This FAQ contains frequently asked questions about agents.
The first part of the FAQ is an index of my articles about agents. They are a good place to start.
The second part is a compilation of commonly asked questions and answers, which provide additional information to the topics covered in the articles.
Index to all my agent articles.
02/01/07 New Out of office functionality to replace Out of office agent in ND8:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes8-ooo/
09/20/2005 Lotus Notes Out of Office Agent, revisited: Part 1 (R6,R7)
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ooo-pt1/index.html
09/27/2005 Lotus Notes Out of Office Agent, revisited: Part 2 (R6,R7)
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ooo-pt2/index.html
11/02/1998 Demystifying the Out of Office agent 4.6,5.0
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Out_of_Office_agent/
01/02/2003 Troubleshooting agents in Notes/Domino 5 and 6
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Troubleshooting_agents_ND5_6/
03/02/1998 Troubleshooting agents 4.6
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Troubleshooting_agents/
03/29/05 Troubleshooting application performance
Part 1: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/app-troubleshooting1/
Part2: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/app-troubleshooting2/
11/04/2002 Minimizing delays in the Agent Manager
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Agent_Manager/
10/01/2002 Decoding the new Notes/Domino 6 agent features
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-ND6NewAgentFeatures/
04/01/1999 Out of the Inbox: Mail processing with the new R5 mail agents
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Mail_processing_with_R5_mail_agents/
12/01/1999 Run and RunOnServer: Adding Parameters
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Run_and_RunOnServer/
03/02/1998 Julie Kadashevich: Managing the Agent Manager
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Julie_Kadashevich/
08/26/1997 Controlling the agents in your system
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Controlling_agents/
Out of the Inbox: Mail processing with the new R5 mail agents:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Mail_processing_with_R5_mail_agents/
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1) How to change the apparent sender of the agent generated mail.
Information on three different ways to do it with code samples has been moved to the "Troubleshooting agents" article.
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/today.nsf/62f62847467a8f78052568a80055b380/ef1565a0b202808285256c94004fd0fb?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,kadashevich
Related information not covered in the article:
What is $INetFrom:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/7de5b937e6b113438525680f006f3597?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,inetfrom
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/0a2fb58af0864fff852568e30055b386?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,inetfrom
And if you have problems even if you have used the right syntax and followed instructions:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/61c58ede8a7178458525693c006129b6?OpenDocument
From field has format name%doman@company.com, how do to drop %doman portion:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/9253ec348d06535b852569f20067617b?OpenDocument
2) Agent security problems (including trying to reach another server from an agent running in the background)
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/today.nsf/62f62847467a8f78052568a80055b380/ef1565a0b202808285256c94004fd0fb?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,kadashevich
If you receive a warning in Designer while attempting to save an agent
"You do not have execution access privileges for this agent on server X". This indicates one of two things: either the agent signer does not have the rights on the scheduled server, or that server is not reachable to check the signer rights. Running agent "test" in the Designer will give you a better indication if there is a problem or not.
3) How to figure out why the agent does not run:
for 5.0 and 6.0
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/today.nsf/62f62847467a8f78052568a80055b380/ef1565a0b202808285256c94004fd0fb?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,kadashevich
for 4.6
http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/9148b29c86ffdcd385256658007aaa0f/27f79cb66e381900852565b6006d2eb4?OpenDocument
---IMPORTANT:---
If these tips don't help you figure it out on your own, when you post in the forum please include in your post screen shot of server log output with agent manager debug flags set to '*' (best) and/or diagnostic output of "agent test" (a good second choice when you don't have access to the server log)
4) Problems with Out of office agent (for 4.6x and 5.0x)
http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/f01245ebfc115aaf8525661a006b86b9/b4919339851c0c0f852566ac005e4163?OpenDocument
Why does the mail come from the another id and not the user:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/170b4dabc3e433238525694b004f038f?OpenDocument
Multiple notifications from the same person (when only one should be generated):
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/f38889dd3bb97c5b8525695e006c9c13?OpenDocument
The user continues to get requests to disable the agent after he disabled it:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21087052
If you have other problems with this agent, follow tips in faq#3 and/or faq#14, they apply to all agents including Out of Office.
Common questions and answers about OOO from the support database:
http://www.ibm.com/Search?v=11&lang=en&cc=us&q=out+of+office&Search.x=21&Search.y=13
5) "Do you know why I get 'Object variable not set'?"
This is a result of a logic error in the code. The problem should become clear if
you single step through the code in debugger (File - Tools -LotusScript debugging).
