Configuring a Lotus Domino Mail Server to work with the eG Agent

eG Enterprise has developed an exclusive monitoring model for the Domino mail server, which employs an eG agent to continuously monitor the performance of the server. This eG agent executes tests on the server, which contact the Domino SNMP agent for performance information.

  1. Domino SNMP Agent services are provided by two types of programs:

    • LNSNMP - The Lotus Notes SNMP agent. As an independent application, LNSNMP is insulated from most Domino server malfunctions and, by itself, adds negligible overhead to the server.
    • Two Domino server add-ins - the QuerySet Handler and the Event Interceptor.
    • The QuerySet Handler and the Event Interceptor depend on the Domino server; if the server fails for any reason, these programs fail as well.

  2. The following components comprise the Domino SNMP Agent architecture:

    • A platform-specific Master SNMP Agent - An independent, non-Lotus, agent usually supplied with the operating system platform that provides SNMP services for the machine. This SNMP Agent transports the SNMP traps and Get/Set responses across the network to the management station.

    • The Domino SNMP Agent consisting of:

      • LNSNMP Agent - The Lotus Notes SNMP agent, which receives trap notifications from the Event Interceptor and then forwards them to the management station using the platform-specific SNMP Agent. LNSNMP also handles requests for Domino-related information from the management station by passing the request to the QuerySet Handler and responding back to the management station.
      • QuerySet Handler - Which queries server statistics information, sets the value of configurable Domino-based parameters, and returns Domino statistics information to LNSNMP, which then forwards the information to the management station using the platform-specific master SNMP Agent.
      • Event Interceptor - Which responds to the SNMP Trap notification for Domino Event Handlers by instructing LNSNMP to issue a trap.

    • The Domino MIB -- A standard Management Information Base (MIB) file for Lotus Domino servers that can be compiled and used by a network management program such as eG Enterprise.

      Figure 1 : Architecture of the Domino SNMP Agent