Monitoring server health

 PATROL for Microsoft Exchange Servers monitors the health and performance of the servers, non-clustered and clustered, in your environment. You can monitor the following server:

• Server availability
• Queue status
• Mail-flow status
• Disk status
• Exchange error events
• License usage
• Number of active connections
• Number of messages not delivered

PATROL for Microsoft Exchange Servers logs on to the Exchange server on a scheduled basis to test for server availability. If the account is unable to log on, the ServerStatus parameter goes into alarm. 

You can also monitor the following server subsystems as they relate to Exchange servers:

• Application event logs
• Disk usage
• Network connectivity

With the PATROL Knowledge Module (KM) for Windows Operating System (a KM component of the PATROL for Microsoft Windows Servers product) loaded on your system, PATROL for Microsoft Exchange Servers can also monitor CPU, memory, disk space, and event log parameters. PATROL adds the Exchange processes that are configured to run automatically at startup to the NT_PROCESS application class in the PATROL KM for Windows Operating System. To determine the collective Exchange server memory and CPU usage, PATROL adds the CPU and memory usage of each of these processes. PATROL also adds Exchange events to the NT_EVENTS application class.

PATROL for Microsoft Exchange Servers also monitors message traffic related to your server and summarizes the following information in the MailFlowStatusRpt parameter:

• Messages sent and received by individual servers within the site
• Total messages sent and received by all the servers within the site (intrasite)
• Total messages sent and received by all the servers from other sites within the Exchange organization (intersite)
• Messages sent and received by the Internet (foreign)
• Total messages sent and received by mailboxes on your server (local)
• Total messages sent and received by the Exchange server (intrasite, intersite, foreign, and local)

PATROL for Microsoft Exchange Servers examines the event logs provided by the server's operating system and summarizes the total number of information, warning, and error events related to the Exchange server.

Pausing PATROL for Exchange Servers

Use this task to start a blackout period. During a blackout period, PATROL for Exchange Servers pauses its monitoring and management tasks, and does not display alarm or warning messages.

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Blackout > Start menu command to display the Blackout dialog box.
3. Enter the blackout interval and then click OK.

PATROL for Exchange Servers immediately suspends data collection and resumes when the blackout period is over.

Resuming PATROL for Exchange Servers

Use this task to restart PATROL for Exchange Servers after you use a blackout period to perform maintenance.

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands
2. Select the PATROL Admin > Blackout > Stop menu command.
   

Pinging a remote server

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the Admin > ICMP Network Ping menu command to display the ICMP Network Ping dialog box.
3. Enter the host name or the IP address of the client or server.
4. Click Ping to display the results in the open dialog box.
5. Click Done.

Scheduling a blackout period

You may want to specify blackout periods where PATROL temporarily stops monitoring your Exchange Server. For example, when you need to shut down the Exchange Server to perform maintenance you can schedule a blackout session.

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Blackout > Schedule menu command to display the Blackout dialog box.
3. Select Add a Blackout Period.
4. Specify the following information.
   
   
   • The day(s) on which you want the blackout to occur
   • The time you want the blackout to start (use the sliders to set this value)
   • The duration of the blackout period
5. Click Apply.

During the blackout period, no Exchange Server data collection occurs and no alarm or warning messages are generated.

Updating parameter values

Application classes that contain parameters have a menu command that lets you update their parameter values outside of the normal polling cycle. When you use this menu command, you update the parameter values only for the selected application class.

The following application classes contain this menu command:

• ADAccess Cache
• IS Mailbox menu
• Transport Queues
• ADAccess Domain Controller
• ADAccess Public

• IS Client

• FDSOAB

• Transport DSN

• IS Public

1. Access the appropriate application class instance menu, as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the Refresh Parameters menu command. 

Using trace options to troubleshoot Exchange

Use the following tasks to generate reports that will help you troubleshoot or tune your Exchange environment.

BMC Software recommends that you use these menu commands only after contacting BMC Software customer support.
You can generate reports with the following kinds of information:

• The Agent Configuration Report menu command displays a report of all the agent configuration variables associated with PATROL for Exchange Servers.
• The Global Channels menu command displays a report of the number of channels or pipes created between the Agent and an external program.
• The Process Cache menu command displays a report of the process IDs, PPIDs, users, status, size, processor time, and command name and line for all processes stored in cache memory.
• The PSL Process List menu command displays a report of the PSL processes being handled by the PATROL Agent Run Queue.
• The Configuration Account Info menu command displays a report of the agent namespace variables and their values in the system output window.
• The Environment Variable Report menu command displays a report of all the PATROL and system environment variables and their values.
• The Parameter Threshhold Report menu command displays a report of all the parameters, their thresholds, and their border and alarm ranges.
• The PSL Resource Profiling => Report menu command displays any one of several reports:
• The Child Process Counts report is the total number of child processes spawned by a PSL process or script.
• The File/Pipe Operations Count report is the total number of file and pipe operations such as Open, Read, Write, Close, Seek, and Tell.
• The Most Executed PSL Processes report tells you how many times a PSL process was executed within a period of time.
• The Profiling Report Top Processes report tells you how many times each process executed plus time statistics, processor utilization statistics, and statistics of each PSL function within the process.
• The Summary Top Processes report lists the top processes in terms of time spent in the process; it shows the percentage of time spent in the Agent Run Queue, the percentage of time spent in the operating system, and the number of executions.
• The Builtin Function Calls Summary report displays the number of times called for each PSL function.
• The Builtin Function Calls by CPU report displays, for each PSL function call, the time spent in the CPU, the time spent executing user code and system code, the number of calls, and the CPU utilized per call.

