Oracle recommends that you use the daemon process to schedule recurring health checks at regular intervals.
Note:
Daemon mode is supported only on the Linux and Solaris operating systems.Configure the daemon to:
Schedule recurring health checks at regular interval
Send email notifications when the health check runs complete, clearly showing any differences since the last run
Purge collection results after a pre-determined period
Check and send email notification about stale passwords
Store multiple profiles for automated health check runs
Restart automatically if the server or node where it is running restarts
Note:
While running, the daemon answers all the prompts required by subsequent on-demand health checks.
To run on-demand health checks, do not use the daemon process started by others. Run on-demand health checks within the same directory where you have started the daemon.
If you change the system configuration such as adding or removing servers or nodes, then restart the daemon.
Set the daemon options before you start the daemon. Reset the daemon options anytime after starting the daemon.
Set the daemon options using the –set option.
$ ./orachk –set "option_1=option_1_value"
$ ./exachk –set "option_1=option_1_value"
name=value format separated by semicolons as follows:
$ ./orachk –set "option_1=option_1_value;option_2=option_2_value;option_n=option_n_value"
$ ./exachk –set "option_1=option_1_value;option_2=option_2_value;option_n=option_n_value"
AUTORUN_SCHEDULE daemon option.AUTORUN_FLAGS daemon option determines how health checks are run.NOTIFICATION_EMAIL daemon option to send email notifications to the recipients you specify.collection_retention daemon option to purge health check collection results that are older than a specified number of days.PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL daemon option defines the frequency, in hours, for the daemon to validate the passwords entered when the daemon was started the first time.Related Topics
Schedule recurring health checks using the AUTORUN_SCHEDULE daemon option.
AUTORUN_SCHEDULE option, as follows:
AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=hour minute day month day_of_weekwhere:
minute is 0-59 (Optional. If omitted, then 0 is used)
hour is 0–23
day is 1–31
month is 1–12
day_of_week is 0–6, where 0=Sunday and 6=Saturday
Use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard to specify multiple values separated by commas.
Table 1-1 AUTORUN_SCHEDULE
| Example | Result |
|---|---|
|
|
Runs every 15 minutes. |
|
|
Runs every hour. |
|
|
Runs at 3 AM every Sunday. |
|
|
Runs at 2 AM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. |
|
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Runs at 4 AM on the first day of every month. |
|
|
Runs at 8 AM and 8 PM every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. |
Example 1-1 AUTORUN_SCHEDULE
$ ./orachk –set "AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=3 * * 0"
$ ./exachk –set "AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=3 * * 0"
The AUTORUN_FLAGS daemon option determines how health checks are run.
Set the AUTORUN_FLAGS option as follows: AUTORUN_FLAGS=flags, where flags can be any combination of valid command-line flags.
Table 1-2 AUTORUN_FLAGS
| Example | Result |
|---|---|
|
|
Runs only the |
|
|
Runs only the |
|
|
Runs all checks except the checks in the |
Example 1-2 AUTORUN_FLAGS
$ ./orachk –set "AUTORUN_FLAGS=-profile sysadmin –tag sysadmin"
$ ./exachk –set "AUTORUN_FLAGS=-profile sysadmin –tag sysadmin"
Set the NOTIFICATION_EMAIL daemon option to send email notifications to the recipients you specify.
The daemon notifies the recipients each time a health check run completes or when the daemon experiences a problem.
$ ./orachk –set "NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=some.person@acompany.com,another.person@acompany.com"
$ ./exachk –set "NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=some.person@acompany.com,another.person@acompany.com"
–testemail option, as follows:
$ ./orachk -testemail all
$ ./exachk -testemail all
After the first health check run, the daemon notifies the recipients with report output attached.
For the subsequent health check runs after the first email notification, the daemon emails the summary of differences between the most recent runs to all recipients specified in the NOTIFICATION_EMAIL list.
Contents of the Email Notification
System Health Score of this run compared to the previous run
Summary of number of checks run and differences between runs
Most recent report result as attachment
Previous report result as attachment
Diff report as attachment
Related Topics
Set the collection_retention daemon option to purge health check collection results that are older than a specified number of days.
collection_retention option, as follows:
collection_retention=number_of_days
If you do not set this option, then the daemon does not purge the stale collection.
Set the collection_retention option to an appropriate number of days based on
Frequency of your scheduled collections
Size of the collection results
Available disk space
Example 1-3 collection_retention
$ ./orachk –set "collection_retention=60"
$ ./exachk –set "collection_retention=60"
The PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL daemon option defines the frequency, in hours, for the daemon to validate the passwords entered when the daemon was started the first time.
If an invalid password is found due to a password change, then the daemon stops, makes an entry in the daemon log, and then sends an email notification message to the recipients specified in the NOTIFICATION_EMAIL option.
Set the PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL option, as follows: PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL=number_of_hours.
If you do not set the PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL option, then the daemon cannot actively check password validity and fails the next time the daemon tries to run after a password change. Using the PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL option enables you to take corrective action and restart the daemon with the correct password rather than having failed collections.
Set the PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL option to an appropriate number of hours based on the frequency of your scheduled collections and password change policies.
Example 1-4 PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL
$ ./orachk –set "PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL=1"
$ ./exachk –set "PASSWORD_CHECK_INTERVAL=1"
Related Topics
Use only one daemon process for each server. Do not start a single daemon on multiple databases in a cluster, or multiple daemons on the same database.
The daemon does not start, if the daemon detects another Oracle ORAchk or Oracle EXAchk daemon process running locally.
Define multiple different run profiles using the same daemon. Defining multiple different run profiles enables you to run multiple different health checks with different daemon options, such as different schedules, email notifications, and automatic run flags. The daemon manages all profiles.
–id id option before the –set option, where id is the name of the profile.
$ ./orachk –id id –set "option=value"
$ ./exachk –id id –set "option=value"
Example 1-5 Setting Multiple Option Profiles for the Daemon
For example, if the database administrator wants to run checks within the dba profile and the system administrator wants to run checks in the sysadmin profile, then configure the daemon using the profiles option.
$ ./orachk –id dba –set "NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=dba@example.com;\ AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=4,8,12,16,20 * * *;AUTORUN_FLAGS=-profile dba –tag dba;\ collection_retention=30" Created notification_email for ID[dba] Created autorun_schedule for ID[dba] Created autorun_flags for ID[dba] Created collection_retention for ID[dba]
$ ./exachk –id dba –set "NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=dba@example.com;\ AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=4,8,12,16,20 * * *; AUTORUN_FLAGS=-profile dba –tag dba;\ collection_retention=30" Created notification_email for ID[dba] Created autorun_schedule for ID[dba] Created autorun_flags for ID[dba] Created collection_retention for ID[dba]
$ ./orachk –id sysadmin –set "NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=sysadmin@example.com;\ AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=3 * * 1,3,5; AUTORUN_FLAGS=-profile sysadmin –tag sysadmin;\ collection_retention=60" Created notification_email for ID[sysadmin] Created autorun_schedule for ID[sysadmin] Created autorun_flags for ID[sysadmin] Created collection_retention for ID[sysadmin]
$ ./exachk –id sysadmin –set "NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=sysadmin@example.com;\ AUTORUN_SCHEDULE=3 * * 1,3,5; AUTORUN_FLAGS=-profile sysadmin –tag sysadmin;\ collection_retention=60" Created notification_email for ID[sysadmin] Created autorun_schedule for ID[sysadmin] Created autorun_flags for ID[sysadmin] Created collection_retention for ID[sysadmin]
Related Topics
Query the values that you set for the daemon options.
To query the values, use [-id ID ] -get option | all, where
ID is a daemon option profile
option is a specific daemon option you want to retrieve
all returns values of all options
To get a specific daemon option, use the –get option.
Example 1-6 Getting Existing Options for the Daemon
$ ./orachk –get NOTIFICATION_EMAIL ID: orachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com
$ ./exachk –get NOTIFICATION_EMAIL ID: exachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com
–get option: .
$ ./orachk –get NOTIFICATION_EMAIL ID: orachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com ID: sysadmin ------------------------------------------ notification_email = sysadmin@example.com
$ ./exachk –get NOTIFICATION_EMAIL ID: exachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.person@example.com ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com ID: sysadmin ------------------------------------------ notification_email = sysadmin@example.com
To limit the request to a specific daemon option profile, use –id ID -get option.
NOTIFICATION_EMAIL for a daemon profile called dba :
$ ./orachk –id dba –get NOTIFICATION_EMAIL ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com
$ ./exachk –id dba –get NOTIFICATION_EMAIL ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com
To get all options set, use –get all :
$ ./orachk –get all ID: orachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com autorun_schedule = 3 * * 0 collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1
$ ./exachk –get all ID: exachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com autorun_schedule = 3 * * 0 collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1
–get all :
$ ./orachk –get all ID: orachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com autorun_schedule = 3 * * 0 collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 12 ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com autorun_schedule = 4,8,12,16,20 * * * autorun_flags = -profile dba – tag dba collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1 ID: sysadmin ------------------------------------------ notification_email = sysadmin@example.com autorun_schedule = 3 * * 1,3,5 autorun_flags = -profile sysadmin –tag sysadmin collection_retension = 60 password_check_interval = 1
$ ./exachk –get all ID: exachk.default ------------------------------------------ notification_email = some.body@example.com autorun_schedule = 3 * * 0 collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1 ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com autorun_schedule = 4,8,12,16,20 * * * autorun_flags = -profile dba – tag dba collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1 ID: sysadmin ------------------------------------------ notification_email = sysadmin@example.com autorun_schedule = 3 * * 1,3,5 autorun_flags = -profile sysadmin –tag sysadmin collection_retension = 60 password_check_interval = 1
To limit the request to a specific daemon option profile, use –id ID -get all option.
dba:
$ ./orachk –id dba –get all ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com autorun_schedule = 4,8,12,16,20 * * * autorun_flags = -profile dba – tag dba collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1
$ ./exachk –id dba –get all ID: dba ------------------------------------------ notification_email = dba@example.com autorun_schedule = 4,8,12,16,20 * * * autorun_flags = -profile dba – tag dba collection_retention = 30 password_check_interval = 1
Start and stop the daemon and force the daemon to stop a health check run.
To start and stop the daemon:
–d stop option.Query the status and next automatic run schedule of the running daemon.
-d status|info|nextautorun
-d status: Checks if the daemon is running.
-d info: Displays information about the running daemon.
-d nextautorun [-id ID]: Displays the next automatic run time.
To query the status and next planned daemon run:
By default, you must manually restart the daemon if you restart the server or node on which the daemon is running.
However, if you use the automatic restart option, the daemon restarts automatically after the server or node reboot.
Only root can configure automatic restart.
To configure the daemon to start automatically: