Special considerations for partitioned servers

There are several different ways to use the Domino® SNMP Agent on a partitioned server. If you plan to use SNMP on a partitioned server, this section provides information you need to know prior to using SNMP with Domino®.

About this task

If you want to use the Domino® SNMP Agent on only one of your partitions, then configure it on that partition just as you would on any server. Do not configure it on any other partitions. With this option, you will get full functionality and control for one server partition. It is not necessary to configure the LNSNMP.INI file.

If you want to use the Domino® SNMP Agent for out-of-band control on multiple partitions, configure it on each partition. With this option, you can control servers individually and receive SNMP traps for each partition, but you lose the ability to query certain branches of the lnInfo branch of the MIB, including all Domino® server statistics. It's also not possible to use SNMP to start a server that hasn't otherwise been started since SNMP was itself started. If you don't need to use SNMP to start partitions, it is not necessary to configure the LNSNMP.INI file.

If you want to manage multiple partitions and always be able to start their servers using SNMP, then it's necessary to configure those partitions into LNSNMP.INI file. Configuring LNSNMP.INI also causes the virtual rows in the MIB's lnServerTable to be allocated in the order specified in LNSNMP.INI instead of in the order that the partitions are started. The MIB's lnServerTable contains a virtual row for each partition, so having prior knowledge about which row will represent a particular partition could simplify certain management functions.

The Microsoft™ Windows™ operating system limits all SNMP traps to using one IP address. On UNIX™, each partition needs a separate DNS entry in order to distinguish each trap origin. On the client side, while traps from partitions will be received, not all SNMP consoles can associate traps from partitions to map objects. In particular, due to a limitation of WINSNMP, which is used with OpenView Professional Suite, it cannot assign traps to Domino® icons.

Configuring the LNSNMP.INI file

About this task

If you need to always be able to start partitions using SNMP, or if you need to know which virtual row in the MIB's lnServerTable a partition will occupy, then you should perform the following steps.

Note: By adding a server to LNSNMP.INI you're implicitly allowing SNMP to start that server if asked to do so. The server may then disallow further SNMP initiated starts once its own configuration options become known. This situation becomes possible each time the Domino® SNMP Agent is started because the Domino® SNMP Agent does not retain server configuration information when it is stopped.

Procedure

  1. Create a file called LNSNMP.INI in the appropriate directory depending on platform:
    • Windows™: Windows™ System directory
    • IBM® AIX®, or Linux™: /opt/lotus
    • z/OS® (OS/390®): /opt/lotus
      Note: These are the recommended directories. However, LNSNMP.INI can be in any path in the PATH environment variable that you like.
  2. Edit the file and include one line for each server partition with the following format:
    Server=Data_Directory;Server_Name;Domino_Partition_Number

    Data_Directory: The directory that is the server's Domino® data directory for a given partition

    Server_Name: The name of your Server

    Domino_Partition_Number: This value is arbitrary because Domino® no longer uses numbers to uniquely identify partitions. However, for historical reasons, a value must still be present.

    For example, if you have a UNIX™ server with two partitions and data directories of /home/domino/venus and /home/domino/saturn, your LNSNMP.INI file should look like this:

    Server=/home/domino/venus;Venus Server;1
    Server=/home/domino/saturn;Saturn Server;2
    Note: The case of the text that follows the equals sign (=) is significant in UNIX™ environments.

Troubleshooting

If LNSNMP does not start properly, then check that the LNSNMP.INI file is correct. LNSNMP will always attempt to reference the LNSNMP.INI file.