Keeping eDirectory Healthy
The health of directory services is vital to any organization. Regular health checks using Novell iMonitor will keep your directory running smoothly and will make upgrades and troubleshooting much easier.
When to Perform Health Checks
In general, if your network doesn't change often (servers and partitions are added only every couple of months and only simple changes are made frequently), perform health checks once a month.
If your network is more dynamic (partitions or servers are added weekly or your organization is reorganizing), perform health checks weekly.
Adjust the frequency of health checks as your environment changes. Factors that influence the timing of your health checks include the following:
- Number of partitions and replicas
- Stability of replica holding servers
- Amount of information in an eDirectory partition
- Object size and complexity
- Number of errors in previous DSRepairs
When you perform a health check, iMonitor gathers information from all servers based on given rights. Be aware that running health check reports might generate network traffic and use disk space.
Health Check Overview
A complete health check includes checking the following:
- eDirectory version
Running different versions of NDS or eDirectory on the same version of NetWare can cause synchronization problems. If your version of NDS or eDirectory is outdated, download the latest software patch from Novell Directory Services Patches and Files.
- Time synchronization
All eDirectory servers must maintain accurate time. Time stamps are assigned to each object and property and they ensure the correct order for object and property updates. Using time stamps, eDirectory determines which replicas need to be synchronized.
- Synchronization tolerances
Time periods since a server has synched with inbound and outbound data changes, how much data is outstanding, etc.
- Background processes
Processes that perform a variety of tasks including replication of changes and maintenance of system information.
- External references
- Obituaries
- eDirectory Schema
Step-by-step instructions for completing these checks are given in the following section, Checking eDirectory Health Using iMonitor.
Checking eDirectory Health Using iMonitor
Depending on your preference, you can perform an eDirectory server health check by using either of two methods in iMonitor:
Using the Navigator Frame
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Access iMonitor.
See Accessing iMonitor.
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In the Navigator frame, click the Reports icon
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In the Assistant frame, click the Report Config link.
A Runable Report List appears in the Data frame.
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Click the Configure Report icon
for your desired server information. A Server Information Report appears in the Data frame. You will use this report to select the desired options for your report.
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Check the Health Sub-Report check box.
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To run the report at specified intervals, select the desired options in the Schedule Report section of the Data frame.
IMPORTANT: If you run a scheduled report, it will run as public and might not be able to gather as much information as it would if you ran it as an authenticated user.
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Click Run Report to process the report.
Using the Assistant Frame
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Access iMonitor.
See Accessing iMonitor.
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In the Assistant frame, click Agent Health.
Health check information appears in the Data frame for the server that iMonitor is reading the information from (not necessarily the server that you are connected to).
Reviewing Report Information
After you have generated a report, the Data frame shows the report results. If you have servers that aren't healthy in your tree, the report is divided into three categories (grouping begins with servers that have the poorest health):
- Servers with warnings
- Servers that are suspect
- Servers that are OK
If none of your servers has warnings or is suspect, those categories are not shown.
For servers that are not healthy, you can click the Agent Health Sub-Report link 
next to each server. Use the online context-sensitive help to resolve the issues. This can help you determine what each of the options means and why it is important, how to resolve any issues, how to adjust the ranges, and whether you want certain options to be included in the health check.
IMPORTANT: If you have a server reported with warnings, we strongly recommend that you resolve the issues with that server. Servers that are suspect should also be evaluated.
For More Information
The tools and techniques used to keep eDirectory healthy are documented in the Novell Certified Directory Engineer Course 991: Advanced eDirectory Tools and Diagnostics. In this course you learn how to
- Perform eDirectory health checks.
- Perform eDirectory operations properly.
- Properly diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve eDirectory issues.
- Use eDirectory troubleshooting tools and utilities.
To learn more about this course, visit the Novell Training Services Web site.