Ch 21 - Application Support Tools

WebSphere Product Center provides an administrator with the core tools to assist in the support, maintenance and troubleshooting of WebSphere Product Center. For example, view system log files, check system status, and analyze database performance.


Audit

WebSphere Product Center provides a log file that stores details on every recorded event within WebSphere Product Center. The Audit Log Search function allows the ability to view all activities that have been performed by a user, within a defined timeframe. The results table is sorted from the latest date to the most current date. View when a user has logged in or out, when items were modified, which roles were created, which files were imported, and more.

Searching audit logs

To view audit details, use the following menu path:

System Administrator > Audit

1. From the Audit Log Search interface, select a user to audit from the User drop-down field.

2. Select a date from the Date From and Date To drop-down field.

3. Click Search to display a list of all events associated to the specified user.

Figure 21.1 - Audit Log Search


DB Admin

The DB Admin component allows a qualified DBA to run simple SQL queries. Enter the query in the Sql Command box and click Save.

Warning! Be careful when using this tool as it allows the execution of commands that may jeopardize the integrity of the database. Allow access to this System Admin module to qualified users.

Running simple SQL

To used DB Admin, use the menu path:

System Administrator > DB Admin.

Figure 21.2 - DB Admin interface

Queries are executed against the database to pull information that is displayed in WebSphere Product Center. You can type SQL Command in the SQL Command space and click on Run Query button on the top left corner of the screen to execute the query. To find additional details click on Explain Plan button.

Performance Info

WebSphere Product Center provides several tools that allow for the analysis of application and database performance. These tools were designed in the System Administration module and should only be made available to authorized users.

Profiling

This component provides profiling data for every page and executable within WebSphere Product Center. When first accessing this area, the Page and Executable Profiles appear in separate tables.

To view WebSphere Product Center's profiling statistics, use the following menu path:

System Administrator > Performance Info > Profiling

To view additional detail on a specific profile, double-click a page in the Action column. The page details appear in a separate page.

Figure 21.3 - Page profile details

Username

The user who accessed the page

Action

The page that was accessed

Duration

The time it took to process the page.

Start Time

The time the page was accessed

Click on any Action line to view additional details for analysis. Users can review the time it took to run an export and analyze which areas are bottlenecked.

Note: Each dash (-) represents one level underneath. Therefore, a line showing two dashes (- -) would indicate two levels of details.

Figure 21.4 - Page analysis

Start Time

The time of the event

Action

Description of the action.

Total Time (ms)

The total time it took to complete the action

# Iter.

The number of times the action had to be performed

Avg Time per Iter. (ms)

The average time it took for multiple iterations

To flush all profile details, click from any  profile table heading. A confirmation dialog box appears, click OK and the information is cleared from the table and begins tracking current audit events.

Figure 21.5 Profile analysis

Performance

This component is used to monitor the performance of java virtual modules by noting the time it takes for page completions. If desired, all information can be flushed from the database to test current conditions.

To monitor WebSphere Product Center's Performance, use the following path:

System Administrator > Performance Info > Performance

From the Performance Search interface, select a search value and click Search.

The Current Performance Result table appears with performance measurements for each JVM (Max, Min, Avg, and number of visits.

To clear all performance measurements, click Flush to DB at the bottom of the table. All details will be purged from the DB.

Figure 21.6 - Performance table

N – Ref

The name of the JVM

Max

The longest time it took for a JVM to Execute

Min

The shortest time it took for a JVM to execute

Avg

The average time it took for a JVM to execute

Visits

The number of visits made to the JVM

Database Performance

Check the performance of your java virtual modules by noting the times for various DB calls. This component is useful in analyzing in detail where certain processes are taking a long time, which can then be used to determine what types of changes can be made to improve performance. There is two table displayed with results: Current Performance Results and Query Performance Statistics.

For example, analyze the time it takes to process a script and find an unnecessary operation that takes a long time to run, the script can then be modified to maximize the processes time.

