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Agent Configuration

The Oracle Intelligent Agents are processes running on remote nodes in the network. Oracle Enterprise Manager uses Intelligent Agents to run jobs and monitor events on remote sites. The Intelligent Agent can also be used to discover services on the node where it resides.

This Agent Configuration chapter discusses the following topics:

Topics	Page
Installing the Intelligent Agent on Windows NT	1-2
Configuring an Intelligent Agent on Windows NT	1-3
Installing the Oracle Intelligent Agent on UNIX	1-7
Configuring an Intelligent Agent on UNIX	1-8
Oracle Intelligent Agent and Oracle Names	1-11
Roles and Users Required by the Agent	1-11

Installing the Intelligent Agent on Windows NT

Intelligent Agents are shipped with the database and installed on remote, managed machines. The Intelligent Agent must be installed in the ORACLE_HOME directory.

For information on installing the Intelligent Agent, please refer to the Oracle Enterprise Manager Installation (CD-ROM insert).

Configuring an Intelligent Agent on Windows NT

This section contains the following topics:

Topic	See Page
Agent Discovery Algorithm	1-3
Creating a Windows NT User Account for Running Jobs	1-4
Controlling Operations of the NT Agent	1-6

Agent Discovery Algorithm

At startup, the agent discovers new services on the machine where it is installed and creates its configuration files:

• snmp_ro.ora
• snmp_rw.ora
• services.ora

The agent discovery algorithm is described below:

Stage	Action
1	The agent reads the Windows NT registry for the values of the services installed on that machine.
2	The agent reads the listener.ora files to determine which databases are serviced by that listener. The agent also reads for the global names of those databases (GLOBAL_DBNAME parameter). If the GLOBAL_DBNAME parameter is not found in listener.ora, the agent searches for a tnsnames.ora file. The agent looks for the configuration files in a location set by TNS_ADMIN environment variables. If the variable is not set, the agent looks in the standard locations. For example: $ORACLE_HOME\NET80\ADMIN).
3	If a tnsnames.ora is not found, the database alias, <SID>_<hostnames>, is created.

Note:

If a database or any other new service is installed on the node where the agent resides, the agent must be restarted to add the new service to the agent configuration files.

Creating a Windows NT User Account for Running Jobs

In order for the agent to execute jobs on a managed node

• an NT user account must exist that has the advanced user right, "logon as batch job." The privilege can be assigned to an existing local or domain user, or a new NT user.
• the preferred credentials must be set in the Oracle Enterprise Manager console for that user

Creating a New User Account

To create a new local Windows NT user account, perform the following steps

Step	Action
1	Select the User Manager from the Administrative Tools program group. See the Windows NT documentation for information on the tools.
2	Select New User from the User menu. Check for the following: The "User Must Change Password at the Next Logon" option box is not checked "SYSTEM" or "system" is not used for the user name.
3	Under the Policies menu of the User Manager NT utility, select the User Rights option.
4	Check the "Show Advanced User Rights" box.
5	Select "Logon as a batch job" from the list of privileges.
6	Add the advanced user right to this user.

Assigning Privileges to an Existing Account

To assign the privilege to an existing account, perform the following steps.

Step	Action
1	Choose the user on the User Manager panel, The user on the User Manager panel, Check for the following: The "User Must Change Password at the Next Logon" option box is not checked "SYSTEM" or "system" is not used for the user name.
2	Under the Policies menu of the User Manager NT utility, select the User Rights option.
3	Check the "Show Advanced User Rights" box.
4	Select "Logon as a batch job" from the list of privileges.
5	Add the advanced user right to this user.

Note:

If you have both a local and a domain user with the same name, the local user takes precedence.

Attention:

Remember that the preferred credentials in the Console need to be set for this user. Refer to Setting Preferences for NT on page 2-9.

Controlling Operations of the NT Agent

This section contains information on controlling the agent through Windows NT and the DOS prompt.

Starting and Stopping the Agent on Windows NT

To start or stop the agent on Windows NT, perform the following steps:

Step	Action
1	Double-click the Services icon in the Control Panel folder.
2	Select the OracleAgent service.
3	Click the Start push-button to start the agent or click the Stop push-button to stop the agent.

When the agent is installed, the start-up is set to Manual.

Starting and Stopping the Agent from the DOS prompt

To start or stop the Agent from the DOS command prompt, enter the appropriate command.

If you want to...	Enter the following command
Start the agent from the DOS prompt	net start oracleagent
Stop the agent from the DOS prompt	net stop oracleagent

Verify Agent is Running

To verify that the agent is running, look for its status in the control panel services.

