Managing HP Serviceguard for Linux Ninth Edition, April 2009

A failover package starts on the first available node in its configuration file; by default,
it fails over to the next available one in the list. Note that you do not necessarily have
to use a cmrunpkg command to restart a failed failover package; in many cases, the
best way is to enable package and/or node switching with the cmmodpkg command.
When you create the package, you indicate the list of nodes on which it is allowed to
run. System multi-node packages must list all cluster nodes in their cluster. Multi-node
packages and failover packages can name some subset of the cluster’s nodes or all of
them.
If the auto_run parameter is set to yes in a package’s configuration file Serviceguard
automatically starts the package when the cluster starts. System multi-node packages
are required to have auto_run set to yes. If a failover package has auto_run set to no,
Serviceguard cannot start it automatically at cluster startup time; you must explicitly
enable this kind of package using the cmmodpkg command.
NOTE: If you configure the package while the cluster is running, the package does
not start up immediately after the cmapplyconf command completes. To start the
package without halting and restarting the cluster, issue the cmrunpkg or cmmodpkg
command.
How does a failover package start up, and what is its behavior while it is running?
Some of the many phases of package life are shown in Figure 3-14.
62 Understanding Serviceguard Software Components