A Process Control System

fectl is a client/server system that allows its users to monitor and control a number of processes on UNIX-like operating systems.

It is similar to supervisord. Unlike supervisord controlled process has to support fectl and communicate with master with specific protocol. This gives ability to use custom loading capabilities, worker heartbeats, custom workers communications, etc. Downside of this decision, it is not possible to run arbitrary process, each application has to support communication protocol.

Configuration

By default fectld uses fectld.toml file from current directory. It is possible to override this by specifing -c option. Configuraiton file uses toml format.

[master] Section Settings

The :file:`fectld.toml` file contains a section named [master] under which configuration parameters for an master process should be inserted. If the configuration file has no [master] section, default values will be used. The allowable configuration values are as follows.

[master] Section Values

sock

A path to a UNIX domain socket (e.g. :file:`/tmp/fectld.sock`) on which fectl will listen for client requests. :program:`fectld` uses custom json protocol to communicate with master process over this socket.

Default: fectld.sock

Required: No.

directory

When :program:`fectld` daemonizes, switch to this directory.

Default: do not cd

Required: No.

pid

A path to a file where pid of the master process should be stored (e.g. :file:`/var/run/fectld.pid`)

Default: Do not store pid

Required: No.

gid

Instruct :program:`fectld` to switch groups to this UNIX group account before doing any meaningful processing. Value of this field could be actual groupd id or group name.

Default: do not switch groups

Required: No.

uid

Instruct :program:`fectld` to switch users to this UNIX user account before doing any meaningful processing. Value of this field could be actual user id or user name.

Default: do not switch users

Required: No.

stdout

A path to a file where fectld should redirect stdout.

Default: do not redirect stdout

Required: No.

stderr

A path to a file where fectld should redirect stderr.

Default: do not redirect stderr

Required: No.

[[socket]] Section Settings

:program:`fectld` can manage inet sockets for worker processes. i.e. it can open listening socket and pass file descriptors into work via environment variable. The allowable configuration values are as follows.

name

A name of the socket. File descriptor is available in worker process as FECTL_FD_%(name) environment variable.

Required: Yes.

port

A port number.

Required: Yes.

host

A host name.

Required: No.

backlog

The maximum number of pending connections.

This refers to the number of clients that can be waiting to be served. Exceeding this number results in the client getting an error when attempting to connect. It should only affect servers under significant load.

Must be a positive integer. Generally set in the 64-2048 range.

Default: 256

Required: No.

proto

Socket protocol to use. Three options are available tcp4 - ipv4, tcp6 - ipv6, *unix" - unix domain socket path.

Default: tcp4

Required: No.

service

List of services that can access this socket.

Default: all services can access socket.

Required: No.

app

Worker specific setting. Value of the app field is available as FECTL_APP_%(name) environment variable.

Required: No.

arguments

List of worker specific settings. Value of the arguments field is available as FECTL_ARGS_%(name) environment variable.

Required: No.

[[service]] Section Settings

Each managed application can be configured with [[service]] section. It is possible to specify number of workers, various timeouts, and command line. The allowable configuration values are as follows.

name

A name of the service. This name is used as service identifier, all cammands that can be send to service require this name.

Required: Yes.

num

A number of workers to start. Must be a positive integer.

Required: Yes.

command

An application start command. fectld passes configuration (like socket fds, app config, etc) in environment variables. Application has to support fectl communication protocol. fectl provides several workers implementation for python, like asyncio and gevent workers.

Required: Yes.

directory

Before :program:`fectl` executes command, switch to this directory.

Default: do not cd

Required: No.

restarts

Number of restarts before marking worker as failed.

Default: 3

Required: No.

gid

Switch worker process to run as this group.

A valid group id (as an integer) or the name of a user that can be retrieved with a call to libc::getgrnam(value) or None to not change the worker processes group. If :program:`fectl` can not change group, worker failes to start.

Required: No.

uid

Switch worker processes to run as this user. A valid user id (as an integer) or the name of a user that can be retrieved with a call to libc::getpwnam(value) or None to not change the worker process user. If :program:`fectld` can not change group, worker failes to start.

Required: No.

timeout

Worker has to send heartbeat messages to master process. Workers silent for more than this many seconds are killed and restarted.

Default: 10

Required: No.

startup_timeout

Timeout for worker startup. After start, workers have this much time to report readyness state. Workers that do not report loaded state to master are force killed and get restarted. After three attempts service marked as failed.

Default: 30

Required: No.

shutdown_timeout

Timeout for graceful workers shutdown. After receiving a restart or stop signal, workers have this much time to finish serving requests or any other activity. Workers still alive after the timeout (starting from the receipt of the restart signal) are force killed.

Default: 30

Required: No.