MCO-429 2.6.0 release notes and documentation

website/changelog.md

@@ -4,6 +4,43 @@ title: Changelog
toc: false
---


## Version 2.6.x

|Date|Description|Ticket|
|----|-----------|------|
|2014/08/28|Release *2.6.0*|MCO-422|
|2014/08/20|Fix a race condition in type validator plugin loader|MCO-453|
|2014/08/12|Use a distinct reply queue per request|MCO-443|
|2014/08/07|Add `soft_shutdown_timeout` option|MCO-243|
|2014/08/06|Add documentation of heartbeat options to the connector pages|MCO-175|
|2014/08/01|Move signal handling into threads (ruby 2 compatibility)|MCO-421|
|2014/08/01|Allow LC\_ALL environment variable to be unset|MCO-156|
|2014/08/01|Add `discovery_timeout` to the configuration file|MCO-193|
|2014/08/01|Add `registration_splay` configuration option|MCO-272|
|2014/07/31|Allow for agent loading to be globally defaulted|MCO-408|
|2014/07/31|Change the 'expired message' message to indicate the message is being discarded|MCO-418|
|2014/07/31|Allow the --batch flag to specify percentages|MCO-68|
|2014/07/31|Reopen logfiles on SIGWINCH|MCO-328|
|2014/07/31|Add --sort option to rpc clients|MCO-83|
|2014/07/31|Dynamically decide number of columns for output|PR#215|
|2014/07/31|Specify the --daemonize option in sample init scripts|MCO-416|
|2014/07/29|Allow `limit_targets` to be reset|MCO-93|
|2014/07/29|Fixed rabbitmq reply-to under `use_reply_exchange`|MCO-351|
|2014/07/29|Reworked examples of catching uncatchable errors|MCO-411|
|2014/07/23|Make the base64 decoder more strict|MCO-293|
|2014/07/22|Add support for structured facts|MCO-363|
|2014/07/18|Fix `call_agent_batched` to work with activerecord|MCO-205|
|2014/07/18|Fix rpc response processing for bad replies|MCO-264|
|2014/07/17|Fix direct addressing regression introduced in MCO-360|MCO-410|
|2014/07/17|Require connector plugins to have ddls|MCO-407|
|2014/07/17|Add ddls to `activemq` and `rabbitmq` connectors|MCO-406|
|2014/07/16|Fix halt\_code to return the correct exitcode for `mco ping`|MCO-199|
|2014/07/16|Remove all reference to the 'mcollective' agent|MCO-360|
|2014/07/01|Add --no-daemonize and --daemonize option to mcollectived|MCO-181|
|2014/05/21|Fix a url in the solaris readme|MCO-186|


## Version 2.5.x

|Date|Description|Ticket|

website/configure/client.md

@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ plugin.psk = j9q8kx7fnuied9e

<a href="#directaddressingthreshold">direct_addressing_threshold</a> = 10
<a href="#ttl">ttl</a> = 60
<a href="#discovery_timeout">discovery_timeout</a> = 2
<a href="#publish_timeout">publish_timeout</a> = 2
<a href="#threaded">threaded</a> = false

@@ -395,6 +396,14 @@ Any server that receives a request after its TTL has expired will reject it. Sin
- _Default:_ `60`
- _Allowed values:_ Any positive integer

#### `discovery_timout`

Control the timeout for how long to discover nodes.  This can be
useful to increase for larger environments.

- _Default:_ `2`
- _Allowed values:_ Any positive integer

#### `publish_timeout`

Increase the timeout for how long the request publishing step can

website/configure/server.md

@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ plugin.psk = j9q8kx7fnuied9e
# -----------------------

<a href="#registerinterval">registerinterval</a> = 600
<a href="#registration_splay">registration_splay</a> = true
<a href="#registration">registration</a> = agentlist
<a href="#registrationcollective">registration_collective</a> = mcollective

@@ -135,7 +136,9 @@ plugin.psk = j9q8kx7fnuied9e
# -----------------

<a href="#daemonize">daemonize</a> = 1
<a href="#activate_agents">activate_agents</a> = true
<a href="#soft_shutdown">soft_shutdown</a> = false
<a href="#soft_shutdown_timeout">soft_shutdown_timeout</a> = 5
<a href="#libdir">libdir</a> = /usr/libexec/mcollective
<a href="#sslcipher">ssl_cipher</a> = aes-256-cbc
</code>
@@ -498,6 +501,7 @@ How long (in seconds) to cache fact results before refreshing from source. This
### Node Registration

<pre><code><a href="#registerinterval">registerinterval</a> = 600
<a href="#registration_splay">registration_splay</a> = true
<a href="#registration">registration</a> = agentlist
<a href="#registrationcollective">registration_collective</a> = mcollective
</code>
@@ -517,6 +521,15 @@ How long (in seconds) to wait between registration messages. Setting this to 0 d

- _Default:_ `0`

#### `registration_splay`

Whether to delay up to `registerinterval` when sending the initial
registration message.  This can reduce load spikes on your middleware
if you choose to restart your agents in batches.

- _Default:_ false
- _Allowed values:_ A boolean value

#### `registration`

The [registration plugin][registration] to use.
@@ -726,7 +739,9 @@ The syslog facility to use.
### Platform Defaults

<pre><code><a href="#daemonize">daemonize</a> = 1
<a href="#activate_agents">activate_agents</a> = true
<a href="#soft_shutdown">soft_shutdown</a> = false
<a href="#soft_shutdown_timeout">soft_shutdown_timeout</a> = 5
<a href="#libdir">libdir</a> = /usr/libexec/mcollective
<a href="#sslcipher">ssl_cipher</a> = aes-256-cbc
</code>
@@ -743,6 +758,14 @@ This depends on your platform's init system. For example, newer Ubuntu releases
- _Default:_ `0` <!-- Actually nil but acts like false -->
- _Allowed values:_ `1`, `0`, `y`, `n` --- {{ badbool }}

#### `activate_agents`

When set to false, requires each agent be enabled individually with
their `plugin.$plugin_name.activate_agent` setting.

- _Default:_ true
- _Allowed values:_ Any boolean value

#### `soft_shutdown`

When set to true, soft_shutdown will delay the exit of the daemon
@@ -751,6 +774,14 @@ until all running agents have either ran to completion or timed out.
- _Default:_ false
- _Allowed values:_ Any boolean value

#### `soft_shutdown_timeout`

When set, soft_shutdown will terminate outstanding agents after this
amount of time has elapsed.

- _Default:_ unset
- _Allowed values:_ A positive integer

#### `libdir`

Where to look for plugins. Should be a single path or a list of paths separated by the {{ path_separator }}.

website/reference/basic/daemon.md

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ and it will reload its agents.
You can send *USR2* to cycle the log level through DEBUG to FATAL and back again, just keep sending
the signal and look at the logs.

You can send *WINCH* to flush and reopen logfiles, for logrotation purposes.

Reloading agents work in most cases though we recommend a full daemon restart in production use
due to the nature of the ruby class loading system.  If you are changing agent contents and relying
on the reload behavior you might end up with agents not being in a consistent state.

website/releasenotes.md

@@ -8,6 +8,194 @@ This is a list of release notes for various releases, you should review these
before upgrading as any potential problems and backward incompatible changes
will be highlighted here.


<a name="2_6_0">&nbsp;</a>

## 2.6.0 - 2014/08/28



### New Features and Improvements from 2.5.3

 * `mcollectived` now supports the command line options `--no-daemonize` and `--daemonize`
 * Connector plugins now require DDL files
 * The base64_decode method is now stricter, and will report errors from the correct place in the calling hierarchy
 * Structured facts are now supported in simple discovery and compound filters
 * Several actions now choose the number of display columns dynamically based on the values they are presenting
 * rpc clients now respect a `--sort` option
 * `mcollectived` now responds to the SIGWINCH signal to perform log rotation
 * The `--batch` flag can now by used to specify percentages
 * Agent loading can now be globally defaulted to false
 * A new option `registration_splay` has been added to defer registration on startup
 * `discovery_timeout` can now be specified in the client.cfg
 * `soft_shutdown` is now configurable with a `soft_shutdown_timeout` option
 * We now use a distinct reply queue per request, which should perform better at scale

### Structured fact support

We have added two mechanisms for dealing with structured facts when
filtering nodes.

For the simple form of fact matching, --with-fact (-F) will now match
to array elements or hash keys where the value of a fact is a hash or
array.

Given the set of facts:

    {
      "baz": [ "a", "b" ],
      "quux": { "foo": "flirble" },
    }

These mco ping invocations would match:

    mco ping --with-fact 'baz=a'
    mco ping --with-fact 'quux=foo'

And the following would not:

    mco ping --with-fact 'baz=c'
    mco ping --with-fact 'quux=flirble'


There is more complex and powerful mechanism available via the fact
data plugin which is exposed by the compound filter language use by
the `--select` (`-S) switch.  It allows you to navigate the structured
facts with a path delimited by periods.

Given these facts:

    {
      "foo": "bar",
      "baz": [ "a", "b" ],
      "numbers": [ 6, 2, 1 ],
      "quux": { "foo": "flirble" },
    }

The following invocations would match:

    mco ping --select 'fact("foo").value=bar'
    mco ping --select 'fact("baz.0").value=a'
    mco ping --select 'fact("quux.foo").exists=true' # checks for existence of the key
    mco ping --select 'fact("quux.foo").value=flirble'


### `registration_splay`

Registration can now be delayed from sending the initial registration
message (splayed) with the `registration_splay` option.  In the
following configuration the first registration message will be sent
after a random delay of up to 600 seconds, and then subsequent
registration messages will be every 600 seconds.

    # server.cfg
    registration = 600
    registration_splay = true

This can reduce load spikes on your middleware if you choose to
restart your agents in batches.

### Changes to agent loading

It is now possible to change the default behavior for agent loading
with the `activate_agents` option which complements the
`plugin.$plugin_name.activate_agent` settings.  It defaults to `true`
which is the behavior in previous versions of MCollective.

In this example we only enable the service and package agents, rather
than all agents installed:

    # server.cfg
    activate_agents = false
    plugin.service.activate_agent = true
    plugin.package.activate_agent = true

### mco rpc actions now have a '--sort' option

It is now possible to order the results in an rpc result set with the
`--sort` flag.  This adds a small overhead, and so is off by default.


{% highlight shell %}
$ mco rpc rpcutil ping --sort
Discovering hosts using the mc method for 2 second(s) .... 5

* [ ============================================================> ] 5 / 5


server-0
   Timestamp: 1408313208

server-1
   Timestamp: 1408313208

server-2
   Timestamp: 1408313208

server-3
   Timestamp: 1408313208

server-4
   Timestamp: 1408313208



Finished processing 5 / 5 hosts in 10.29 ms
{% endhighlight %}



### Bug fixes since 2.5.3

 * Fixed the exitcode of `mco ping`
 * Fixed the flow of rpc response processing
 * Fixed reply-to behavior in the rabbitmq connector
 * Fixed `call_agent_batched` to work with activerecord
 * It is now possible to reset `limit_targets`
 * Fixes to signal handling were made for ruby 2 compatibility
 * It is now possible to unset `LC_ALL` when using the shell helper
 * Fixed a race condition in validation plugin loader


### Backwards Compatibility and Upgrading

If you are using a non-standard connector plugin, you will need to
ensure it has a DDL file or MCollective will refuse to use it.

### Changes since 2.5.3

|Date|Description|Ticket|
|----|-----------|------|
|2014/08/20|Fix a race condition in type validator plugin loader|MCO-453|
|2014/08/12|Use a distinct reply queue per request|MCO-443|
|2014/08/07|Add `soft_shutdown_timeout` option|MCO-243|
|2014/08/06|Add documentation of heartbeat options to the connector pages|MCO-175|
|2014/08/01|Move signal handling into threads (ruby 2 compatibility)|MCO-421|
|2014/08/01|Allow LC\_ALL environment variable to be unset|MCO-156|
|2014/08/01|Add `discovery_timeout` to the configuration file|MCO-193|
|2014/08/01|Add `registration_splay` configuration option|MCO-272|
|2014/07/31|Allow for agent loading to be globally defaulted|MCO-408|
|2014/07/31|Change the 'expired message' message to indicate the message is being discarded|MCO-418|
|2014/07/31|Allow the --batch flag to specify percentages|MCO-68|
|2014/07/31|Reopen logfiles on SIGWINCH|MCO-328|
|2014/07/31|Add --sort option to rpc clients|MCO-83|
|2014/07/31|Dynamically decide number of columns for output|PR#215|
|2014/07/31|Specify the --daemonize option in sample init scripts|MCO-416|
|2014/07/29|Allow `limit_targets` to be reset|MCO-93|
|2014/07/29|Fixed rabbitmq reply-to under `use_reply_exchange`|MCO-351|
|2014/07/29|Reworked examples of catching uncatchable errors|MCO-411|
|2014/07/23|Make the base64 decoder more strict|MCO-293|
|2014/07/22|Add support for structured facts|MCO-363|
|2014/07/18|Fix `call_agent_batched` to work with activerecord|MCO-205|
|2014/07/18|Fix rpc response processing for bad replies|MCO-264|
|2014/07/17|Fix direct addressing regression introduced in MCO-360|MCO-410|
|2014/07/17|Require connector plugins to have ddls|MCO-407|
|2014/07/17|Add ddls to `activemq` and `rabbitmq` connectors|MCO-406|
|2014/07/16|Fix halt\_code to return the correct exitcode for `mco ping`|MCO-199|
|2014/07/16|Remove all reference to the 'mcollective' agent|MCO-360|
|2014/07/01|Add --no-daemonize and --daemonize option to mcollectived|MCO-181|
|2014/05/21|Fix a url in the solaris readme|MCO-186|

<a name="2_5_3">&nbsp;</a>

## 2.5.3 - 2014/07/15

website/simplerpc/agents.md

@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ all agents were activated regardless of dependencies.

To make deployment simpler agents support the ability to determine if they should run
on a particular platform.  By default SimpleRPC agents can be configured to activate
or not:
or not with the `activate_agents` and plugin specific `activate_agent` setting:

{% highlight ini %}
plugin.helloworld.activate_agent = false