ppps
FYI:  1 error, 0 warnings, (0 notes)
FYI: expired sponsorship entries:  17888 computings, 51 printers, 0 aliases, 0 ppps
handle_group (group_id=1): Found 2 group description lines, expected <= 1
handle_group (group_id=11): Found 2 group description lines, expected <= 1
found 157201 userinfos, 14368 distinct
administration = cscf
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_billcode"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_class"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_member"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_computing"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_printing"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_computing_group"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_mailalias"
TRUNCATE TABLE
@cs-xh-admin[141]%

In this case, sponsor_resources complained because we used the short version of the userid ("bjlafren"), but it always requires the long version (ie: "bjlafreniere").

The following is an example of a "good run":

@cs-xh-admin[143]% sponsor_resources
FYI:  137973(29797) computings, 1292(1274) printers, 530(403) aliases, 0(0) ppps
FYI:  0 errors, 0 warnings, (0 notes)
FYI: expired sponsorship entries:  17888 computings, 51 printers, 0 aliases, 0 ppps
handle_group (group_id=1): Found 2 group description lines, expected <= 1
handle_group (group_id=11): Found 2 group description lines, expected <= 1
found 157201 userinfos, 14368 distinct
administration = cscf
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_billcode"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_class"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_member"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_computing"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_printing"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_computing_group"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_mailalias"
TRUNCATE TABLE
@cs-xh-admin[144]%

Above we have been assuming a small, non-fatal error directly related to the change you made and which you were able to correct.

In extreme cases ("an extremely bad run?") you might end up with something like...

@cs-xh-admin[145]% sponsor_resources
Fatal error: "/software/accounts-master/data/sponsors/Research/yuying" line 89: not SponsorshipStarts, SponsorshipEnds, Quotas, Groups, or AssignTo:  Computing: serverus.cs
@cs-xh-admin[146]%

The Fatal error diagnostic, corroborated by the lack of FYI: ... computings, ... indicate that the sponsors data is severely broken to the extent that the data under /software/accounts-master/data/resources will not have been updated at all. Intended changes will not have taken effect, and, unless someone fixes the problem, future changes will not take effect either. (However, the resource data will remain in the state left by the last successful_sponsor_resources_ ).

Corollary: run sponsor_resources before you begin making changes and make sure the sponsors data was not already in a state like this; if it is, try to track down the most recent change, fix it if it is easy and obvious and in any case alert the person who left the broken state (you may in any case need their help to make some decisions related to the fix).

The diagnostics indicate which file you should look at. Frequently problems occur because of missing ==== lines. But also, having two such lines in a row, even if separated by comments and blank lines, is a guaranteed fatal error, although there's no real reason why it should be. (That is to say, it ought to have been possible at one time to modify the grammar to expect the ==== token and recognize (and mostly ignore) an empty section, but that was never done, and so ==== must always be followed by one of the appropriate keywords as listed in the diagnostic.

Unavoidable extraneous noise

It would be nice if we could tell you to always keep modifying until you have 0 errors but because of details how some automatic data is produced from IST information, that is not always possible. Some things have reached the point where they are actually unresolvable by us. This results in errors which must be ignored, even though you must continue to look for your own errors, and especially for the absence of Fatal error:.

Consequently noise like the following is sometimes unavoidable, and while things may need to be done to work around the indicated problems, the majority of resource data will reflect the most recent changes made.

@cs-xh-admin[145]% sponsor_resources
Error: "/software/accounts-master/data/sponsors/REGISTRAR/cs" line 845: Userid 'ktfrog' should have id number 'hr999007' not '74123456'
Error: "/software/accounts-master/data/sponsors/REGISTRAR/cs" line 868: Userid 'ktfrog' should have id number 'hr999007' not '74123456'
FYI:  137974(29801) computings, 1294(1276) printers, 530(403) aliases, 0(0) ppps
FYI:  2 errors, 0 warnings, (0 notes)
FYI: expired sponsorship entries:  17888 computings, 51 printers, 0 aliases, 0 ppps
handle_group (group_id=1): Found 2 group description lines, expected <= 1
handle_group (group_id=11): Found 2 group description lines, expected <= 1
found 157201 userinfos, 14368 distinct
administration = cscf
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_billcode"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_class"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_member"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_computing"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_printing"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_computing_group"
psql::2: NOTICE:  truncate cascades to table "sponsor_mailalias"
TRUNCATE TABLE
@cs-xh-admin[146]%

Path to the "sponsor_resources" command

If you don't happen to have the maintenance commands in your path, the path to the sponsor_resources command is:
/software/accounts-master/maintenance/sponsor_resources

Run the userinfo program to verify your changes

IncludeSponsorsDataRunUserinfo

Run the userinfo command before and after you make your changes to verify that its output reflects your intended changes. More details are here.

Run the accounts-client program

IncludeSponsorsDataRunAccountsClient

accounts-client {hostname, eg:cs-general.cs.private} >& ~/hostname-date &

This will cause the desired changes to actually happen on the appropriate machine (hostname; what is described as "Computing:" in the sponsor file, which may in turn affect a region of machines). /etc/passwd and /etc/group file will be updated if necessary, as will system quota files, and home directories will be created for any newly-created users. The diagnostic output from the job will be written to the given filename in your home directory. eg:

   accounts-client softbase.cs >& ~/softbase-20100208 &
   

If your changes will cause changes on multiple regions, you will need to run the command for each. eg:

   accounts-client student.cs >& ~/student-20100208 &
   accounts-client cs-general.cs.private >& ~/cs-general-20100208 &
   

If you run accounts-client with no name, all known regions are updated. eg:

   accounts-client >& ~/ac-all-20100208 &
   

That can take a long time to finish.

Path to the "accounts-client" command

If you don't happen to have the maintenance commands in your path, the path to the accounts-client command is:
/software/accounts-master/maintenance/accounts-client

Updating Directory Services Domains

Once the sponsor_resources process has run and files under /software/accounts-master/data/resources/computing/have been updated, CSCF Directory Services domains are subsequently updated by cron job. User and group information are revised based upon the information stored in specific files found in the resources/computing subdirectory. At time of writing (Feb 2017), the Directory Services updates are run following the schedule below.

1. CS-GENERAL domain: 20 minutes past the hour
   • Using the cs-general.cs.private and serverus.cs files.
2. CS-TEACHING domain: 50 minutes past the hour
   • Using the cs-teaching.cs.private and canadenis.student.cs files.

To force a domain update to run immediately, run the following commands on the xhier admin machine (cs-xh-admin) as root user:

1. For CS-GENERAL domain:# /software/local_cs-xh-admin.cs.private.uwaterloo.ca/servers/cscf_ad_domain_update cs.uwaterloo.ca
2. For CS-TEACHING domain:# /software/local_cs-xh-admin.cs.private.uwaterloo.ca/servers/cscf_ad_domain_update student.cs.uwaterloo.ca

-- AdrianPepper - 19 Mar 2010

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IncludeAdrianReferers

Referers

This topic IncludeSponsorResourcesAccountsClient is referred to by...

• AdministrativeAccounts
• ExGradStudentAccounts
• IncludeSponsorsDataRunAccountsClient
• IncludeSponsorsDataRunSponsorResources
• IncludeSponsorsDataRunUserinfo
• IncludeSponsorsDataSetPassword
• ResearchSponsoredAccounts
• ResearchSponsoredAccountsNew
• TemplateSponsorDataAccountsCollapsed