Installing the Oracle Intelligent Agent on UNIX

Install the Oracle Intelligent Agent from the Oracle8 CD. The Intelligent Agent is a separate component to select.

After you have successfully installed the agent, the Oracle Installer prompts you to run root.sh.

Verifying that root.sh Was Run

To verify that root.sh was run:

cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin

ls -al dbsnmp

The output of the ls -al command should be in the form

-rwsr-xr-x   1 root     g651     1497980 Jun 12 21:04 dbsnmp

Running root.sh

If root.sh was not run, perform the following steps:

• su root
• cd $ORACLE_HOME/Orainst
• ./root.sh
• Answer the questions asked.
• Then, exit.

Configuring an Intelligent Agent on UNIX

On UNIX systems, the agent is normally installed by the root.sh script as a setuid program.

The agent must be installed as setuid root so that the agent can run jobs as the users whose name and password are given in the Preferred Credentials for that host. If the agent does not have root permission, all Enterprise Manager jobs are run with the permissions of the user who started the agent.

Note that the agent being set to setuid root does not have the same effect as having the root user start the agent. Having the root user start the agent may cause security problems. Consult your platform documentation for exact details on setuid programs.

This section contains the following topics:

Topic	See Page
Agent Discovery Algorithm	1-9
Configuration Requirements	1-10
Controlling Operations of the UNIX Agent	1-10

Agent Discovery Algorithm

At startup, the agent discovers new services on the machine where it is installed and creates its configuration files:

• snmp_ro.ora
• snmp_rw.ora
• services.ora

The agent discovery algorithm is described below:

Stage	Action
1	The agent reads the oratab file for values of all the Oracle Homes and SIDs. Depending on the platform, the oratab file is located in either the /etc or /var/opt/oracle directory.
2	Based on the Oracle Homes found in oratab, the agent reads the listener.ora files to determine which databases are serviced by that listener. The agent also reads for the global names of those databases (GLOBAL_DBNAME parameter). If the GLOBAL_DBNAME parameter is not found in listener.ora, the agent searches for a tnsnames.ora file. The agent looks for the configuration files in a location set by TNS_ADMIN environment variables. If the variable is not set, the agent looks in the standard locations. For example: $ORACLE_HOME/NETWORK/ADMIN.
3	If a tnsnames.ora is not found, the database alias is created as <SID>_<HOSTNAME>.

Note:

If a database or any other new service is installed on the node where the agent resides, the agent must be restarted to add the new service to the agent configuration file.

Configuration Requirements

• The oratab file must exist and have entries for the database SIDs and Oracle Homes. If root.sh had been run, it would have updated/created an oratab file. For each database created, the entry is of the form: <SID>:<$ORACLE_HOME>:[Y/N].
• The user whose credentials are used to run a job should have write permissions in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/agent directory.
• Remember that the preferred credentials in the Console need to be set for the user. Refer to Setting Preferences for NT on page 2-9.

Controlling Operations of the UNIX Agent

This section contains information on controlling the UNIX agent.

If you want to...	Enter the command...
Start the agent on UNIX platforms	lsnrctl dbsnmp_start
Stop the agent on the UNIX platform	lsnrctl dbsnmp_stop
Verify that the agent is running	lsnrctl dbsnmp_status

Note:

For additional information or restrictions for your platform, see the Intelligent Agent README.

Oracle Intelligent Agent and Oracle Names

The Intelligent Agent 8.03 does not use Oracle Names to discover services it manages.

If you are running Oracle Names on a machine managed by an Oracle Intelligent Agent, it is assumed that the databases have already been registered with a Names Server and their aliases are defined by the GLOBAL_DBNAME parameters in the listener.ora files.

When running jobs or monitoring events in this environment, the Intelligent Agent does not resolve database aliases via Oracle Names.

For more information on how the Enterprise Manager Console works with Oracle Names, see Chapter 2, Console Configuration.

Roles and Users Required by the Agent

When an Oracle database is installed, the catsnmp.sql script is automatically run by catalog.sql to create the necessary dbsnmp user account and the SNMPAGENT role for the Intelligent Agent (for 7.3.3 and later).

To determine whether the SNMPAGENT role exists in a database, enter the following SQL command:

SELECT * FROM dba_roles;

If the SNMPAGENT role does not appear, run the catsnmp.sql script on the database. To run the script, you must log in as SYS.

Note:

The location of catsnmp.sql varies based on the database version you are running and the platform. For example, on NT for an Oracle 8.0.3 database, the script is located at ORACLE_HOME\rdbms80\admin.

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