Oracle Instance Status Test

This test monitors each instance of an Oracle server, and reports whether that instance is available or not. If a user complaints of an Oracle server being inaccessible, you can use this test to determine whether the server itself is down or only the target instance is down.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick Oracle Database as the Component type, Performance as the Test type, choose this test from the disabled tests list, and click on the << button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Note:

  • For this test to report metrics for an Oracle database server that is executing on Unix platforms, the eG installed user that is executing the sqlplus command to collect the required metrics should be within the Oracle group. To add the eG installed user say for e.g., tim, you should use the following command:

    usermod -a -G <Oracle_Group> <eG_User>

    Example:

    usermod -a -G Oracle_Group tim

  • To make sure that this test reports metrics for an Oracle database server configured with multiple instances, you need to insert the following entry in the listener.ora file of each instance.

    SID_LIST_LISTENER=

    (SID_LIST=

    (SID_DESC=

    (GLOBAL_DBNAME=orcl.us.acme.com)

    (ORACLE_HOME=/oracle10g)

    (SID_NAME=orcl))

Target of the test : An Oracle database server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each instance of an Oracle server

Configurable parameters for the test
  1. TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed
  2. Host – The host for which the test is to be configured
  3. Port - The port on which the server is listening

  4. User – In order to monitor an Oracle database server, a special database user account has to be created in every Oracle database instance that requires monitoring. A Click here hyperlink is available in the test configuration page, using which a new oracle database user can be created. Alternatively, you can manually create the special database user. When doing so, ensure that this user is vested with the select_catalog_role and create session privileges.

    The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server versions before 12c) for eG monitoring is:

    create user oraeg identified by oraeg

    create role oratest;

    grant create session to oratest;

    grant select_catalog_role to oratest;

    grant oratest to oraeg;

    The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server 12c) for eG monitoring is:

    alter session set container=<Oracle_service_name>;

    create user <user_name>identified by <user_password> container=current default tablespace <name_of_default_tablespace> temporary tablespace <name_of_temporary_tablespace>;

    Grant create session to <user_name>;

    Grant select_catalog_role to <user_name>;

    The name of this user has to be specified here.

  5. Password – Password of the specified database user

    This login information is required to query Oracle’s internal dynamic views, so as to fetch the current status / health of the various database components.

  6. Confirm password – Confirm the password by retyping it here.
  7. ISPASSIVE – If the value chosen is Yes, then the Oracle server under consideration is a passive server in an Oracle cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as "Not applicable" by the agent if the server is not up.
  8. SSL- By default, this flag is set to No, as the target Oracle database is not SSL-enabled by default. If the target database is SSL-enabled, then set this flag to Yes.
  9. SSL Cipher-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. A cipher suite is a set of cryptographic algorithms that are used before a client application and server exchange information over an SSL/TLS connection. It consist of sets of instructions on how to secure a network through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security). In this text box, provide a comma-seperated list of cipher suites that are allowed for SSL/TLS connection to the target database. By default, this parameter is set to none.
  10. TRUSTSTORE FILE- This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. TrustStore is used to store certificates from Certified Authorities (CA) that verify and authenticate the certificate presented by the server in an SSL connection. Therefore, the eG agent should have access to the truststore where the certificates are stored to authenticate and connect with the target database and collect metrics. For this, first import the certificates into the following default location <eG_INSTALL_DIR>/lib/security/mytruststore.jks. To know how to import the certificate into the truststore, refer toPre-requisites for monitoring Oracle Cluster. Then, provide the truststore file name in this text box. For example: mytruststore.jks. By default, none is specified against this text box.
  11. TRUSTSTORE TYPE-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none.Specify the type of truststore that contains the certificates for server authentication in this text box. For eg.,JKS. By default, this parameter is set to the value none.
  12. TRUSSTORE PASSWORD-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. If a Truststore File name is provided, then, in this text box, provide the password that is used to obtain the associated certificate details from the Truststore File. By default, this parameter is set to none.

  13. DETAILED DIAGNOSIS – To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

    The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

    • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
    • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Oracle Instance availability:

This measure indicates whether this instance is available or not.

Percent

The value 100 denotes that the instance is available, and the value 0 indicates that the instance is unavailable.

The detailed diagnosis of this measure displays information about successful connectivity attempts and error messages reported when the Oracle instances are unavailable.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know number of successful and failed attempts

Uptime:

Indicates how long the instance has been up and running.

Seconds

 

Uptime since last measure:

Indicates the duration for which the instance has been up since the last measurement period.

Seconds

If the value of this measure is lesser than the test frequency, it indicates that the instance was rebooted during the last measurement period.

Is rebooted?

Indicates whether this instance was rebooted or not.

 

This measure reports the value Yes if the instance was rebooted in the last measurement period, and the value No if it was not rebooted. The numeric values that correspond to these measure values have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Yes 1
No 0

Note:

This test reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to indicate whether/not the instance was rebooted. In the graph of this measure however, the same will be represented using the numeric equivalents.