Batch Run

The batch run portal shows the execution status of a selected batch process. The information includes thread status summary, details about each thread, its instances, and any error To Do Entries and messages (informational, warnings, and errors) that might have occurred during the run. It also includes information about files that may have been created by the process along with various types of analytical reports.

You can access the portal from the Main Menu > Tools > Batch Run. You are brought to a query portal with options for searching for a specific batch run. Once a batch run has been selected you are brought to this portal to view the selected record.

The following points should help understand the concept of threads:

  • Many batch jobs cannot take advantage of your hardware's processing power when they are run singularly. Rather, you'll find that a large percentage of the CPU and/or disk drives are idle.
  • In order to minimize the amount of idle time (and increase the throughput of your batch processes), we allow you to set up your batch processes so that multiple instances of a given batch job are executed at the same time. For example, in Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing when you schedule the billing process, you can indicate that multiple parallel instances should be executed (rather than just one instance). You'd do this so that the processing burden of creating bills for your customers can be spread over multiple processes.
  • We refer to each parallel execution of a batch process as a "thread".
  • Statistics and information messages are displayed in respect of each thread. Why? Because each thread is a separate execution and therefore can start and end at different times.

Refer to Understanding Background Processes for more information.

The following zones may appear as part of the portal's Main tab page.

  • Batch Run. This zone provides information about the selected batch process, including a high level summary of key details such as threads status, processing record counts and more.
  • Batch Jobs. This zone lists one or more batch job submission records that were used to execute the batch run. Typically a batch run is associated with a single job submission record but multiple may exist when some of the threads needed to be restarted. When a single job record exists the batch parameters specified at submission time are listed on the Batch Parameters zone. When multiple jobs exist, select a job to view its parameters.
  • Batch Parameters. This zone lists the parameters specified as part of a selected batch job submission. This zone is hidden by default when more than one job exists for the batch run.

The following zones may appear as part of the portal's Threads tab page.

  • Batch Run Threads. This zone allows you to filter and review thread instances information. When an instance is associated with messages, you may click on the message count to review the message in the Batch Instance Message zone.
    About Log files:
    • Availability. The ability to download batch log files depends on whether the application properties file has been configured with the location of the log files and the log files associated with the batch run are still available.
    • Security Access. Only users that have security access to the Download access mode for the batch run application service can download log files.
    • Compression. The log files are compressed and include a *.gz extension. Different browsers treat this type of file differently. Some browsers may automatically decompress the file as part of the download and they are viewable in any text viewer by changing the extension to one the text viewer recognizes. However, some browsers download the compressed file and a user will need to unzip the file prior to viewing.
    • Batch Run Logs. The Download stdout and Download stderr zone action links may be used to download log files at the batch run level. These files may exist for processing that occurs before the thread execution. While the links are always visible, the corresponding file may only be downloaded if available and the user has security rights to download files.
    • Batch Thread Logs. If the log files associated with a batch thread are still available and the user has security rights to download files, the Download stdout and Download stderr icons are visible for instances of that thread.
  • Batch Instance Messages. This zone lists any messages reported by a selected thread instance. The zone is hidden by default. Refer to Processing Errors for information about these types of errors.

The following zones may appear as part of the portal's Errors tab page.

  • Batch Instance Messages. This zone allows you to filter and review messages across all thread instances. Refer to Processing Errors for information about these types of errors.
  • Batch Run To Do Entries. If the background process has been enabled to create To Do entries for object specific errors, information about the To Do entries are displayed in this tab. This zone displays a summary of all To Do entries created by this batch process, grouped by status and error message. The zone is only visible when such entries exist.
  • Sample To Do Entries. This zone displays a sample of To Do Entries for a specific status and application message selected in the Batch Run To Do Entries zone. The zone is hidden by default.

The following zones may appear as part of the portal's Files tab page.

  • Batch Run Files. This zone lists file names created by the batch process.

The following zones may appear as part of the portal's Threads Analysis tab page.

  • Threads Analysis. This zone includes several analytical reports around thread performance.

The following zones may appear as part of the portal's History tab page. This tab is only available when the maintenance object supports lifecycle definition.

  • Previous 20 Runs - Records Per Seconds. This zone compares the throughput of the previous 20 runs.
  • Previous 20 Runs - Processed Records. This zone compares the number of records processed by the previous 20 runs.
  • Previous 20 Runs. This zone lists the previous 20 runs along with key details about each run.
  • Concurrent Batch Runs. This zone lists other batch processes that ran at the same time as the current batch run. This information is sourced from the batch snapshot tables and is therefore only available when snapshot data is kept up to date.

Actions

The page supports the following special actions:

  • Do Not Attempt Restart. If the Run Status is Error, the system will attempt to restart this run when you attempt to execute the Batch Control. In most situations, this is exactly what you want to happen. However, there are rare situations where you do not want the system to execute a given batch run (e.g., if this run is somehow corrupt and you cannot correct the data for whatever reasons). If you want the system to skip the execution of a batch run (and proceed to the next run), click on the Do Not Attempt Restart action.
  • Attempt Restart. Use this action to revert back to the standard restart functionality.