SCO Doctor User Guide

Chapter 8, Configuration and Preferences

Changing SCO Agent Configuration

These options allow you to control the behavior of an SCO Agent process. The changes you make will only affect the agent to which you are currently attached. You will not be able to select these options if you are not connected to an agent.

To invoke this menu option:

Select Config, Agent Configuration

Agent Configuration Menu Screen

Management

This sub-menu is only available under SCO Doctor for Networks and allows you to specify the name of the Central Management Station (CMS) for use by this agent. The CMS you select is stored in the agent.cf configuration file, in the station paragraph, using the keyword name.

Select the Config, Agent Configuration, Management menu options.
Enter the name of the CMS
Enter the password.
Confirm the password by typing it in again.

Agent Management Dialog Box

Communications

In SCO Doctor for Networks, daily communication between SCO Doctor and SCO Agent is effected by the manage subagent. This subagent will send any pending alerts and database information to the CMS, and may be initiated by either the CMS or the remote system. This option allows you to specify the configuration of the manage function. For further details on manage, see Chapter 12, ``Communications Over a Network''.

All preferences selected under this option will be stored in the configuration file /usr/lib/doctor/cf/agent.cf, in the comms paragraph.

Select Config, Agent Configuration, Communications.
Enable or disable communications between CMS and SCO Agent.
Select a file transport option. Enter gocp unless you have customized your own file transport mechanism.
Select central if the CMS is to initiate connection and remote if the remote system is to initiate connection.

Agent Communications Dialog Box

Data Fields

Communications - enables or disables communications between doctor and agent. This field is only effective when the remote system will initiate the connection. If the CMS initiates the connection, communication will take place regardless of the setting of this field. This preference is stored using the enable keyword.
File Transport - file transport uses the gocp(DR) program. It is possible to customize other file transfer mechanisms. See the SCO Doctor Technical Reference for details. This preference is stored using the transport keyword.
Who Initiates - selects which system is to initiate communication between CMS and SCO Agent and run the manage program. Changing this field will update the keyword dial in the comms paragraph located in the file /usr/lib/doctor/cf/agent.cf. It will also update the doctor configuration file /usr/lib/doctor/cf/system.cf, in the paragraph whose name matches the remote system name in the keyword dial. This ensures doctor and agent agree who will make the connection.

Alerts

When an agent has generated an alert, it needs to know what to do with it. Should it send the alert to the CMS? If it communicates with the CMS by modem, should it dial immediately? This sub-menu allows you to specify the actions the agent should take once it has generated an alert.

All preferences selected under this sub-menu will be stored in the configuration file /usr/lib/doctor/alert/alert.cf, in the setup paragraph.

Agent Alerts Dialog Box

Select Config, Agent Configuration, Alerts.
Enable or disable alerts.
Specify if generated alert should be sent immediately.
Specify the alert transport to use. This will be gocp or email.
Specify where emailed alerts should be sent.
Specify the alert notice template.
Specify the SNMP trap template.

Data Fields

Enable Alert Notices - enables or disables alerts. If alerts are disabled, agent will not generate any alerts or run any alert programs. This preference is stored using the enable keyword.
Send immediately - specifies whether or not the alert is to be sent immediately. If dial-up modems are being used, agent will dial the CMS to send the alert immediately, otherwise the alert will be sent when gomanage next runs. If a system is generating many alert notices, it is more cost effective not to use send immediately but rather to let the alert notices queue until retrieved by gomanage.
Alert Transport - specifies a mechanism to use to send alerts to the CMS. Specify the standard SCO Doctor communications mechanism gocp(DR) or email to use the email mechanism. This preference is stored using the transport keyword.
Alert email address - if email was selected as the alert transport this field lets you specify the destination email address of general alert notices.
Alert notice template - this allows you to specify what program to run to generate an alert notice. The default for this is the SCO supplied notice program. See the SCO Doctor Technical Reference for further information.
SNMP trap template - this allows you to specify what program to run to generate an SNMP trap when an alert condition has been detected.
See the SCO Doctor Technical Reference for further information.

Exporting Databases

While agent is running, it periodically saves its current management data to an export file to be sent back to the CMS. This data is included in the Historical Database for future analysis of the system. If the remote system is to be strictly managed, regular database snapshots are essential. Less frequent snapshots are used if a more relaxed management policy is pursued. Either way, each snapshot will consume up to 5k of disk storage. This frequency of snapshots is specified in the Export Period field.

This submenu allows you to enable database exporting and to configure how often agent should save a snapshot of its database to disk. You can also configure the time window in which to take snapshots. It should include the known busy times for the system and may exclude idle time.

For example, if the users at the remote system work, Monday to Friday, from 9am to 2pm, take a two hour siesta, then work till 7pm, the Export Schedule could be * 9-14, 16-19 * * 1-5. If the period between snapshots is set to 3600, then a database export will be made every hour in these core work hours. The cron specification format is described in Appendix D, ``Cron and Date Formats''. Alternatively you can allow databases snapshots to always occur. This will provide a complete picture of your system at the cost of higher disk usage.

Preferences selected using this option are stored in the /usr/lib/doctor/cf/agent.cf file under the paragraph dump, using the keywords enable, schedule and period.

Agent Database Dialog Box

Enable or disable database exporting.
Enter the database exporting schedule in cron format. Exporting will occur during these times.
Enter the period between snapshots, in seconds.