HOSTSTATED(8)           OpenBSD System Manager's Manual          HOSTSTATED(8)

NAME
     hoststated - Host Status daemon

SYNOPSIS
     hoststated [-dnv] [-D macro=value] [-f file]

DESCRIPTION
     hoststated is the host status daemon for server load balancing.  Its main
     purpose is to keep pf(4) tables up to date as well as any related pf rdr
     rules.  To communicate with pf, hoststated uses the anchor facility.  To
     enable hoststated to install rulesets through the anchor, the following
     line is required in the NAT section of pf.conf(5):

           rdr-anchor "hoststated/*"

     hoststated manipulates three data types: services, tables, and hosts.
     Each service represents a pf(4) rdr rule.  A service contains at least
     one table and one virtual IP which are used to create the proper rule.
     Each table contains at least one host, and is mapped to a pf table.  Ad-
     ditionally a table can be backed up i.e. its content will be swapped by
     the content of another table when it is empty.  This can be used to serve
     static content when a dynamic service goes down.  See hoststated.conf(5)
     for a more detailed explanation of how to configure hoststated.

     hoststatectl(8) can be used to enable or disable hosts, tables, and ser-
     vices as well as showing the current status of each object.

     The options are as follows:

     -D macro=value
             Define macro to be set to value on the command line.  Overrides
             the definition of macro in the configuration file.

     -d      Do not daemonize.  If this option is specified, hoststated will
             run in the foreground and log to stderr.

     -f file
             Specify an alternative configuration file.  The default is
             /etc/hoststated.conf.

     -n      Configtest mode.  Only check the configuration file for validity.

     -v      Produce more verbose output.

FILES
     /etc/hoststated.conf        Default hoststated configuration file.
     /var/run/hoststated.sock    Unix-domain socket used for communication
                                 with hoststatectl(8).

SEE ALSO
     hoststated.conf(5), hoststatectl(8)

HISTORY
     The hoststated program first appeared in OpenBSD 4.1.

AUTHORS
     The hoststated program was written by Pierre-Yves Ritschard
     <pyr@openbsd.org> and Reyk Floeter <reyk@openbsd.org>.

OpenBSD 4.1                    November 1, 2006                              1
