| The following are checklists of items to note and information to gather when you have a problem with your directory. Directory Outages -
Are directory clients timing out, or are their connections being refused by the server? -
Are all network components (routers, hubs, switches, cables) between the clients and the servers functional? -
Is the directory server machine running? If not, has the hardware failed? -
Are all hardware components on the directory server machine functioning properly? Have any operating system logs recorded hardware failures? -
Is the directory server process running? If so, is it consuming any CPU time? Is it consuming too much CPU time? Is it causing any disk activity? -
If the directory server process is not running, did it fail when processing a particular client request? Does it fail each time it receives such a request? Repeated failures of the same type of request might represent a denial-of-service attack, or it might simply be a bug. Performance Problems -
Are specific types of directory operations performing poorly, or is the overall performance of the server poor? -
Are appropriate attribute indexes being maintained on the directory server? -
Is the directory server process too large? If so, does it become too large immediately on startup or gradually over time? -
Are the cache sizes of the directory (if any) configured appropriately ( neither too small nor too large)? -
Are other processes running on the directory server machine causing the poor performance? -
Is the directory under a particularly heavy load? Is this load expected? If it is excessive, is one particular client or application accounting for most of the load? -
Is the operating system correctly tuned , and are all appropriate patches installed? The dsktune utility provided with Netscape Directory Server can help you answer these questions. Problems with Directory Data -
Is data missing or incorrect? -
Does the data appear to be corrupted in a catastrophic manner? Such damage indicates a serious hardware or software problem. -
Is the data damaged in a specific way? For example, have certain entries been erroneously deleted? Can the source of the erroneous modifications be determined by examination of directory server logs? Security Problems -
Are there telltale signs of a break-in, such as connections from an unexpected location or unexpected modifications to directory entries? -
Do directory logs show unexpected client activity? -
Is the directory experiencing a denial-of-service attack? (Such an attack usually overwhelms available server resources.) If so, is the source of the attack known? |