Determine if a scheduled agent really ran during the night

We write a lot of critical logic into agents that are scheduled to run during the night. Sometimes agents don't run. Perhaps the administators turned down the server, changed access rights or someting else happened that stopped the agent for a night or more.

I created an application that stored contracts. To every contract the users can add dates when different parts of the contract ends and they need to preform some kind of action not to be forced into an expensive extension of the contract or miss out on some other benefits.

So a scheduled agent takes care of all the logic. Sending out e-mails to the responsible parties of every contract in good time before the last date of action is reached. But what if the agent doesn't run? Then the key function of my appliction doesn't deliver. So I did the following: In the database post open event (well hidden as other - database resources - database script) I check to see if the agent that should have been running this night really did run. Every time a user opens the database, the application checks to see if it is working as expected. No magic in the code but it makes the application more stable.

MEMBER FEEDBACK TO THIS TIP

This code works great, and I've used it as an easy way to have a ...

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Agent Run or restart Notes/Domino agents via text messages Approve Lotus Notes documents using a BlackBerry mobile device LotusScript agent indexes Lotus Notes/Domino databases Open documents in Lotus Notes from the Web without a UNID Fix and update Lotus Notes documents with limited access Verify scheduled agent status with Domino Extensible Language (DXL) How to export data from a Lotus Notes database to a CSV file Enable or disable scheduled agents without opening the Lotus Notes database design Creating custom views in Lotus Notes databases Editing fields in a Lotus Notes view with Ajax Lotus Notes Domino Agents How the Agent Profiler tool improves Notes/Domino performance Run or restart Notes/Domino agents via text messages Calculating results for a column in a Lotus Notes view Approve Lotus Notes documents using a BlackBerry mobile device LotusScript agent indexes Lotus Notes/Domino databases Top 10 Lotus Notes/Domino coding and development tips of 2008 Open documents in Lotus Notes from the Web without a UNID Fix and update Lotus Notes documents with limited access Verify scheduled agent status with Domino Extensible Language (DXL) Top 10 Lotus Notes Domino programming and development tips of 2007

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

single code set that can be scheduled to run in different environments with minimal fuss. Before you get too confident in this, though, check on what happens when your called agent exceeds the runtime limits for the server.
—B. Hawthorne

******************************************

Yes, you are right. If the agent exceeds the runtime limit, some work might not be done, but the script reports nothing. In my case, this is unlikely since the agent really hasn't that much to do and we allow quite a long agent runtime during the night. An enhancement is to read the agent log and log success or failure to the log, as well as check for that in the script above.
—Erik Rydberg, tip author

Do you have comments on this tip? Let us know.

This tip was submitted to the SearchDomino.com tip exchange by member Erik Rydberg. Please let others know how useful it is via the rating scale at the end of the tip. Do you have a useful Notes/Domino tip or code to share? Submit it to our bimonthly tip contest and you could win a prize and a spot in our Hall of Fame.

Rate this Tip To rate tips, you must be a member of SearchDomino.com. Register now to start rating these tips. Log in if you are already a member. DISCLAIMER: Our Tips Exchange is a forum for you to share technical advice and expertise with your peers and to learn from other enterprise IT professionals. TechTarget provides the infrastructure to facilitate this sharing of information. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of the material submitted. You agree that your use of the Ask The Expert services and your reliance on any questions, answers, information or other materials received through this Web site is at your own risk.