Reasons why your agents may not be running as expected

There are many reasons why an agent in Lotus Notes does not run—in this tip we cover a few common problem areas that you can easily verify with agentEZ.

Common problems that may potentially cause an agent not to run:

• Improperly signed agents could cause an agent not to run—finding and signing those agents would fix the issue
• Agents with the wrong Run on (server) setting won't run—check and correct this setting
• Some agents may be set to run on a schedule that can never work for them—verify the agent schedule easily
• An agent's Runtime Security Level could be incorrect—another factor in determining whether it runs or not
• If an agent's Run on behalf of is not set properly it will not run
• Scheduled agents are not allowed to use UI objects—if your agent code contains any, the scheduled agent will not run

Now you know what to look for—let's take a look at potential problem areas

1. Select the databases you are interested in and retrieve the agent data within them. Agents will be displayed in the grid.
2. With agentEZ you can see all relevant agent information by scrolling to the desired column in the grid. (Press Ctrl+L to load column details if it's greyed out by default)
The columns that you would investigate are as follows (respectively):
• Signature
• Run on
• Start running agent on this date and Stop running agent on this date
• Runtime Security Level
• Run on behalf of
3. Make use of the many grid features (click the icon in the column header) to pin-point the agents you want—grouping, filtering, and sorting agents in the grid are all readily available to you in agentEZ. You can also use the various search options to find any agent you want.

Now you can apply the changes you need to get your agents running

1. You can always select multiple agents that you want to change (hold Ctrl or Shift while clicking to make multiple selections).
2. Right-click your agent selection and select the desired option.

The relevant agent options to select in the right-click menu are as follows (respectively):

• Sign & Save Selected. This will sign all your selected agents. Alternatively, if you also have signEZ, you can use the Sign with another ID option. This will directly open signEZ so you can sign your agents with another (or any stored) ID
• Change "Run On"... to change the Run on server
• Change Runtime Properties... to change the Start running agent on this date and Stop running agent on this date values
• Change Generic Properties... to change Runtime Security Level setting
• Change Generic Properties... to change Run on behalf of setting
• Open in Designer... to open the agnet in Designer and verify the code for any UI objects
Note: Remember that whenever you save an agent you are also signing it at the same time.

Congratulations! You are now finished reading the many solutions provided by agentEZ that may help you discover why a Lotus Notes and Domino agent is not running and how to quickly fix it.

Watch a short Flash tutorial for a quick overview of agentEZ and all its features.

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