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7.2. Order Constraints

Order constraints determine the order in which the resources run.
Use the following command to configure an order constraint. 
pcs constraint order [action] resource_id then [action] resource_id [options]
Table 7.3, “Properties of an Order Constraint”. summarizes the properties and options for configuring order constraints.

Table 7.3. Properties of an Order Constraint

FieldDescription
resource_id
The name of a resource on which an action is performed.
action
The action to perform on a resource. Possible values of the action property are as follows:
* start - Start the resource.
* stop - Stop the resource.
* promote - Promote the resource from a slave resource to a master resource.
* demote - Demote the resource from a master resource to a slave resource.
If no action is specified, the default action is start. For information on master and slave resources, see Section 9.2, “Multistate Resources: Resources That Have Multiple Modes”.
kind option
How to enforce the constraint. The possible values of the kind option are as follows:
* Optional - Only applies if both resources are executing the specified action. For information on optional ordering, see Section 7.2.2, “Advisory Ordering”.
* Mandatory - Always (default value). If the first resource you specified is stopping or cannot be started, the second resource you specified must be stopped. For information on mandatory ordering, see Section 7.2.1, “Mandatory Ordering”.
* Serialize - Ensure that no two stop/start actions occur concurrently for a set of resources.
symmetrical option
If true, which is the default, stop the resources in the reverse order. Default value: true

7.2.1. Mandatory Ordering

A mandatory constraints indicates that the second resource you specify cannot run without the first resource you specify being active. This is the default value of the kind option. Leaving the default value ensures that the second resource you specify will react when the first resource you specify changes state.
  • If the first resource you specified was running and is stopped, the second resource you specified will also be stopped (if it is running).
  • If the first resource you specified resource was not running and cannot be started, the resource you specified will be stopped (if it is running).
  • If the first resource you specified is (re)started while the second resource you specified is running, the second resource you specified will be stopped and restarted.
Note, however, that the cluster reacts to each state change. If the first resource is restarted and is in a started state again before the second resource initiated a stop operation, the second resource will not need to be restarted.

7.2.2. Advisory Ordering

When the kind=Optional option is specified for an order constraint, the constraint is considered optional and only applies if both resources are executing the specified actions. Any change in state by the first resource you specify will have no effect on the second resource you specify.
The following command configures an advisory ordering constraint for the resources named VirtualIP and dummy_resource. 
# pcs constraint order VirtualIP then dummy_resource kind=Optional

7.2.3. Ordered Resource Sets

A common situation is for an administrator to create a chain of ordered resources, where, for example, resource A starts before resource B which starts before resource C. If your configuration requires that you create a set of resources that is colocated and started in order, you can configure a resource group that contains those resources, as described in Section 6.5, “Resource Groups”. There are some situations, however, where configuring the resources that need to start in a specified order as a resource group is not appropriate:
  • You may need to configure resources to start in order and the resources are not necessarily colocated.
  • You may have a resource C that must start after either resource A or B has started but there is no relationship between A and B.
  • You may have resources C and D that must start after both resources A and B have started, but there is no relationship between A and B or between C and D.
In these situations, you can create an order constraint on a set or sets of resources with the pcs constraint order set command.
You can set the following options for a set of resources with the pcs constraint order set command.
  • sequential, which can be set to true or false to indicate whether the set of resources must be ordered relative to each other.
    Setting sequential to false allows a set to be ordered relative to other sets in the ordering constraint, without its members being ordered relative to each other. Therefore, this option makes sense only if multiple sets are listed in the constraint; otherwise, the constraint has no effect.
  • require-all, which can be set to true or false to indicate whether all of the resources in the set must be active before continuing. Setting require-all to false means that only one resource in the set needs to be started before continuing on to the next set. Setting require-all to false has no effect unless used in conjunction with unordered sets, which are sets for which sequential is set to false.
  • action, which can be set to start, promote, demote or stop, as described in Table 7.3, “Properties of an Order Constraint”.
You can set the following constraint options for a set of resources following the setoptions parameter of the pcs constraint order set command. 
pcs constraint order set resource1 resource2 [resourceN]... [options] [set resourceX resourceY ... [options]] [setoptions [constraint_options]]
If you have three resources named D1, D2, and D3, the following command configures them as an ordered resource set. 
# pcs constraint order set D1 D2 D3

7.2.4. Removing Resources From Ordering Constraints

Use the following command to remove resources from any ordering constraint. 
pcs constraint order remove resource1 [resourceN]...