6) Virus scanning for '.vbs' (or other attachements), "I Love you", etc. and dealing with SPAM
Basics of how to do it:
http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/f01245ebfc115aaf8525661a006b86b9/4897c5b8c2737e088525674300751711?OpenDocument
Modifications of the example in the article for 'vbs' extention
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/50a63f294f837b03852568e400711272?OpenDocument
Also there are 4 articles about handling SPAM in Notes.net archives (under Iris today at the top of the page), here is a link to one of them:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/a828a133c898b6c58525690c0031d590?OpenDocument
7) Problems with mail agents:
Common gotchas explained here:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/today.nsf/62f62847467a8f78052568a80055b380/ef1565a0b202808285256c94004fd0fb?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,kadashevich
Your server might be configured to delay execution of your agents:
http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/cbb328e5c12843a9852563dc006721c7/4501ebd065a0759e8525654000641bef?OpenDocument
Comparison of different types of new mail agents, including how to get your hands on the mail message:
http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/f01245ebfc115aaf8525661a006b86b9/4897c5b8c2737e088525674300751711?OpenDocument
Foreign domains and agent processing:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/46dom.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/54c088c492bf26ae85256c0c006b3d50?OpenDocument
---IMPORTANT:---
If these tips don't help you figure it out on your own, when you post in the forum please include in your post screen shot of server log output with agent manager debug flags set to '*' (best) and/or diagnostic output of "agent test" (a good second choice when you don't have access to the server log)
8) Parsing arguments for web agents
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/f432df46f2e7bab1852568ff006e2c99?OpenDocument
9) How to pass parameters between agents
http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/f01245ebfc115aaf8525661a006b86b9/3c3d5608e087c9628525683100504834?OpenDocument
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/DateAllThreadedWeb/c75a6454536654d785256b6d0063ccd2?OpenDocument
10) What to do when Notes crashed with PANIC or OleMainThreadWndName.
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/ca71a5fde57f245285256900006a3e95?OpenDocument
11) How to sign an agent with a server.id
For 5.0 - 5.06
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/aeeb83bfeeac1d878525690d000f3954?OpenDocument
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/5d7279f1bf8ff7a98525690b00214fb1?OpenDocument
Additional option in 5.06 and later
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/bd7536dfc74fa4ad852569ab006b309b?OpenDocument
Admin Tools have a database utility that allows you to sign all design elements (which includes agents) in various databases.
12) How to issue console commands from an agent
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/df537c4a2ff2611f8525689c005c6bf2/9e22db94e39d43a88525690d001f1f37?OpenDocument
13) Agents runs but mail is not being sent
If your agent runs to completion (i.e. no run time errors that stop the agent before it gets to the
send logic) this symptom usually means that it is configuration issue, not an agent problem.
Here are some things to check (this is not a complete list, just common things)
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/434e319a66960d8385256857005cd97b/AF4AC45DD7A55F848525686E00559EED?OpenDocument
Some causes of "the remote server is not a known tcp/ip host"
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/e19b1c65c84b170885256935004e453d?OpenDocument
See related tech note at the end of this post:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/c73b77a707cb66c9852569270060d606?OpenDocument
Another possible cause for "Unable to find path to server" (bug in NT 4.0)
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/8bfe7931e23dbc7d85256777005779cb?OpenDocument
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/df537c4a2ff2611f8525689c005c6bf2/8b4a0f4d03b21c82852568d8004eaa3d?OpenDocument
Note: Running with hard-coded IP address is not recommended but it will help you identify where the problem is.
If you are using a formula @MailSend check if you have a default view.
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd6forum.nsf/DateAllThreadedweb/0be0c484d95c1b0f852570a100456585?OpenDocument
14) Forcing login with an url
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/24051936c5521c238525690d006d7ed5?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,mika,session,authentication
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/14a6257fadfc0c0d85256922006753c4?OpenDocument
15) Memory management with recycle() method for Java back end classes (applies to 4.6x,5.0x.6.0x,7.0x)
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/4600bba5f42ed834852569290053739e?OpenDocument
Additional information about recycle method
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd6forum.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/3028acdd0eb5e0c785256ed200791765?OpenDocument
16) Profile documents
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/c8854aca300338c985256934005a54c8?OpenDocument
17) Performance
Two new (2005) application performance articles:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/app-troubleshooting1/
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/app-troubleshooting2/
In addition to performance articles in Notes.net archives, here is another excellent reference:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/notesua.nsf/572150f5ef0dfb1385256cb8005224be/9c38d073af93364b00256c3100441954?OpenDocument
A tool that assists with analyzing performance bottlenecks:
http://www.eview.com/eview/viewr5.nsf/e640f630a3361f84852568f600070fd3/61fb8d0e2748d24c85256a55007c9543?OpenDocument&Highlight=2,stopwatch
18) Is there a way I can get a handle to the shell command to see when it finishes ?
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/92d71ea9b0014c7285256964005ab2dc?OpenDocument
19) ODBC and AIX problems
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/7d6a87824e2f09768525655b0050f2f2/bb5ffc05ccd792bc852569e0003a795a?OpenDocument
20) This forum is not a venue for official bug reports, if you want to report a bug:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/8fcda5a283f280b2852565590071d8af/563d79643f9a35d28525693e0055acb3?OpenDocument
21) Tempted to sign agents with server id? Read about the drawbacks:
http://www.notes.net/46dom.nsf/df537c4a2ff2611f8525689c005c6bf2/d2fbda71c48f9013852569fb004cf473?OpenDocument
Note that overuse of this practice will become even less desirable in Release 6 as the server id will be even more powerful, so the users should be more careful deciding when to use it.
22) Agent cluster failover is supported natively in Domino only for "before delivery mail agents."
Additional information:
Failover Support for Background Agents on Clustered Domino Servers — A Solution for Your Lotus Workflow and Domino Applications
by Luciano Resende
http://www.eview.com/eview/viewr5.nsf/e640f630a3361f84852568f600070fd3/708b2f8f04e509ae85256ba5006a98a9?OpenDocument&Highlight=2,cluster
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Lotus Notes/Domino Agent FAQ update... (Julie Kadashevi... 12.Oct.00) 
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