These reports are intended to help you troubleshoot problems in your Exchange environment. You can generate them instead of calling customer support, before you call customer support, or while you talk with customer support.

Select one of the following options:

• To display agent configuration variables 
• To display channels
• To display process cache 
• To display PSL processes
• To display configuration account information
• To display variables
• To display parameter thresholds
• To display profiling activity

To display agent configuration variables

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Agent Configuration Report menu command to display the report in your system output window.

To display channels

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Agent Internals > Global Channels menu command to display the list in your system output window.

To display process cache

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Agent Internals > Process Cache menu command to display the report in your system output window.

To display PSL processes

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Agent Internals > PSL Process List menu command to display the list in your system output window.

To display configuration account information

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Configuration Account Info menu command to display the report in your system output window.

To display variables

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Environment Variable Report menu command to display the report in your system output window.

To display parameter thresholds

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Parameter Threshold Report menu command to display the report in your system output window.

To display profiling activity

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > PSL Resource Profiling > Reports menu command.
3. Select the report you want to generate, and click Accept to display the report in your system output window.

Debugging PATROL for Exchange Servers

Use the following task to turn the debugging feature on and off on your Exchange Servers. Select one of the following options.

To enable discovery debugging

Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Enable/Disable Trace > Application Components > Discovery menu command to display the Exchange KM Debug Admin dialog box.
Select the application class that you want to debug and click Accept. You can only select one application class at a time.

To enable InfoBox debugging

1. Access the Exchange aplication class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin > Trace Options > Enable/Disable Trace > Application Components => InfoBox menu command to display the Exchange KM Debug Admin dialog box.
3. Select the application class that you want to work with and click Accept. You can only select one application class at a time.

To enable menu command debugging

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin => Trace Options => Enable/Disable Trace => Application Components => Menu Commands menu command to display the Exchange KM Debug Admin dialog box.
3. Select the application class that you want to work with and click Accept. You can only select one application class at a time.

To enable parameter debugging

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin => Trace Options => Enable/Disable Trace => Application Components => Parameters menu command to display the Parameter Trace Wizard dialog box.

3. Select the parameter that you want to debug, and click Next to display the Parameter Trace Wizard dialog box.
   
   

   Note

   You can only select one parameter at a time.

4. Select the application class instance for the parameter you want to monitor and click Next to display the next Parameter Trace Wizard dialog box.
5. Select the Turn ON Trace option to enable debugging and click Accept.

To enable recovery action debugging

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin => Trace Options => Enable/Disable Trace => Application Components => Recovery Actions menu command to display the Application Component Trace dialog box.
3. Select the recovery action that you want to debug and click Accept. You can only select one recovery action at a time.

To enable component debugging

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin => Trace Options => Enable/Disable Trace => Product Components menu command to display the Exchange KM Debug Admin dialog box.
3. Select the application class that you want to work with and click Accept. You can only select one application class at a time.

To enable or disable PSL resource profiling

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the PATROL Admin => Trace Options => PSL Resource Profiling => Enable/Disable menu command to display the ENABLE/DISABLE PSL PROFILING dialog box.
3. Select the ENABLE PSL Profiler option to turn on debug or the PSL Profiler is currently DISABLED option to turn debug off and click Accept.

Defragmenting Exchange databases

Use this task to run the defragment tool on your Exchange databases. To defragment a database, you must use an account with the proper permissions. This account must be assigned the Exchange Administrator role.

You must also have enough disk space available to run the defragmentation program. PATROL for Exchange Servers provides menu commands for defragmenting the Exchange Server databases shown in the table below. The defragment command performs a standard defragmentation of the selected database. No optional switches are used.

To defragment a public Information Store

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Choose the Admin > Defragment Database > IS Public menu command. 

To defragment a private Information Store

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Select the Admin > Defragment Database > IS Private menu command. 

Enabling and disabling circular logging

This task describes how to enable and disable circular logging for the Information Store service from the PATROL console. Select one of the following tasks:

• To enable Information Store circular logging
• To disable Information Store circular logging

To enable Information Store circular logging

1.  Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Select the Admin > Circular Logging > Enable > IS menu command. 

To disable Information Store circular logging

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Select the Admin > Circular Logging > Disable > IS menu command. 

Running database integrity checks

Because Exchange databases always fluctuate, you have the ability to run database integrity checks when you have problems or concerns.
To run a database integrity check, you must use an account with the proper permissions.
When you run an integrity check, PATROL executes the ISINTEG utility in the following mode:

• Utility is run in test mode.
• Any errors found are fixed.

• Log files and temporary databases generated by the ISINTEG utility are stored in the default locations.

To run an integrity check on a private Information Store

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Select the Admin > Verify Integrity > IS Private menu command to display the Verify Integrity dialog box.
3. Select the database you want to work with, and click Accept to run the integrity check.
4. Click OK to close the confirmation message. 

To run an integrity check on a public Information Store

1. Access the Exchange application class menu as described in Accessing KM Menu Commands.
2. Select the Admin > Verify Integrity > IS Public menu command to display the Verify Integrity dialog box.
3. Select the database you want to work with and click Accept to run the integrity check.
4. Click OK to close the confirmation message.