A
Configuration Files

This appendix discusses the configuration files that are generated by the intelligent agent and parameters that can be set to optimize agent operation for different system setups. The following topics are discussed:

Configuration Files

snmp_ro.ora

The snmp_ro.ora file is located in $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin. Do NOT update this read-only file.

snmp_rw.ora

The snmp_rw.ora is located in $ORACLE_HOME\network\admin. You can modify this read-write file, but this should be done carefully.

services.ora

The services.ora file is created when the agent starts and is located in $ORACLE_HOME\network\agent on the Windows NT platform and $ORACLE_HOME/network/agent on UNIX. This file contains a list of the services, such as Oracle databases and listeners, on the node where the agent resides. This file is retrieved from the agent by Oracle Enterprise Manager through the Navigator Discovery menu options.

Note:
Do not manually edit the services.ora file. The agent rewrites the file on startup.

User-configurable Parameters

These parameters are used in the snmp_rw.ora configuration file for the Intelligent Agent release.

SNMP.INDEX.service_name.world = index_number

The unique index number of the service that the agent is monitoring. The index number can be any number. The only limitation is that if you have more than one index line, the index numbers must be unique. For example:

snmp.index.<service_name1>=10
snmp.index.<service_name2>=20

SNMP.CONNECT.<service_name>.USER = user_name

The username that the subagent uses to connect to the database. The default is dbsnmp. This parameter is optional. The catsnmp.sql script should be edited and reexecuted if this parameter is not the default setting.

The "subagent" refers to the Intelligent Agent. Sometimes, the Intelligent Agent is called a subagent to the master SNMP agent when configuring SNMP on a server. However, SNMP does not have to be configured on the server before the Intelligent Agent will work (except for the Netware platform). For security reasons, the customers sometimes do not want to use the default Intelligent Agent database account/password of dbsnmp/dbsnmp. The example listed should only be used if they want to change the Intelligent Agent's database logon account.

SNMP.CONNECT.<service_name>.PASSWORD = password

The password for the username that is used by the subagent to connect to the database. The default is dbsnmp. This parameter is optional. The catsnmp.sql script should be edited and reexecuted if this parameter is not the default setting.

SNMP.CONTACT.<service_name> ="contact_info"

A string containing contact information, such as name, phone number, and email, of the administrator responsible for the service. This parameter is optional.

DBSNMP.POLLTIME = nn

The time interval (seconds) that the agent polls the database to check whether it is down. If the database has gone down or was never connected, this is the interval between retries. The default is 30 seconds.

Note:
If the intelligent agent must monitor more than two instances, you should increase the value of DBSNMP.POLLTIME proportionally with the number of monitored instances.
For example:
The agent needs to monitor 10 instances. DBSNMP.POLLTIME should be set to 150. (10/2 * 30 = 150)

DBSNMP.IPCTIME = nn

The time interval (seconds) that the agent's Work process pings its Comm process to check whether it is down. If Comm is unable to respond to Work's ping within this time, Work will kill the old Comm process and spawn a new one. The default is 30 seconds.

The value of this parameter should be increased if false node up/down events, that trigger and clear within a short interval of time, regularly get reported to the Console. To check how frequently Comm gets restarted, execute the following command

ps -ef | grep dbsnmp

and note the start time of the child process.

This parameter does not pertain to the Agent on Windows NT.

DBSNMP.NOHEURISTIC={TRUE/FALSE}

The value of this parameter determines whether the Intelligent Agent will use a connection heuristic to ascertain the state of a monitored database (whether the database is up or down). By default, this value is set to FALSE (The Agent uses the heuristic).

Note:
If the monitored target is an Oracle Parallel Server database instance, DBSNMP.NOHEURISTIC must be set to TRUE since the heuristic does not work against Parallel Server database instances.

NMI.TRACE_LEVEL = OFF | USER | ADMIN | nn

Turns on tracing at the specified level. Oracle recommends that you set the trace level to 13. Level 16 produces a deluge of information, which is only useful if a bug is being investigated. With a level of 16, you can see actual TCP/IP packet contents. With a level of 15, I can only see that packets are being passed. This parameter is optional.

NMI.TRACE_DIRECTORY = directory

Directory where trace file is written. The setting is only relevant in conjunction with nmi.trace_level. If omitted, trace files are written to $ORACLE_HOME\network\trace. This parameter is optional.

NMI.TRACE_FILE = filename

Filename of the trace file. This parameter is optional.

NMI.TRACE_FILECNT = nn

Maximum number of trace files generated by the Agent. This optional parameter should be used when full tracing is desired, but disk space on the Agent machine is limited. This parameter is available beginning with version 8.1.7 of the Intelligent Agent.

NMI.TRACE_FILESIZE = nn

Maximum size of the individual trace file (in Kilobytes) generated by the Agent. For example, a value of 1024=1 megabyte trace file. This parameter is used in conjunction with NMI.TRACE_FILECNT when full tracing is desired, but disk space on the Agent machine is limited. This parameter is available beginning with version 8.1.7 of the Intelligent Agent.

NMI.LOG_DIRECTORY = directory

Directory where log file is written. This parameter is optional.

NMI.LOG_FILE = filename

Filename of the log file. This parameter is optional. On Windows NT, the filename defaults to dbsnmp.

Note:
The following addresses are automatically set by the agent. Changing the addresses makes the agent undetectable by the Enterprise Manager Console and forces a manual configuration setup.
dbsnmp.address =(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=<protocol>) (HOST=<host_name>)(PORT=<port_no>)))

The TNS address that the agent uses to listen for incoming requests. There should be no space or return characters in the address. This parameter is the address that the Agent listens on for network connections.

TCP/IP must be installed on the server since it is required to automatically discover services with the agent.

The agent requires PORT=1748. The port address 1748 is a registered TCP port granted to Oracle by the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA). The port address is automatically set. Changing this port makes the agent undetectable by the Enterprise Manager Console and forces a manual configuration setup.

For agent releases previous to the 7.3.3 release, this address must match exactly the entry for this agent in the tnsnames.ora file on the machine where the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console resides.

dbsnmp.spawnaddress =(ADDRESS= (PROTOCOL=<protocol>) (HOST=<host_name>)(PORT=<spnport_no>))

The TNS address which the agent can use to accept RPC's. This address is used for file transfers. The spnport_no used in this parameter is different than port_no used in the DBSNMP.ADDRESS parameter.

The agent PORT=1754. The port address 1754 is a registered TCP port granted to Oracle by the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA). Changing this port makes the agent undetectable by the Enterprise Manager Console and forces a manual configuration setup.

A Configuration Files