Managing WebLogic Integration Solutions

Process Instance Monitoring

This section provides the information you need to use the Process Instance Monitoring module of the WebLogic Integration Administration Console 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.

Note: You must be logged in as a member of the Administrators, IntegrationAdministrators, or IntegrationOperators group to make changes to process status. See Default Groups, Roles, and Security Policies.

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

The following topics are provided:

• Overview of the Process Instance Monitoring Module
• Requirements for the Interactive Graph
• Viewing Instance Statistics by Process Type
• Viewing System Health Statistics
• Listing and Locating Process Instances
• Constructing an Advanced Search
• Viewing Process Instance Details
• Viewing an Interactive or Printable Process Instance Graph
• Suspending, Resuming, Terminating, or Unfreezing Process Instances

 

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Overview of the Process Instance Monitoring Module

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

Page	Associated Tasks	Topics
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.	Viewing Instance Statistics by Process Type
	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.	Listing and Locating Process Instances
	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.	Suspending, Resuming, Terminating, or Unfreezing Process Instances
Advanced Search	Construct an advanced search using process properties such as status, time started or completed, elapsed time, or SLA status.	Constructing an Advanced Search
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.	Viewing System Health Statistics
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.	Viewing Process Instance Details
	Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze the process instance.	Suspending, Resuming, Terminating, or Unfreezing Process Instances
	Access an interactive or printable process graph.	Viewing an Interactive or Printable Process Instance Graph

 

 

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Requirements for the Interactive Graph

To view the interactive process graph, Adobe SVG Viewer must be installed on the client system. If the server is running on Solaris, verify that your operating environment is set up to support this feature. The following section provides the information you need:

• Obtaining the SVG Viewer
• Using Adobe SVG Viewer with Netscape 7.0 on Windows
• Server Operating Environment Requirements for Solaris

Obtaining the SVG Viewer

The interactive process graph requires Adobe SVG Viewer Version 3.0x. You can download the viewer from the Adobe Web site (http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html).

This viewer is not available for some configurations that WebLogic Platform 8.1 supports. The following table provides viewer availability by browser and operating system. Detailed information about the operating systems and browsers WebLogic Platform supports is provided at the following URL:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/suppconfigs/index.html

Note: If you are running in an English locale (for example, en_US or en_AU), and need to view processes that contain non-latin characters, we recommend that you install the Arial Unicode MS font. To learn more, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q287247/

Browser	Operating System	Adobe SVG Viewer 3.0x Availability
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x	Windows	Viewer is available from Adobe.
Netscape 7.0x	Windows	Requires a workaround. See Using Adobe SVG Viewer with Netscape 7.0 on Windows.
	Solaris	3.0 beta 1 version of viewer available from http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html
	Linux	3.0 beta 1 version of viewer available from http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html
	HP-UX	Viewer is not available from Adobe.
	AIX	Viewer is not available from Adobe.
Netscape 7.1	Any	Viewer is not available from Adobe.
Mozilla 1.x	Linux	Viewer is not available from Adobe.

 

Using Adobe SVG Viewer with Netscape 7.0 on Windows

Before viewing an interactive process graph in Netscape 7.0 on Windows, you must install Version 3.0 of the Adobe SVG Viewer as described in the following procedure.

To install the Adobe SVG Viewer with Netscape 7.0:

Download version 3.0 of the viewer.
Close Netscape.
Install the viewer.
Copy NPSVG3.dll from the viewer installation directory to your Netscape Plugins folder. For example, copy the file from C:\WINNT\system32\Adobe\SVG Viewer 3.0 to C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape\Plugins.

Server Operating Environment Requirements for Solaris

Like many Java platform applications in the Solaris operating environment, the ability to serve up an Interactive Process Graph is dependent on the presence of one of the following:

• X server and hardware graphics adapter.
• Xvfb "virtual frame buffer" X server, which allows applications to render in the main memory of the computer instead of the hardware graphics adapter.
• Xsun, the X display server.

