Managing Services

The perfSONAR Toolkit runs a number of services: applications constantly listening for requests to perform measurements, retrieve data and execute other tasks. This page details how and when to enable/disable services through the web interface.

List of Services

The following services may be managed through the web interface:

Name	Default Enabled	Description
Automatic Updates	Yes	Controls yum-cron service that updates packages on the host nightly. See Updating the Toolkit for more details.
BWCTL	Yes	Controls bwctld service that allows clients at other sites to run throughput, traceroute and ping tests to your host. Also required if you plan to run regular tests of the aforementioned types on your host.
OWAMP	Yes	Controls owampd service that allows clients at other sites to run one-way latency tests to this host. Also required to run regular one-way delay tests on your host.
NDT	No	Controls ndt service that allows clients to run on-demand diagnostic tests through a Java applet or command-line tool
NPAD	No	Controls npad service that allows clients run diagnostic tests through a Java applet

Note

Starting in 3.4, SSH was removed as a service from this listing. To enable/disable SSHD, use chkconfig

Choosing Services to Enable

It is important to understand what services might impact other services. For example, if you run throughput tests (e.g. BWCTL + iperf3) and latency/loss tests (e.g. OWAMP ) on the same network interface, the throughput tests will possibly cause the host to drop packets. This may lead to a misleading interpretation of data if these events are not properly correlated. In general it is recommended you use the following guidelines when deciding which services to enable:

• BWCTL throughput and OWAMP tests should be run on separate hosts or interfaces (see Configuring a Host with Multiple Interfaces) for best results that minimise risk of interference
• If the above is not possible, you may run them on the same host and interface, but be conscious that you will need to work diligently to rule out network performance issues caused by overlapping tests
• NDT and NPAD should not be run on hosts also running regular tests of any type. Their tests may interfere with regular tests and the administrator has less control over when they occur since they are run on-demand by an end-user.

See also

For a discussion on when to run Automatic Updates see Automatic Updates

Enabling/Disabling Services

1. Click on Enabled Services in the left-hand menu

   

2. Login using the web administrator username and password.

   See also

   See Managing Users for more details on creating a web administrator account

3. A list of services and a description of each is provided on the screen that loads. Check the services you wish to enable and uncheck the services you wish to disable. Alternatively, you may use the Only Enable Bandwith Services and Only Enable Latency Services to enable only tests related to throughput and one-way delay testing, respectively.

   

4. Click Save to apply your changes

5. After a loading screen you should see a message indicating the services have been successfully restarted and the new configuration has been applied.

   

Note

Starting in 3.4, you may also enable/disable any of the underlying services with the chkconfig command and the changes will be reflected in the GUI and maintained on reboot.