WebLogic Server Process Edition Overview

Process Monitoring and Management

This chapter presents an overview of the Process Configuration and Process Instance Monitoring modules of the WebLogic Server Process Edition Administration Console.

You use the Process Configuration module to:

• View process type information and locate specific processes for configuration.
• View or update process type properties, such as the display name, tracking level, and archiving policy.
• View or update the security policies for a process.
• Configure the activation time for a newly deployed process version, or rollback to a previous version.
• View an interactive or printable process type graph.
• View or update the selectors used to dynamically set control attributes for a Process or Service Broker control.

You use the Process Instance Monitoring module to:

• View summary statistics that reflect system health.
• View the summary or detailed status for selected instances.
• View an interactive or printable process instance graph.
• Terminate or suspend instances, resume previously suspended instances, or unfreeze frozen instances.

The following sections provide more information on the Process Configuration and Process Instance Monitoring modules:

• Process Configuration
• Process Instance Monitoring

 

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Process Configuration

You must be logged in as a member of the Administrators, IntegrationAdministrators, or IntegrationOperators group to make changes to the configuration for a process or dynamic control. IntegrationOperators cannot modify process security policies.

The following sections provide an overview of information related to business process administration:

• Managing Process Tracking Data
• Process Security Policies
• Service Level Agreements
• Process Versions
• Dynamic Controls

Managing Process Tracking Data

The data generated as process instances execute is initially stored in the run time database. The monitoring information provided in the console is based on this data. In order to optimize performance, it is important to keep the amount of tracking data stored in the run time database to a minimum. This is accomplished by:

• Capturing only the necessary data.
• Archiving the data to an offline database if required for later analysis.
• Purging the data from the runtime database when it is no longer needed for monitoring from the console.

A combination of system and process properties control the management of tracking data.

For more information, see "Managing Process Tracking Data" in Process Configuration in Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions.

Process Security Policies

To ensure process security, the administrator can configure the following security policies for a process:

• Execution policy for process operations

The execution policy specifies whether the operations in the process are run as the start user or the caller's ID:

• If start user is specified, each operation assumes the identity of the user that started the process.
• If the caller's ID is specified, the operation after the call in assumes the identity of that interrupting call.

In addition, the administrator configures whether or not a single principal is required. If a single principal is required, then all incoming client requests must come from the same user.

Execution policy controls the identity used to access external or backend resources. It allows the administrator to specify whether a process accesses an external system as the invoking application or as an application that called into the process later. For example, suppose a process listens for a message on a channel and then waits for a client request. The administrator can set the execution policy to use the identity from the client request when the process subsequently accesses SAP.

• Process authorization policy

The role(s) authorized to invoke the process methods (client requests). All methods in the process inherit the role(s) specified in the process authorization policy.

Note: If the process authorization policy is not defined, everyone is authorized.

• Method authorization policy

The role(s) authorized to invoke the process methods (client requests). All methods inherit the role(s) specified in the process authorization policy. Additional roles can be added to the authorization policy for the method.

• Callback authorization policy

The roles authorized to invoke the process callback.

Note: If the callback authorization policy is not defined, everyone is authorized.

To learn how to set the security policies, see "Updating Security Policies" in Process Configuration in Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions.

Service Level Agreements

A service level agreement (SLA) specifies a performance target for a process. It is typically an internal or external commitment that a process will be executed within a specified period of time.

To assist you in achieving the SLA for a process, the WebLogic Server Process Edition Administration Console allows you to set the following thresholds:

• SLA threshold, which represents the commitment applicable to the process type (number of seconds, minutes, hours, or days).
• SLA warning threshold, which is a percent of the total SLA.

Process status relative to these thresholds is tracked for each process instance as follows:

• When the elapsed time for a process instance reaches the warning threshold, a warning is displayed on the Process Instance Summary and Detail pages. The amount of time remaining until the SLA threshold will be reached is also displayed.
• When the elapsed time exceeds the SLA set, a red flag is displayed. The amount of time the SLA threshold has been exceeded is also displayed.

This ability to set SLA thresholds allows you to easily identify processes that do not execute within the target time frame. You can then make the changes necessary to meet agreements between suppliers and customers, or to achieve your own performance goals. To learn how to set the SLA for a process, see "Viewing and Changing Process Details" in Process Configuration in Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions.

Process Versions

When developers need to modify a deployed process, they must create a new process version and then release it into production along with older versions. When multiple versions are deployed, the system determines which version to use when creating new instances.

The administrator controls the release of a process version by:

• Enabling or disabling a version.
• Setting the activation time for a version.

When creating a new instance, the system selects the version with the most recent activation time from among the enabled versions. (A disabled version is not available for selection.)

When an administrator activates a process by setting its activation time, instances currently running are not affected. Only instances that are created after the new version becomes active are created based on the new version.

If a newly activated version experiences problems, a rollback is easily accomplished by doing one of the following:

• Updating the activation time on the prior version.
• Disabling the problem version. In this case, the enabled version with the most recent activation date becomes the active version.

To learn more about how to enable or disable a version, or to configure the activation time, see "Managing Process Versions" in Process Configuration in Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions.

Dynamic Controls

Dynamic controls, which currently include the Service Broker and Process controls, provide the means to dynamically set control attributes through a combination of look-up rules and look-up values. This process is known as dynamic binding. In dynamic binding, the process developer specifies look-up rules, and the administrator defines the look-up values. This design pattern allows control attributes to be reconfigured for a running application, without redeployment.

The look-up or selector values are stored in the DynamicProperties.xml file, which is located in the wliconfig subdirectory of the domain root. You can manage the values stored in the DynamicProperties.xml file from the View Dynamic Control Properties page of the Process Configuration module.

Dynamic binding changes made in the WebLogic Server Process Edition Console override both configuration changes made in the Workshop development environment and static annotations.

For more information on Process Configuration, see Process Configuration in Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions.

 

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Process Instance Monitoring

The information displayed in the Process Monitoring module is based on the tracking data stored in the run time database. A combination of system-level and process-level properties control the capture and archiving of data. To learn more about how tracking data is managed, see Managing Process Tracking Data.

The following table lists the pages you can access from the Process Instance Monitoring module. The tasks associated with each page are detailed.

Table 5-1 Process Instance Monitoring Tasks

Page	Associated Tasks
Process Instance Statistics	For each process type, the average elapsed time and a count of the number of instances in each state (running, suspended, aborted, frozen, terminated, completed, and above SLA) are displayed. Filter the list by URI or display name. Use ? to match any single character or * to match zero or more characters.
Process Instance Summary	View a list of process instances. Instance ID, display name, process label, start time, elapse time, and status (running, completed, frozen, aborted, suspended) are displayed. Filter the list by process status (for example, running, frozen, or over SLA), instance ID, or process label. Access the Process Instance Details page for a selected process. Set the number of instances to display per page. Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze process instances.
Advanced Search	Construct an advanced search using process properties such as status, time started or completed, elapsed time, or SLA status.
System Health	View general indicators of system health and performance trends by process type, including the process types that are taking the longest to execute, those that have not completed within SLA thresholds, and those that are failing to complete.
Process Instance Details	View process instance properties, including variable values for the running instance, worklist tasks created by or associated with the process, and business messages associated with the process. Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze the process instance. Access an interactive or printable process graph.

 

For more information on Process Instance Monitoring, see Process Instance Monitoring in Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions.