Managing the Watchdog Process

The watchdog process monitors the server and multiplexor components and attempts to restart a component if it determines that the component is not running.

For the server, the watchdog determines whether the server is running by periodically attempting to make a connection, either directly to the server or through the multiplexor, based on the current configuration of the server. The watchdog tries to poll the server’s operational status and if it cannot determine the status, it then tries to make a connection to the server. If both operations fail, the watchdog stops and then restarts the server.

Before you use the watchdog, verify that it is enabled and running using the imadmin status command. By default, the watchdog is enabled and running when you install Instant Messaging.

More information about the imadmin utility is available in Appendix C, Instant Messaging imadmin Tool Reference.

Determining the Status of the Watchdog

You use the imadmin command-line utility to check the status of the watchdog.

To Determine the Status of the Watchdog

1. Change to the directory that contains the imadmin command-line utility.

   cd im-svr-base/sbin

2. Run imadmin status:

   ./imadmin status watchdog

   The imadmin utility returns the current status of the watchdog.

Enabling and Disabling the Watchdog

By default, the watchdog is enabled when you install Instant Messaging. You can disable or enable the watchdog by setting a configuration parameter in iim.conf.

To Enable or Disable the Watchdog

1. Open iim.conf.

   See iim.conf File Syntax for instructions on locating and modifying iim.conf.

2. Enable or disable the watchdog by setting the iim_wd.enable parameter as follows:

   To enable the watchdog: iim_wd.enable=true

   To disable the watchdog: iim_wd.enable=false

3. Save and close the iim.conf file.

4. Refresh the Instant Messaging server configuration:

   cd im-svr-base/sbin

   ./imadmin refresh

Managing Logging for the Watchdog

You manage logging for the watchdog the same way you manage logging for the server, multiplexor, and the Calendar agent. The watchdog log file is saved as im-db-base/log/iim_wd.log.

For more information on setting logging levels for all Instant Messaging components including the watchdog, see Chapter 13, Managing Logging for Instant Messaging.