Tribblix: manual page: smf

SMF_TEMPLATE(7) Standards, Environments, and Macros SMF_TEMPLATE(7)

NAME

smf_template - service management framework support for service
metadata

DESCRIPTION

Templates are defined by service developers to describe metadata
about a service in general or individual configuration properties on
a service, including human-consumable descriptions as well as
definitions of valid configuration.

Administrators are provided access to templates through SMF commands
that describe configuration values and validate configuration against
templates.

Tool developers can use templates to provide more helpful user
interfaces for service configuration.

Template Data

Service metadata is defined in the template as part of the service
manifest.

Consuming Template Data

The svcs -lv and svccfg describe commands can be used to access
metadata about properties in a human-readable format.

svccfg(8)'s validate subcommand can be used to validate a service
instance or manifest against template data. A set of libscf(3LIB)
interfaces is available to access template data.

Template Definition

The sole interface to define templates is the service manifest.

Service authors should provide template metadata including
common_names, descriptions, choices and constraints for service-
specific property groups and properties which they introduce. At a
minimum, service authors must provide descriptions for property
groups and properties in the C locale. Service authors should not
provide template metadata for framework-delivered property groups
such as methods and dependencies.

See the EXAMPLES section for an example of authoring a template
definition for a service.

Template Composition

All template interfaces search for template data about a property
group first on the instance, then on the service, then on the
service's restarter, and finally globally.

A property group template is defined by its author to apply to a
specific instance, to a service and all of its instances, to a
restarter's delegates, or globally. A typical service author defines
the template on an instance or on a service. A template defined on an
instance is applied to that instance only, and can override a
template for that property group defined on the service. A template
defined on the service is applied to all instances of that service.

Restarter authors can define templates in their manifest that apply
to any service which uses their restarter, which is also known as a
delegate. SMF framework authors have defined templates for property
groups with well-known meanings to the entire SMF framework in the
manifest for svc:/system/svc/global.

Templates defined globally or by the restarter and re-defined by the
service or instance are flagged as a validation error. Service
authors can avoid these errors by creating templates only for
property groups specific to their service and not consumed by the SMF
framework.

Property group templates can also be wildcarded by name or type. Only
the most specific template definition applicable to a property group
is honored.

Template Details

Service and Instance Templates

The template element defines the start of a template block. All
further definitions below can be included in a template block. A
template element can be contained in either a service or instance
element. If it is contained in the service element, it applies to the
service and all instances of that service. If it is contained in the
instance element, it applies to only that instance of the service.

Whenever possible, we recommend defining the template data for the
entire service.

<service ... >
<template>
</template>
</service>

Service and Instance Common Names

The entire service or instance can define a common name to describe
the purpose of the service/instance.

<template>
<common_name>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>console login</loctext>
</common_name>
<template>

common_name is a free-form string, but is intended to be used as a
label in a GUI or CLI.

The following guidelines are recommended:

o Be brief. A word or two is usually most appropriate. Limit
the name to under 40 characters.

o Be clear. The service, property group, or property name
might not be helpful for humans, but common_name should
help clarify the purpose of the entity.

o No punctuation. common_name is not a sentence or a
paragraph. It should not contain clauses or phrases.
Punctuation should only be present to meet trademark
requirements.

o Capital letters must be used only for acronyms or proper
names. For locales other than English, use appropriate
capitalization for a sentence fragment.

Service and Instance Descriptions

The description element contains a longer description of the property
group, suitable for a status line or a tool-tip:

<template>
<description>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>Provide the text login prompt on console.
</lcotext>
</description>
<template>

description Guidelines

o Use proper grammar. description is a sentence meant to be
read by humans.

o Be brief. A few sentences are usually most appropriate.

Documentation

Documentation for this service can be defined explicitly, so that
when the service is experiencing issues, or a consumer of the service
wants more information on it, they can find it easily.

Documentation can include man pages or references to stable URLs for
reference documentation.

<template>
<documentation>
<manpage title='ttymon' section='8' manpath='/usr/share/man' />
<doc_link name='docs.sun.com' uri='http://docs.sun.com' />
</documentation>
</template>

Property Groups

The pg_pattern element contains the definitions for a property group:

<template>
<pg_pattern name="pgname" type="pgtype" target="this" required="true">
</pg_pattern>
</template>

name is the property group's name, and type is the property group's
type.

target specifies what the target of this definition is. "this" would
refer to the defining service or instance. "instance" can only be
used in a service's template block, and means the definition applies
to all instances of this service. "delegate" can only be used in a
restarter's template block, and applies to all instances that are
delegated to that restarter. "all", only usable by the master
restarter, would refer to all services on the system. The default
value of target is "this".

required indicates whether this property group is required or not.
The default value of required is false. If required is true, both
name and type must be specified.

name and/or type can be omitted. If either of these attributes is
omitted it is treated as a wildcard. For instance, if the name
attribute is omitted from the pg_pattern definition, the pg_pattern
is applied to all property groups that have the specified type.

