Typically, you implement monitors to run periodic fault probes on resources to detect whether the probed resources are working correctly. If a fault probe fails, the monitor can attempt to restart locally or request failover of the affected resource group. The monitor requests the failover by calling the scha_control() or scha_control_zone() RMAPI function or the scds_fm_action() DSDL function.
You can also monitor the performance of a resource and tune or report performance. Writing a resource type-specific fault monitor is optional. Even if you choose not to write such a fault monitor, the resource type benefits from the basic monitoring of the cluster that Oracle Solaris Cluster software itself does. Oracle Solaris Cluster software detects failures of the host hardware, gross failures of the host's operating system, and failures of a host to be able to communicate on its public networks.
The RGM provides callbacks for automatically starting and stopping resource monitors. When bringing a resource offline, the RGM calls the Monitor_stop method to stop the resource's monitor on the local nodes before stopping the resource itself. When bringing a resource online, the RGM calls the Monitor_start method after the resource itself has been started.
The scha_control() or scha_control_zone() RMAPI function and the scds_fm_action() DSDL function (which calls scha_control()) enable resource monitors to request the failover of a resource group to a different node. As one of its sanity checks, scha_control() and scha_control_zone() call Monitor_check (if defined) to determine whether the requested node is reliable enough to master the resource group that contains the resource. If Monitor_check reports back that the node is not reliable, or the method times out, the RGM looks for a different node to honor the failover request. If Monitor_check fails on all nodes, the failover is canceled.
The resource monitor can set the Status and Status_msg properties to reflect the monitor's view of the resource state. Use the scha_resource_setstatus() or scha_resource_setstatus_zone() RMAPI function, the scha_resource_setstatus command, or the scds_fm_action() DSDL function to set these properties.
See Defining a Fault Monitor for an example of a fault monitor that is implemented with the RMAPI. See ORCL.xfnts Fault Monitor for an example of a fault monitor that is implemented with the DSDL. See the Oracle Solaris Cluster Data Services Planning and Administration Guide for information about fault monitors that are built into data services that are supplied by Oracle.