If the server is in an environment where there is no guarantee of an X server running, you will need to install either Xvfb or Xsun to support client access to interactive process graphs.

For a discussion of the issues and instructions, see "Seeing Up Solaris 7, 8, and 9 Operating Environments for Java Servlet Graphics" at http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/solaris_graphics.html

Note: Headless operation doesn't allow the use of Java Foundation Classes (Swing), and therefore does not address the issues.

 

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Viewing Instance Statistics by Process Type

The Process Instance Statistics page lists the display name and average elapsed time for each process type. It also provides a count of the number of instances in each state (running, suspended, aborted, frozen, terminated, completed, and SLA exceeded). The counts are based on tracking data stored in the runtime database and do not include process data that has been purged.

 

Note: For stateless processes, N/A is displayed in the running instances column. These processes start and end in a single transaction.

To view the process instance statistics:

From the home page, select the Process Instance Monitoring module.
To locate a specific process, do one of the following:
• Filter by display name or URI. Enter the search target, then click URI or Name. The processes matching the search criteria are displayed.
• Resort the list. Ascending and descending arrow buttons indicate sortable columns. Click the button to change the sort order.
• Scroll through the pages. Use the controls in the lower left corner. Go to a page by selecting the page number or by using the arrow buttons to go to the next , previous , first , or last page.
To view additional information about the instances of a selected type, select the process display name. To view additional information about the instances of a selected type that are in a specific state, select the number. The Process Instance Summary page displays only those instances that match the selection. See Listing and Locating Process Instances.

 

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Viewing System Health Statistics

The System Health page provides an overview of system health by identifying processes that may be experiences problems.

 

The following indicators are displayed:

• Highest Average Elapsed Time
  The process name and average elapsed time for processes with the highest average elapsed time are displayed.
• Worst SLA Performance
  The process name and rate for processes with the worst SLA performance are displayed. Both the percentage of instances that exceeded the SLA, and a ratio of the instances that exceeded SLA to the total number of instances, are displayed in the rate column.
• Lowest Success Rate
  The process name and rate for processes with the lowest success rate are displayed. Both the percentage of instances that failed, and a ratio of the instances that failed to the total number of instances, are displayed in the rate column.

For each of the above, the data displayed is divided into the following categories:

• Since Last Purge
• Last 24 Hours
• Active instances (not applicable to lowest success rate).

Each process name displayed on the page is a link to the Process Instance Summary page for the process type.

To view the system health statistics:

From the home page, select the Process Instance Monitoring module.
From the left panel, select System Health.

 

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Listing and Locating Process Instances

The Process Instance Summary page displays the following information for each process instance. For a more detailed description of the properties, see Viewing Process Instance Details.

 

Note: The process instances are sorted by start time, most recent first.

Property	Description
ID	Process Instance ID. This is a link to the Process Instance Detail page. See Viewing Process Instance Details.
Display name	Display name assigned to the process. If more than one version of the process is deployed, the version number is appended.
Process Label	Label for the process instance. The label is generated for each instance and typically reflects a value specific to the instance. For example, an order number, customer number, DUNS number, or some other value of use in auditing. To learn more about how the process label is set, see the JpdContext Interface in Building Integration Applications in the WebLogic Workshop help.
Start Time	Time this instance started.
Elapsed Time	Time elapsed since instance start. The units reported depend on the duration. From 0 to 99 msecs, duration is reported in milliseconds. For example, 28 msecs. From 99 msecs to one hour, duration is reported to the second. For example, 56 m 48.2 sec. From one hour to one week, duration is reported to the minute. For example, 2 d 2 h 6 m. From one week to one month, duration is reported to the hour. For example, 25 d 3.5 h. Greater than one month, duration is reported to the day. For example, 67 d.
Status	The current state of the instance (Running, Completed, Suspended, Terminated, Frozen, Aborted). Note: Because stateless processes start and finish in a single transaction, these processes are never in the running state.

 

To list and locate process types:

From the home page, select the Process Instance Monitoring module.
In the left panel, click View All.
To locate a specific process, do one of the following:
• Select a default filter from the Go drop-down list. The following options are available:
  
• Filter by instance ID. Enter the required instance ID, then click Instance ID. The instance identified is displayed.

Note: Only the exact match is displayed. Do not use wildcards.

• Filter by Process Label. Enter the search target, then click Process Label. Instances with a label that contains the search target are displayed.

Note: This is a containment query. Do not use wildcards.

• Scroll through the pages. Use the controls in the lower left corner. Go to a page by selecting the page number or by using the arrow buttons to go to the next , previous , first , or last page.
• Use the advanced search page. See Constructing an Advanced Search.

 

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Constructing an Advanced Search

The Advanced Search page allows you to construct a complex process instance search.

 

The following table summarizes the available search criteria.

Setting	Description
From the Service URI drop-down list, select the Service URI.	Select from a list of the process types deployed. The default is any.
From the Status drop-down list, select a the status.	Specify the process status. The options are as follows:   The default is any.
In the Started ... section, select the Anytime, After, or Before option button. If you selected After or Before, use the corresponding drop-down lists to specify a time.	Specify the target range for process instance start time.
In the Completed ... section, select the Anytime, After, or Before option button. If you selected After or Before, use the corresponding drop-down list to specify a time.	Specify the target range for process instance completion time.
In the Elapsed Time section, specify the Any, More Than, or Less Than option button. If you selected More Than or Less Than, use the corresponding drop-down lists to specify the time period.	Specify the target time period for process instance elapsed time.
Select the appropriate SLA Status option button.	Specify one of the following options: Any Exceeded SLA Exceeded SLA or SLA Warning Threshold Exceeded SLA Warning Threshold, but not SLA
In the Label Contains field, enter the target search string.	Specify a search target. The search returns processes instances with a label that contains the search target that also match the other specified criteria. Note: This is a containment query. Do not use wildcards.

 

 

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Viewing Process Instance Details

The Process Instance Detail page allows you to:

• View process properties.
• View an interactive or printable process graph.
• Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze a process instance.
• Navigate to a parent or child process instance.

Note: If No Data is displayed, the process instance details are not available. Either the data is not being captured at the tracking level configured for the process, or the information has been purged. It is possible for an instance ID to be displayed even though the associated instance data has been purged. For example, although the data for an instance may be purged after the instance has completed, the instance ID can remain in the runtime database because it is included as part of the tracking data associated with any parent or child instances that have not yet been purged.

 

To view process instance details:

Locate the process. See Listing and Locating Process Instances.
Click the process ID to display the Process Instance Details page.
To view an interactive or printable process graph, click Graphical View or Printable Graph.

Note: Your browser must meet certain requirements to view the interactive graph. See Requirements for the Interactive Graph. To learn more about the interactive process view, see Viewing an Interactive or Printable Process Instance Graph.

The following table summarizes the information displayed on the Process Instance Detail page.

