Preparing Your System for Planned Outages

 

Occasionally, some or all of your WebLogic JAM system may need to be shut down for planned outages. Depending on what hardware or software component is going to be taken out of service, you will need to shut down different parts of your WebLogic JAM system. If you have configured you WebLogic JAM system with redundancy, part of your system can be shut down while the remaining components continue to function.

Depending on the type of outage, a different WebLogic JAM component will have to be shut down. If a remote region is to be taken offline, you should shut down the CRM Links to that region. If a mainframe is to be taken offline, you should shut down any CRM that runs on this mainframe. If an instance of WebLogic Server is to be shut down, you should stop the Gateway that runs in this instance. This section provides information on the following subjects:

• Shutting Down a Remote Region

• Shutting Down a Mainframe

• Shutting Down an Instance of WebLogic Server

 

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Shutting Down a Remote Region

1. If a region that your WebLogic JAM system is connected to is going to be taken out of service, you should stop all CRM Links that connect to this region. To see what CRM Links connect to this region from the WebLogic Administration Console, use the following steps:
    
   
   
    

2. From the WebLogic JAM home page, click the type of region (Batch, CICS, IMS) that you want to shut down. The List Regions page displays.
    
   
   
    

3. In the Linked CRMs column, click the list for the region that is going out of service.
   
   
    

4. For each listed CRM link, click the status icon. The Start/Stop Link page displays.
   
   
    

5. Click Stop to stop the CRM Link.

6. Click the Back button to return to the list of CRM Links connected to this region. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all CRM Links for this region are stopped.

Note: Once the region is back in service you can repeat this process to restart the CRM Links

 

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Shutting Down a Mainframe

If you must shut down the mainframe on which the CRM is running, you should stop the CRM prior to shutting down the mainframe. To shut down the CRM, see Stopping the CRM. Once the CRM is down, all Gateways connected to this CRM will automatically terminate.

 

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Shutting Down an Instance of WebLogic Server

If you need to shut down an instance of WebLogic Server, and it has a Gateway running in it, you must stop the Gateway prior to shutting down the WebLogic Server instance. To shut down a Gateway, see Starting and Stopping a Gateway. When the instance of WebLogic Server is restarted, the Gateway will automatically start during WebLogic Server startup as long as it is deployed.

 

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Unplanned Outages

When you plan for outages and perform the appropriate steps to administer your WebLogic JAM components, you can institute predictable and continuous support for your server environment. Occasionally components in your system will terminate unexpectedly.

The following are some unexpected outages that you might plan for.

• Application Region Terminates

• z/OS or OS/390 Region Terminates

Application Region Terminates

The JAM gateway and CRM cannot detect when an application region (CICS, IMS or batch) terminates unexpectedly. There is no notification of this termination to the CRM, and the status of the link remains active. The WebLogic JAM Gateway and CRM continue to process requests on that link. When a request is sent to the inactive region over the active link, then the request will fail and a failure message is returned to the CRM and the Gateway.

As soon as the region terminates, the administrator should use the CRM console or command line administration tool to terminate the link to the region. When the region is restarted, use the tools to restart the link to the region. For information on how to restart the link, see Starting and Stopping CRM Links.

If transactions were in flight when the region terminated, then you should check to see if any transactions must be recovered. For more information on recovering transactions, see Recovery.

z/OS or OS/390 Region Terminates

If the mainframe region where the CRM process is running terminates unexpectedly, a WebLogic JAM Gateway associated with the CRM recognizes that the CRM is no longer available and shuts down. However, the Gateway will go into an automatic restart state. When the CRM is restarted, all of the WebLogic JAM Gateways associated with the CRM will automatically reestablish communication with the CRM.

The CRM should only be restarted after all of its application regions are ready for use. If the CRM cannot automatically connect to the region, you should use the command line or console tools to start the CRM links when the region is ready. For more information, see Starting and Stopping CRM Links.

If transactions were in flight when the mainframe region terminated, then you should check to see if any transactions must be recovered. For more information on recovering transactions, see Recovery.