OVERVIEW:
1. What functions do the Intelligent Agent perform?
2. How does the Intelligent Agent do all that?
3. What are the major changes in the Agent with version 9i?
4. How do I start and stop my 9i Intelligent Agent?
5. What are the *.q files that I see in my Agent directory?
CERTIFICATION:
6. Is the Agent supported on a system running DHCP?
7. Does the Agent require DNS resolution?
8. Does the Intelligent Agent work on Clustered Configurations?
INSTALLATION / CONFIGURATION:
9. Which CD-ROM contains the Intelligent Agent?
10. Can I run multiple Agents on a single server?
11. What is the name of the Intelligent Agent executable and where is it located?
12. Can the Intelligent Agent function on a node that does not have an Oracle database installed?
13. Which database releases are compatible with the 9i Agent?
14. Can I use the Intelligent Agent Release 9i to gather data on a remote host?
15. Where does the Intelligent Agent put its necessary support files?
16. How is the Intelligent Agent configured?
17. Which Intelligent Agent releases support Oracle Enterprise Manager Release 9i?
18. Which version of the Oracle Intelligent Agent should I use? Can I download required patches?
19. Can I upgrade the Intelligent Agent without upgrading the database? How do I do that?
20. Is it possible to upgrade to Intelligent Agent Release 9i without having to re-submit existing jobs or events?
21. What version of TCL does the Intelligent Agent Release 9i use?
22. Does Intelligent Agent 9i work on a machine with multiple network interface cards(NICs)?
23. What permissions should be assigned to the dbsnmp executable and who should start the Agent?
24. How do I change the dbsnmp password and is this password secure?
25. I need to change the hostname on my system. How can I make sure my Agent gets updated?
26. In the past, I couldn’t discover multiple Listener.ora files. Is this still a problem?
27. Can I change the TCP port numbers used by the Agent and Data Collection Cartridge?
TROUBLESHOOTING:
28. If my Agent doesn’t discover all the services running on my server, where do I start the troubleshooting the problem?
29. What is "Clean Starting" the Agent and how do I perform this operation?
30. How to do I activate logging and tracing for my 9I Agent and Data Collection Cartridge?
31. In my dbsnmp.log file, I am finding an NMS-0001 error that says I can't connect to the SNMP Master Agent. Should I worry?
32. Does the DBSNMP database user pose a security problem?
33. What should I do if I see an error like "VNI 4009: Unable to contact the Agent" within the Enterprise Manager console?
34. Can I use the Remote Diagnostics Agent (RDA) to collect information for my Intelligent Agent’s configuration?
Questions with Answers
OVERVIEW:
1. What functions does the Intelligent Agent perform?
The Intelligent Agent provides the following core services:
Event management capabilities for the host machine, databases, listeners, concurrent managers, forms servers, Oracle HTTP listeners, etc.
Job execution and scheduling capabilities on the host machine, databases, listeners, concurrent managers, forms servers, Oracle HTTP listeners, etc.
Statistical data collection for the Performance Manager and Capacity Planner
Sending SNMP traps for events related to the database, listener or host
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2. How does the Intelligent Agent do all that?
The Intelligent Agent makes extensive use of an extended version of the TCL programming language. All job and event scripts are written in TCL and have the ability to do anything TCL can do. See the TCL document for details. Data collection is performed by making calls to the operating system or by accessing data in a monitored database.
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3. What are the major changes in the Agent with version 9i?
The major changes and new features in the 9i Agent are:
Data Gatherer (ODG) functionality has been fully integrated into the Intelligent Agent. Thus, the ODG is no longer a separate process.
A new control utility called "agentctl" has been introduced to start, stop, or check the status of the Agent.
Upon startup, a single dbsnmp process is created on UNIX platforms.
Administrators can suspend jobs, events and data collections on a target by using the Agent's agentctl utility.
Intelligent Agent Release 9i is also redesigned to handle a large number of events at the same time.
A new watchdog script runs in the background that restarts the Agent if it goes down. If the watchdog attempts to restart the Agent, information is written to the dbsnmp.nohup file (UNIX) and the Oracle<homeAgent.nohup file (Windows NT/2000).
For details on the 9i Intelligent Agent, please refer to the Oracle Intelligent Agent User's Guide Release 9i which is available as part of the Oracle Enterprise Manager documentation set.
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4. How do I start and stop my 9i Intelligent Agent?
For the 9i Agent on UNIX, a new Agent control utility called "agentctl" is used. The relevant agentctl commands are:
agentctl start agent
agentctl stop agent
agentctl status agent
agentctl restart agent (to stop and start the Agent using a single command)
On Windows NT, you can start and stop the Intelligent Agent service from the start menu: Start = Settings = Control Panel = NT Control Panel = Services screen.
On Windows 2000, you can start and stop the Agent Services: Go to Start menu = Settings = Control Panel = Administrative Tools = Services. Select the OracleAgent service. Right mouse click and select (start,stop, etc.). To modify the Startup Type, right mouse click and select Properties and edit the Startup Type as needed.
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5. What are the *.q files that I see in my Agent directory?
The ‘q’ files are state files maintained by the Agent. The files contain vital information about the jobs and events registered with the Agent, as well as authorized users and OMSs that have communicated with the Agent. The ‘q’ files are encrypted and the hostname of the system is used as part of the encryption key. The Agent reads these files each time the dbsnmp process is started. If the files are missing, the Agent will create new ones during startup. The files are also updated each time a job / event is processed or a new request is received.
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CERTIFICATION
6. Is the Agent supported on a system running DHCP?
Oracle does not recommend using DHCP as a method for obtaining and IP Address for systems running the Intelligent Agent. Depending on the how your DCHP is configured, you may be receiving a new IP Address each time the system is rebooted. The Intelligent Agent needs a static IP Address in order to maintain communication with the Management Server. You can setup DHCP such that the IP Address never expires for that system, but you will not be able to launch the EM Reports WebSite if it’s running on the same system.
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7. Does the Agent require DNS hostname resolution?
The Intelligent Agent does require DNS resolution for communication with the Management Server. The DNS resolution must also include an entry in the DNS reverse lookup tables (nslookup). This depth of resolution was introduced d