Property	Description
Instance ID	Process instance ID.
Service URI	The process URI. If there are multiple versions of the process, a version number is appended.
Status	Current status of the process.
	Running	The process is running. Note: Because stateless processes start and finish in a single transaction, these processes are never in the running state.
	Completed	The process finished.
	Suspended	The process was suspended.
	Terminated	The process was terminated.
	Aborted	The process threw an unhandled exception. Aborted processes can only be terminated.
	Frozen	The process failed but can be unfrozen. When a process is unfrozen, it resumes from the point where it failed. See Suspending, Resuming, Terminating, or Unfreezing Process Instances. Processes can be designed to freeze, rather than abort, by setting freeze on failure to true. To learn more see "Setting the Business Process Properties" in Designing Your Application in Building Integration Applications.
Process Label	Label for the process instance. The label is generated for each instance and typically reflects a value specific to the instance. For example, an order number, customer number, DUNS number, or some other value of use in auditing. To learn more about how the process label is set, see the JpdContext Interface in Building Integration Applications in the WebLogic Workshop help.
SLA Status	If no service level agreements are set, Not Applicable is displayed. If service level agreements are set, this field displays the current status: If the elapsed time does not exceed the SLA, Not exceeded is displayed. If the elapsed time exceeds the SLA Warning threshold, the time remaining until the SLA threshold is reached is displayed. If the elapsed time exceeds the SLA, the time elapsed time since the SLA was reached is displayed. To learn more about the SLA, see Service Level Agreements.
Start Time	Time this instance started.
Exception	Exception content for a aborted or frozen instance.
Elapsed Time	Time elapsed since instance start. The units reported depend on the duration. From 0 to 99 msecs, duration is reported in milliseconds. For example, 28 msecs. From 99 msecs to one hour, duration is reported to the second. For example, 56 m 48.2 sec. From one hour to one week, duration is reported to the minute. For example, 2 d 2 h 6 m. From one week to one month, duration is reported to the hour. For example, 25 d 3.5 h. Greater than one month, duration is reported to the day. For example, 67 d.
Completion Time	Completion date and time for a completed process.
Termination Time	Termination date and time for a process that has been terminated.
Pending Activities	Pending controlReceive or clientRequest methods. For example: waitClientRequest[conditionalWaitClientRequest] is displayed when the instance is waiting for the following: <clientRequest name="conditionalWaitClientRequest" method="waitClientRequest" /> t1_onTimeout is displayed when the instance is waiting for the following: <controlReceive method="t1_onTimeout" />
Parent Instance	Parent process instance ID, display name, status, start time, and elapsed time for the parent instance is displayed. The instance ID is a link to the Process Instance Details page for the instance. To learn more, see Parent-Child Navigation. Note: The parent or child instance is only displayed if the tracking level for the process is Minimum, Node, or Full.
Child Processes	An entry for each child instance. The instance ID, display name, status, start time, and elapsed time is displayed for each. The instance ID is a link to the Process Instance Details page for that process.
Tasks created by this instance	Worklist tasks created by the instance. The task name and ID are displayed. The ID is a link to the Worklist Task Details page.
Tasks this instance is listening to	Worklist tasks this process is listening to. The task name and ID are displayed. The ID is a link to the Worklist Task Details page.
B2B Events	Summary information for any business messages are displayed. The event ID, direction (inbound or outbound), and trading partners (from and to) are displayed. The event ID is a link to the message detail.
Variables	Name, type, and value of each variable defined for the instance. You can view the value of an XML or string variable by clicking it. You can view the value that was assigned to the process variables while the process is running and track the variable values after the process completes, terminates, or aborts. When a process is aborted, behavior of the variable tracking varies for stateless and stateful process. Latest variable values for an aborted stateless process are tracked, even if the transaction in which the variable changed might have been rolled back. For a stateful process, if an exception is thrown in a transaction block, it is rolled back and the variable values are not preserved. However, variable values prior to the transaction roll back are preserved and can be viewed.

 

Parent-Child Navigation

When a process instance calls another process via the Process control, the process invoked is considered a "child process." In WebLogic Integration 8.1 SP3, information about related processes was added to the Process Instance Details page. When you view the detail for an instance that has been called by another, identifying information for the calling process instance is displayed in the Parent Instance section. When you view the detail for a process that invokes one or more other instances, the information for each instance invoked is displayed in the Child Instances section.

In addition to displaying identifying information for related instances, the console also provides the ability to navigate between related instances. The following figure illustrates the parent-child navigation functionality.

Note: The parent-child navigation functionality is limited to instances invoked via the Process control. Instances started by the Service Control or Service Broker Control are not identified as child instances.

 

 

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Viewing an Interactive or Printable Process Instance Graph

The Process Instance Details page allows you to view an interactive or printable graph of the process instance. The graph represents your business process and its interactions with clients and resources, such as databases, JMS queues, and file systems.