Property Group Names

The common_name element contains the localized, human-readable name
for the property group:

<pg_pattern ...>
<common_name>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>startt method</loctext>
</common_name>
</pg_pattern>

common_name is a free-form string, but is intended to be used as a
label in a GUI or CLI.

The following guidelines are recommended:

o Be brief. A word or two is usually most appropriate.

o Be clear. The service, property group, or property name
might not be helpful for humans, but common_name should
help clarify the purpose of the entity.

o No punctuation. common_name is not a sentence or a
paragraph. It should not contain clauses or phrases.
Punctuation should only be present to meet trademark
requirements.

o Capital letters must be used only for acronyms or proper
names. For locales other than English, use appropriate
capitalization for a sentence fragment.

Property Group Description

The description element contains a longer description of the property
group, suitable for a status line or a tool-tip:

<pg_pattern ...>
<description>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>A required method which starts the service.
</loctext>
</description>
</pg_pattern>

description Guidelines

o Use proper grammar. description is a sentence meant to be
read by humans.

o Be brief. A few sentences are usually most appropriate.

Properties

The prop_pattern element contains the definitions for a specific
property:

<pg_pattern ...>
<prop_pattern name="propname" type="proptype" required="true">
</prop_pattern>
</pg_pattern>

name is the property's name, and type is the property's type.

required indicates whether this property is required. The default
value of required is false.

name is always required. type is optional only if required is false.

Property Names

The common_name element contains the localized, human-readable name
for the property:

common_name is a free-form string field, but is intended to be used
as a label in a GUI or CLI.

<prop_pattern ...>
<common_name>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>retry interval</loctext>
</common_name>
</prop_pattern>

The following guidelines are recommended:

o Be brief. A word or two is usually most appropriate.

o Be clear. The service, property group, or property name
might not be helpful for humans, but common_name should
help clarify the purpose of the entity.

o No punctuation. common_name is not a sentence or a
paragraph. It should not contain clauses or phrases.
Punctuation should only be present to meet trademark
requirements.

o Capital letters must be used only for acronyms or proper
names. For locales other than English, use appropriate
capitalization for a sentence fragment.

Property units

The units element contains the localized, human-readable units for a
numerical property:

<prop_pattern ...>
<units>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>seconds</loctext>
</units>
</prop_pattern>

units Guidelines

The following guidelines are recommended:

o Be brief. Strive to use only a single word or label. The
plural form is usually most appropriate.

o No punctuation. units is not a sentence or a paragraph. It
should not contain clauses or phrases. Punctuation should
only be present to meet trademark requirements.

Property description

The description element contains a longer description of the
property, suitable for a status line or a tool-tip:

<prop_pattern ...>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
The number of seconds to wait before retry.
</loctext> </description>
</prop_pattern>

description Guidelines

o Use proper grammar. description is a sentence meant to be
read by humans.

o Be brief. A few sentences are usually most appropriate.

Property visibility

The visibility element specifies whether simplified views in higher
level software might want to display this property.

<prop_pattern ...>
<visibility value="hidden | readonly | readwrite"/>
</prop_pattern>

Some properties are internal implementation details and should not be
presented as a configuration setting. Others might merely be read-
only. This property is used to specify these restrictions. A value of
hidden indicates that the property shouldn't be displayed, readonly
means that the property isn't intended to be modified, and readwrite
indicates the property is modifiable.

This is not a security mechanism, it is solely intended to help
prevent the user from shooting himself in the foot, and to remove
unnecessary clutter from CLI output or a GUI display. Hidden
properties is visible in full-disclosure modes of many commands and
UIs.

Property format

The cardinality and internal_separators elements constrain the
structure of a property:

<prop_pattern ...>
<cardinality min="1" max="1"/>
<internal_separators>,<internal_separators>
</prop_pattern>

cardinality indicates the acceptable number of property values. min
is the minimum number, and max is the maximum number. Both are
optional. If neither is specified, <cardinality/> is the same as the
default, zero or more values.

internal_separators specify the separator characters used for those
property values into which multiple real values are packed.

