The SharePlex monitoring scripts notify you of events and conditions that can adversely affect replication on Unix or Linux systems. These scripts provide a monitoring mechanism without the need for frequent status checks through sp_ctrl. They can be run independently or through scheduled jobs.

SharePlex provides the following scripts:

• sp_eventmon monitors the SharePlex Event Log and reports errors that you specify in a special file.
• sp_logmon monitors how well Capture is keeping pace with the changes entering the redo logs. If Capture loses pace by a specified number of logs, sp_logmon alerts you before the logs wrap so that you can take corrective action.
• sp_ps monitors the SharePlex processes and notifies you if one or more are stopped so that you can correct the problem before the logs wrap or the queues exceed available disk space.
• sp_qstatmon monitors the status of the SharePlex queues and sends a warning if the backlog exceeds a threshold (limit) that you define. This enables you to take corrective action before the queues exceed available disk space and replication is adversely affected.

Important!

• These scripts run on Unix or Linux systems only.
• The monitoring scripts are overwritten with new scripts during patches and upgrades of SharePlex. Before you install the patch or upgrade, rename your existing scripts so that your customizing is retained. After applying the patches, update the new scripts with your customizing. Do not rename the existing scripts to replace the updated scripts, or you could lose important improvements or fixes.

Requirements for using the monitoring scripts

• These scripts must be run in the ksh shell.

• All monitoring scripts must remain in the directory where they were installed. All but sp_ps are in the .app-modules directory of the SharePlex installation directory. The sp_ps script is in the util directory of the installation directory.

• The scripts must be customized to reflect your environment, such as the type of e-mail or the paging available.

• To use the monitoring scripts, start sp_cop with the -uname name option, where name can be an identifier of your choice. Suggestions are:

  • the SharePlex port number
  • the ORACLE_SID of the instance for which replication is being monitored

  • the SharePlex Administrator’s name

• SharePlex must be running prior to executing a monitoring script.

• Verify the ORACLE_HOME (the path to the ORACLE_HOME directory) for each Oracle instance being monitored.

• The monitoring scripts make use of sp_ctrl commands. Before you use the scripts, make a link in the util sub-directory to the sp_ctrl binary in the bin sub-directory of the SharePlex product directory. Do not copy the binary itself, because that makes it difficult to maintain patches to sp_ctrl.

• Users of the monitoring utilities must have the following rights:

  • Local access to sp_ctrl and permission to run the script on the system on which the sp_cop to be monitored is running.
  • Korn (ksh) shell access and ps permission from the Unix or Linux command line.
  • Read, write and execute permissions to the directory where the scripts reside.
  • The permission on the iwgrep utility must be 755.
• The monitoring utilities use the mailx program to send e-mail notifications. Before using a script, make sure mailx is configured to send e-mail on all systems where the monitoring scripts will be deployed.
• Paging requires that your service provider supports receiving e-mails on your paging device.
• To kill any of the processes generated by these scripts, use the kill -9 command. The kill command alone does not kill all of the processes.