The interactive instance graph is a fully expanded version of the view provided in the Workshop Design View. Visual cues are provided to indicate node status as described in the following table:

If the node . . .	And the tracking level is . .	The node appears . . .
Has been visited	Full or Node	Normal
	Minimum	Normal
Is currently executing	Full or Node	Highlighted
	Minimum	Highlighted
Has not been visited	Full or Node	Dimmed
	Minimum	Normal

 

The information displayed is dependent on tracking level and current state of the process.

The top panel displays selected process properties. To learn more about the properties displayed, see Viewing Process Instance Details. In addition to the properties, the commands applicable to the current state of the instance (terminate, suspend, resume, or unfreeze) are provided in the top panel. See Suspending, Resuming, Terminating, or Unfreezing Process Instances.

When you click on a node, the node name and type are displayed. If the tracking level is set to Full or Node, the start time, elapsed time, finish time, completed visits, and description are also displayed. If the tracking level is set to Minimum, this additional information is only available for the currently executing node.

To view a printable graph for a process instance:

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view the printable graph.

Locate the process instance to view. See Listing and Locating Process Instances.
Click the process name to display the Process Instance Details page.
Click Printable Graph.

The process graph is displayed as a PDF document.

To view the interactive graph for a process instance:

Verify that your browser meets the requirements. See Requirements for the Interactive Graph.
Locate the process instance to view. See Listing and Locating Process Instances.
Click the process name to display the Process Instance Details page.
Click Graphical View.

The Adobe SVG Viewer displays the interactive view.




 

Do any of the following:
• To display node status, click the node image. The properties displayed are dependent on the tracking level set.
• To scroll the view, press and hold down the Alt key. The cursor changes to a hand tool. Click and drag to scroll the process graph vertically or horizontally.
• To zoom in, press and hold down the Ctrl key. The cursor changes to a zoom in tool. Click to zoom in.
• To zoom out, press and hold down the Ctrl+Shift keys. The cursor changes to a zoom out tool. Click to zoom out.
• To change to a printable view, click Print View. The process graph is displayed as a PDF document.

 

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Suspending, Resuming, Terminating, or Unfreezing Process Instances

Depending on the current state of a process instance, you can suspend, resume, terminate, or unfreeze it. The following table summarizes the available actions by instance state:

Instance State	Available Actions
Running	Suspend, Terminate
Suspended	Resume, Terminate
Frozen	Terminate, Unfreeze
Aborted	Terminate

 

When you terminate a process, the operation in progress finishes, then the process completes without executing subsequent nodes.

A process can be designed to freeze, rather than abort, when it encounters an unhandled exception, by setting the freeze on failure property to true. To learn more see "Setting the Business Process Properties" in Designing Your Application in Building Integration Applications. This capability is useful for handling an exception due to a network outage, unavailable EIS, or other such transitory condition. When you unfreeze a process, if the condition that led the failure is still in effect, the process returns to the frozen state.

You can suspend, resume, terminate, or unfreeze an instance in the following contexts:

• Process Instance Detail page
• Process Instance Summary page
• Interactive Process Instance Graph

To suspend, resume, terminate, or unfreeze an instance from the Process Instance Details page:

Locate the process. See Listing and Locating Process Instances.
Click the process name to display the Process Instance Details page.
Click Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze, as required.

A confirmation dialog box is displayed.

Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to dismiss the dialog and cancel the action.

To suspend, resume, terminate, or unfreeze one or more instances from the Process Instance Summary page:

Display the Process Instance Summary page as described in Listing and Locating Process Instances.
Click the check box to the left of each instance to be suspended, resumed, terminated, or unfrozen.
Click Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze.

A confirmation dialog box is displayed.

Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to dismiss the dialog and cancel the action.

To suspend, resume, terminate, or unfreeze an instance from the Interactive Process Graph:

Locate the process. See Listing and Locating Process Instances.
Click the process name to display the Process Instance Details page.
Click Graphical View.
In the top panel of the interactive graph, click Suspend, Resume, Terminate, or Unfreeze, as required.

A confirmation dialog box is displayed.

Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to dismiss the dialog and cancel the action.