Value constraints

The constraints element specifies what values are acceptable for a
property:

<prop_pattern ...>
<constraints>
<value name="blue" />
<range min="1" max="7"/>
<include_values type="values"/>
</constraints>
</prop_pattern>

The value element includes a possible property value. range includes
an integer range.

value and range can be used in any combination, as restricting their
use would prohibit many valid descriptions. If no value constraints
are specified, the property can take on any value.

include_values includes all values specified by the values block (see
Value Descriptions section).

Value choices

The choices block indicates which values a UI should offer the user:

<prop_pattern ...>
<choices>
<range min="1" max="3"/>
<value name="vt100" />
<value name="xterm" />
<include_values type="constraints"/>
<include_values type="values"/>
</choices>
</prop_pattern>

range and value include ranges and individual values like they do for
constraints.

include_values includes all values specified by either the
constraints block or the values block (see next section).

Value Descriptions

Like property names, the values a property can take on can also have
inscrutable representations. The values element contains localized,
human-readable descriptions for specific property values:

<prop_pattern>
<values>
<value name="blue">
<common_name>
<loctext xml:lang='C'>blueloctext xml:lang='C'>blue>
</common_name>
<description>
<loctext xml:lang='C>
The color between green and indigo.
</loctext>
</description>
</value>
</values>
</prop_pattern>

common_name is a free-form string field, but is intended to be used
as a label in a GUI or CLI.

The following guidelines are recommended:

o Be brief. A word or two is usually most appropriate.

o Be clear. The service, property group, or property name
might not be helpful for humans, but common_name should
help clarify the purpose of the entity.

o No punctuation. common_name is not a sentence or a
paragraph. It should not contain clauses or phrases.
Punctuation should only be present to meet trademark
requirements.

o Capital letters must be used only for acronyms or proper
names. For locales other than English, use appropriate
capitalization for a sentence fragment.

description Guidelines

o Use proper grammar. description is a sentence meant to be
read by humans.

o Be brief. A few sentences are usually most appropriate.

EXAMPLES

Assuming a basic service which wants to define basic templates data
looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?
<!DOCTYPE service_bundle SYSTEM "/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1">
<service_bundle type='manifest' name='FOOfoo:foo'>
<service name='system/foo' type='service' version='1'>
<dependency>
name='multi-user'
type='service'
grouping='require_all'
restart_on='none'
<service_fmri value='svc:/milestone/multi-user' />
</dependency>
<exec_method
type='method'
name='start'
exec='/opt/foo/food'
timeout_seconds='60'>
</exec_method>
<exec_method
type='method'
name='stop'
exec=':kill'
timeout_seconds='60'>
</exec_method>
<property_group name='config' type='application'>
<propval name='local_only' type='boolean' value='false' />
<propval name='config_file' type='astring'
value='/opt/foo/foo.conf' />
<property name='modules' type='astring'>
<astring_list>
<value_node value='bar'/>
<value_node value='baz'/>
</astring_list>
</property>
</property_group>

<instance name='default' enabled='false' />
</service_bundle>
</service>

That service could define some basic templates data to help an
administrator using this service inside of the <service> tags. The
most helpful things are to document the purpose of the service
itself and the service-specific configuration.

<template>
<common_name> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
all-purpose demonstration
</loctext> /common_name>
<documentation>
<manpage title='food' section='8'
manpath='/opt/foo/man' />
</documentation>

<pg_pattern name='config' type='application' target='this'
required='true'>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Basic configuration for foo.
</loctext> </description>
<prop_pattern name='local_only' type='boolean'
required='false'>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Only listen to local connection requests.
</loctext> </description>
</prop_pattern>
<prop_pattern name='config_file' type='astring'
required='true'>
<cardinality min='1' max='1'/>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Configuration file for foo.
</loctext> </description>
</prop_pattern>
<prop_pattern name='modules' type='astring'
required='false'>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Plugin modules for foo.
</loctext> /description>
<values>
<value name='bar'>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Allow foo to access the bar.
</loctext> </description>
</value>
<value name='baz'>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Allow foo to access baz functions.
</loctext> </description>
</value>
<value name='qux'>
<description> <loctext xml:lang='C'>
Allow foo to access qux functions.
</loctext> </description>
</value>
</values>
<choices>
<include_values type='values'/>
</choices>
<prop_pattern>
</pg_pattern>
</template>

FILES

/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1