FENCE_AGENT(8)

👑 FENCE_AGENT(8) — the System Manager's Manual era 💅

okay bestie, buckle up, because today we're reading the manual page for fence_vbox, straight out of the System Manager's Manual. she's an 8, she's iconic, and she's about to explain herself.

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✨ NAME ✨

fence_vbox — the Fence agent for VirtualBox. that's her. that's the whole name. slay.

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

fence_vbox is a Power Fencing agent and it works with the virtual machines that VirtualBox manages. the way it does it: it logs in via ssh to a dom0, and over there it runs VBoxManage to do literally all of the actual work. no cap.

by default, vbox needs to log in as a user that's a member of the vboxusers group. also — and this is important, don't skip it — you must allow ssh login in your sshd_config.

this fence agent takes options on the command line and from stdin, both. fenced sends parameters through stdin when it execs the agent. but also, the agent can be run all by itself with command line options — which is super useful for testing, and for turning outlets on or off from scripts. main character energy honestly.

Vendor URL: https://www.virtualbox.org/

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🌸 PARAMETERS 🌸

every single one of these, bestie. we do not skip. skipping is not the vibe.

• -o, --action=[action] — the fencing action (Default Value: reboot)
• -c, --command-prompt=[prompt] — force the Python regex for the command prompt (Default Value: ['\\[EXPECT\\]#'])
• -k, --identity-file=[filename] — the identity file (private key) for SSH
• -4, --inet4-only — forces the agent to use IPv4 addresses only
• -6, --inet6-only — forces the agent to use IPv6 addresses only
• -a, --ip=[ip] — IP address or hostname of the fencing device. This parameter is always required. yes, always.
• -u, --ipport=[port] — the TCP/UDP port to use for the connection with the device (Default Value: 22)
• -p, --password=[password] — login password or passphrase
• -S, --password-script=[script] — script to run to retrieve the password
• -n, --plug=[id] — physical plug number on the device, UUID, or identification of the machine. This parameter is always required. again: always 💖
• -x, --ssh — use an SSH connection (Default Value: 1)
• --ssh-options=[options] — the SSH options to use (Default Value: -t '/bin/bash -c "PS1=\\[EXPECT\\]# HISTFILE=/dev/null /bin/bash --noprofile --norc"')
• -l, --username=[name] — login name. This parameter is always required. (third time's the charm, still always)
• -q, --quiet — disable logging to stderr. doesn't affect --verbose, --debug-file, or logging to syslog.
• -v, --verbose — verbose mode. multiple -v flags can be stacked on the command line (e.g., -vvv) to increase verbosity. stack them like scrunchies.
• --verbose-level — level of debugging detail in the output. defaults to the number of --verbose flags specified on the command line, or to 1 if verbose=1 in a stonith device configuration (i.e., on stdin).
• -D, --debug-file=[debugfile] — write debug information to the given file
• -V, --version — display version information and exit
• -h, --help — display help and exit
• --plug-separator=[char] — separator for the plug parameter when you're specifying more than 1 plug (Default Value: ,)
• -C, --separator=[char] — separator for the CSV created by the list operation (Default Value: ,)
• --delay=[seconds] — wait X seconds before fencing is started (Default Value: 0)
• --disable-timeout=[true/false] — disable timeout (true/false) (default: true when run from Pacemaker 2.0+)
• --host-os=[os] — operating system of the host (linux|macos|windows) (Default Value: linux)
• --login-timeout=[seconds] — wait X seconds for the cmd prompt after login (Default Value: 5)
• --missing-as-off — a missing port returns OFF instead of a failure
• --power-timeout=[seconds] — test X seconds for a status change after ON/OFF (Default Value: 20)
• --power-wait=[seconds] — wait X seconds after issuing ON/OFF (Default Value: 0)
• --shell-timeout=[seconds] — wait X seconds for the cmd prompt after issuing a command (Default Value: 3)
• --stonith-status-sleep=[seconds] — sleep X seconds between status calls during a STONITH action (Default Value: 1)
• --vboxmanage-path=[path] — path to VBoxManage on the host (Default Value: VBoxManage)
• --retry-on=[attempts] — count of attempts to retry power on (Default Value: 1)
• --use-sudo — use sudo (without password) when calling 3rd party software
• --ssh-path=[path] — path to the ssh binary (Default Value: /usr/bin/ssh)
• --sudo-path=[path] — path to the sudo binary (Default Value: /usr/bin/sudo)

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💜 ACTIONS 💜

• on — power on the machine.
• off — power off the machine.
• reboot — reboot the machine.
• status — this returns the status of the plug / virtual machine.
• list — list the available plugs with aliases / virtual machines, if there's support for more than one device. returns N/A otherwise.
• list-status — list the available plugs with aliases / virtual machines and their power state, if it can be obtained without additional commands.
• monitor — check the health of the fence device.
• metadata — display the XML metadata describing this resource.
• manpage — the operational behavior of this is not known. 👀 (yes, really. that's what it says. we love an honest queen.)
• validate-all — validate if all required parameters are entered.

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🎀 STDIN PARAMETERS 🎀

• action — fencing action (Default Value: reboot)
• command_prompt — force the Python regex for the command prompt (Default Value: ['\\[EXPECT\\]#']). Obsoletes: cmd_prompt
• identity_file — identity file (private key) for SSH
• inet4_only — forces the agent to use IPv4 addresses only
• inet6_only — forces the agent to use IPv6 addresses only
• ip — IP address or hostname of the fencing device. This parameter is always required. Obsoletes: ipaddr
• ipport — TCP/UDP port to use for the connection with the device (Default Value: 22)
• password — login password or passphrase. Obsoletes: passwd
• password_script — script to run to retrieve the password. Obsoletes: passwd_script
• plug — physical plug number on the device, UUID, or identification of the machine. This parameter is always required. Obsoletes: port
• ssh — use an SSH connection (Default Value: 1). Obsoletes: secure
• ssh_options — the SSH options to use (Default Value: -t '/bin/bash -c "PS1=\\[EXPECT\\]# HISTFILE=/dev/null /bin/bash --noprofile --norc"')
• username — login name. This parameter is always required. Obsoletes: login
• quiet — disable logging to stderr. doesn't affect --verbose, --debug-file, or logging to syslog.
• verbose — verbose mode. multiple -v flags can be stacked on the command line (e.g., -vvv) to increase verbosity.
• verbose_level — level of debugging detail in the output. defaults to the number of --verbose flags specified on the command line, or to 1 if verbose=1 in a stonith device configuration (i.e., on stdin).
• debug_file — write debug information to the given file. Obsoletes: debug
• version — display version information and exit
• help — display help and exit
• plug_separator — separator for the plug parameter when you're specifying more than 1 plug (Default Value: ,)
• separator — separator for the CSV created by the list operation (Default Value: ,)
• delay — wait X seconds before fencing is started (Default Value: 0)
• disable_timeout — disable timeout (true/false) (default: true when run from Pacemaker 2.0+)
• host_os — operating system of the host (linux|macos|windows) (Default Value: linux)
• login_timeout — wait X seconds for the cmd prompt after login (Default Value: 5)
• missing_as_off — a missing port returns OFF instead of a failure
• power_timeout — test X seconds for a status change after ON/OFF (Default Value: 20)
• power_wait — wait X seconds after issuing ON/OFF (Default Value: 0)
• shell_timeout — wait X seconds for the cmd prompt after issuing a command (Default Value: 3)
• stonith_status_sleep — sleep X seconds between status calls during a STONITH action (Default Value: 1)
• vboxmanage_path — path to VBoxManage on the host (Default Value: VBoxManage)
• retry_on — count of attempts to retry power on (Default Value: 1)
• use_sudo — use sudo (without password) when calling 3rd party software. Obsoletes: sudo
• ssh_path — path to the ssh binary (Default Value: /usr/bin/ssh)
• sudo_path — path to the sudo binary (Default Value: /usr/bin/sudo)

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and that's the whole page, bestie. every flag, every default, every Obsoletes: note, untouched. we ate and left no crumbs. 🍓

fence_vbox (Fence Agent) — dated 2009-10-20 ✨ she's been serving since '09 and she's still not tired. periodt. 💅🫶