Lotus Notes Database Test

This test reports database related metrics of the Lotus Domino server.

Target of the test : A Domino mail server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for database files on the mail server being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host for which the test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the specified host listens.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default is 161.
SNMPVersion	By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPVersion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
Username	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.
Context	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.
Authpass	Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPVersion selected is v3.
Confirm password	Confirm the Authpass by retyping it here.
AuthType	This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options: MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit
EncryptFlag	This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.
EncryptType	If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types: DES - Data Encryption Standard 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard AES - Advanced Encryption Standard AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit
EncryptPassword	Specify the encryption password here.
Confirm Password	Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
Data Over TCP	By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.
Engine ID	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Buffer control pool size	Indicates the size of the buffer control pool.	MB
Buffer control pool used	Indicates the number of bytes used in the buffer control pool.	MB	The value 0 may indicate that the measure's value is too large to be passed via snmp.
Buffer pool allocated	Indicates the number of bytes allocated from the buffer pool.	MB
Buffer pool max	Indicates the maximum size of the buffer pool.	MB
Buffer pool used	Indicates the number of buffers used from the buffer pool.	MB
NSF pool size	Indicates the size of the NSF Pool.	KB	The NSF Buffer Pool is a section of memory dedicated to buffering I/O transfers between the NIF (Notes Index Facility) indexing functions and disk storage. By changing the size of NSF Buffer Pool you can control the size of the memory section used for this buffering. The NSF Buffer Pool is the only Domino memory pool that is configurable by the user. Therefore, while setting the NSF buffer pool size, you need to consider the number of users, the size and number of views, and the number of databases.
NSF pool used	Indicates the amount of space used in the NSF pool.	KB	If the value of this measure decreases consistently, it indicates a steady erosion of space in the NSF pool. Resize the NSF pool, so that more memory is available for indexing or buffering I/O transfers.
Buffer pool percent reads	Indicates the percentage of buffer pool reads.	Percent
Buffer pool reads	Indicates the number of buffer pool reads.	Number
Buffer pool writes	Indicates the number of buffer pool writes.	Number
Current cache entries	Indicates the number of databases currently in the cache.	Number	Administrators should monitor this number to see whether it approaches the NSF_DBCACHE_MAXENTRIES setting. If it does, it indicates that the cache is under pressure. If this situation recurs, the administrator should increase the setting for NSF_DBCACHE_MAXENTRIES.
Database cache hits	Indicates the number of times an lnDBCacheInitialDbOpen is satisfied by finding a database in the cache.	Number
Database cache initial opens	The number of times a user/server opened a database that was not already being used by another user/server	Number	By comparing this number to Db_cache_hits, administrators can gauge the effectiveness of the caching activity.
Database cache hit ratio	Indicates the percentage of hits to opens.	Percent	A high 'hits-to-opens' ratio indicates the database cache is working effectively, since most users are opening databases in the cache without having to wait for the usual time required by an initial (non-cache) open. If the ratio is low (in other words, more users are having to wait for databases not in the cache to open), the administrator can increase the NSF_DBCACHE_MAXENTRIES settings.
Database cache max entries	Indicates the number of times a database is not placed into the cache.	Number
Database cache rejections	Indicates the number of times a database is not placed into the cache.	Number	A database might not be placed into the cache when it is closed because lnDBCacheCurrentEntries equals or exceeds lnDBCacheMaxEntries * 1.5. This number should stay low. If it begins to rise, you should increase the NSF_DbCache_Maxentries settings.