Lesson 1

1. Oracle Intelligent Agent (OIA)
   • Used in: Oracle 8.1.5, 8i, and 9i
   • Function: Enabled Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Classic to communicate with the database for jobs, events, and monitoring.
   • Protocol: SNMP-based communication
   • Status: Deprecated after 9i
2. Enterprise Manager 10g Agent
   • Introduced in: Oracle 10g
   • Replaces: Oracle Intelligent Agent
   • Function: Improved communication and monitoring capabilities using the Oracle Management Service (OMS) in Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control.
   • Protocol: HTTPS (no longer SNMP)
   • Status: Foundation for modern agent architecture
3. ✅ Oracle Management Agent (OMA) — Modern Successor
   • Used in: Oracle 11g, 12c, 18c, 19c, 21c, 23ai, etc.
   • Successor to: Enterprise Manager 10g Agent
   • Works with: Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (starting from 12c and beyond)
   • Function:
     • Secure, bidirectional communication with OMS
     • Host-level and DB-level metric collection
     • Automatic discovery of Oracle targets
     • Job scheduling and script execution

📈 Timeline of Oracle Agent Evolution

Oracle Version	Agent Technology	Key Tool Used With	Notes
8i, 9i	Oracle Intelligent Agent	OEM Console (Java-based)	SNMP-based, local job/event support
10g	Enterprise Manager Agent	OEM 10g Grid Control	HTTPS, centralized monitoring
11g → 19c+	Oracle Management Agent	OEM Cloud Control (12c+)	Modern agent with advanced features

🔁 In Summary: The progression went from Oracle Intelligent Agent → Enterprise Manager 10g Agent → Oracle Management Agent (OMA).
In today's Oracle environments, especially with Oracle 19c and OEM 13c—Oracle Management Agent (OMA) is the definitive and supported agent for all monitoring, automation, and target communication.

This module takes a close look at Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM). OEM is designed to be a centralized console from which you can display and monitor all the databases in your environment. Because all the components connect to OEM via Oracle Network Services, understanding the OEM console is an important part of Oracle networking.
The module begins with a brief tour of the OEM console, visiting the four quadrants of the OEM display:

1. The Navigator window displays all schema information for each database.
2. The Job Scheduling window allows the Oracle DBA to schedule remote database tasks.
3. The Map window provides a graphical map of your entire distributed Oracle database topology.
4. The Event Management window allows for the definition of customized alerts.

We will then turn our attention to the distributed networking capabilities of the Event Manager Console.

The Oracle Management Agent (OMA) is the backbone of the Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) infrastructure—it serves as the bridge between monitored Oracle targets and the OEM server (Oracle Management Service or OMS).
🔌 How OMA Communicates with OEM

1. 1. Agent-to-OMS Communication (Push Model)
   • Direction: Agent ➡️ OMS
   • Protocol: Secure HTTPS
   • Port: Typically port 4903 (or whatever is configured during OEM setup)
   • Data Sent:
     • Collected metrics
     • Alert notifications
     • Target discovery data
     • Job results
   • Mechanism: The OMA initiates and maintains communication sessions with OMS in a push-based model—no need for OMS to poll the agent.
2. 2. OMS-to-Agent Communication (Command Execution)
   • Direction: OMS ➡️ Agent
   • Protocol: HTTPS (reverse communication established when needed)
   • Use Cases:
     • Deploying patches or plug-ins
     • Executing jobs (e.g., RMAN backups, shell scripts)
     • Starting diagnostic collections (like ADDM, AWR snapshots)
3. 3. Target-to-Agent Communication (Local Monitoring)
   • OMA runs on the same host as the Oracle target (database, ASM, listener, etc.).
   • Communicates locally using:
     • OS-level commands
     • SQL*Net for database access
     • Log scraping (e.g., alert logs)
     • Listeners via lsnrctl

🔐 Security and Authentication

• OMA and OMS use X.509 digital certificates for mutual authentication.
• All communication is encrypted over HTTPS using SSL/TLS.
• Access control is enforced through target privileges and role-based access in OEM.

🧠 Example Workflow
Let’s say OEM is monitoring an Oracle 19c database using OMA:

1. OMA wakes up every minute to collect metrics (CPU, tablespace usage, etc.).
2. It packages this data and sends it securely over HTTPS to the OEM OMS.
3. OMS stores the data in the OEM Repository (hosted in an Oracle DB).
4. If a job is scheduled (e.g., RMAN backup), OMS pushes the command to the agent.
5. The agent executes it locally and reports results back to OMS.

🧭 Diagram (Text-Based)

[ Oracle Target ] <--local--> [ OMA ] <--HTTPS--> [ OMS ] --> [ OEM Repository ]
     DB, ASM,                  Agent              OMS (Web/App)       Oracle DB
   Listener, etc.                                (port 4903)

This module takes a close look at Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM). OEM is designed to be a centralized console from which you can display and monitor all the databases in your environment. Because all the components connect to OEM via Oracle Net Services, understanding the OEM console is an important part of Oracle networking.
The module begins with a brief tour of the OEM console, visiting the four quadrants of the OEM display:

1. The Navigator window displays all schema information for each database.
2. The Job Scheduling window allows the Oracle DBA to schedule remote database tasks.
3. The Map window provides a graphical map of your entire distributed Oracle database topology.
4. The Event Management window allows for the definition of customized alerts.

We will then turn our attention to the distributed networking capabilities of the Event Manager Console.

Multi-Threaded Server was replaced by Oracle Shared Server beginning with Oracle 9i. Additional background processes may exist when you use certain other features of the database: For example, shared servers (formerly the Multi-Threaded Server or MTS prior to Oracle9i), or job queues and replication.

After completing this module, you will be able to:

1. Define an Intelligent Agent on each remote server.
2. Use the event manager console to attach to the intelligent agents that run on the remote servers.
3. Define alert thresholds in the event manager console.

The next lesson provides an overview of the OEM console.

[1]Oracle Intelligent Agent:The Oracle Intelligent Agent is an autonomous process running on a remote node in the network. The Agent resides on the same target as the services it supports and performs the following functions: Checks for events, and queueing the resulting event reports for Oracle Enterprise Manager.