To monitor WebSphere Product Center's database performance, use the following path:

System Administrator > Performance Info > Database Performance

Figure 21.8 - View DB performance

Current Performance Results

Page

Name of WebSphere Product Center page

Total Time

Total time (ms) DB spend used to pull this page

Hits

How often the page was accessed

Avg. Time

The average time it took to pull the page

Last

The time it last took the DB to process the page

Avg. DB Time

The average time it took for the DB to process the page.

% Time in DB

The percent of the DB's time was used to pull the page

Queries

View the queries that were executed to process the page

Query Performance Statistics

The queries list in the table is hyperlinked to display the details of the queries.

Query

The name of the query that was executed

Total Time Taken

The total time it took to execute the query

Times Executed

The number of time the query was executed

Average

The average time to execute the query

Maximum

The maximum time to execute the query

Minimum

The minimum time to execute the query

Caches

An Administrator can view the details on the specs that are being cached in one instance per server instance. Through the WebSphere Product Center GUI, an Administrator is able to flush the cache when needed.

From the menu path System Administrator > Performance Info > Caches, view the Cached Specs details.

Example of a catalog using basic specs (1 & 2)

When a new catalog is viewed, the previous specs are moved down in the Cached Specs table.

When returning to the previous catalog, the previous cached specs return to the beginning position of the Cached Specs table.

When a spec is changed, the older version of the spec is not automatically removed from the cache, as some operation such as an export may be using it. Specs are only removed from the cache in the following cases:

Fig 21.9 - Cache statistics

Cache Size

The size of the cache is set in the common.properties configuration file.

Example:

# Limit for cache size for specs
# Larger will take more memory, so this should not be set too large.

max_specs_in_cache=5

The size of the specs cache is set according to available system resources:

Review the Spec Cache page to examine the number of specs in the cache and if commonly used specs are falling out of the cache consistently. Then set the Spec Cache value based on current needs.


Properties

This component allows a user to view the current application configuration files, detailing the file parameters. This feature allows for a view-only display. (For more information on the WPC's configuration files, refer to the WebSphere Product Center: Installation Guide.)

To review the application's configuration files, use the following path:

System Administrator > Properties

The configuration files are for display only. Scroll through the page to view all configuration file details.

Figure 21.10 - Review configuration files


Log Files

This component is useful for troubleshooting system issues. View the tail end of a log or the entire log if desired.

View log files

To view the application's log files, use the following path:

System Administrator > Log Files

Select a system log and click Submit. Users can select to view the entire file or a defined number of lines of the tail end log.

Figure 21.11 - Select a log file to view


System Status

The complete WebSphere Product Center system consists of five types of services running concurrently.

Admin

admin - the admin server (starts/stops modules on remote machines)

Scheduler

scheduler - the scheduler (runs background jobs)

Workflow engine

workflow – WebSphere Product Center's workflow engine

Event Processor

eventprocessor - the event processor (dispatches events between all the modules)

Queue Manager

queuemanager - the queue manager (sends documents outside of WebSphere Product Center)

Application Server

appsvr - the application server (serves jsp-Java Server Pages)

Each service can be controlled through the WebSphere Product Center GUI and status information can be obtained for each application service. Users can view the performance metrics displayed in a table format.

Note: The status provided is the WebSphere Product Center GUI can also be obtained using the RMI Status scripts executed from the command line.

View Service Status

To view the Service Status table, use the menu path:

System Administrator > System Status

The short status of each service is displayed in the Service Status table. To view expanded details for a service, click the long status hyperlink.

Figure 21.12 - Short status of a service

The long status of a service displays information such as the connection pool status and details on each db thread.

Figure 21.13 - Service status information

Stopping Service

To stop a service, select a service by checking the box next to the service name and clicking the Stop button.

Aborting Services

To abort a service, select a service by checking the box next to the service name and clicking the Abort button.

Important Note On Abort and Stop

Which one should be used? Stop or abort?

Refreshing status information

To obtain the most current status for a service, select a service by checking the box next to the service name and click the Refresh button.

Creating a New Service

Services can run in a cluster of workstations. The different machines in the cluster are defined in the file admin_properties.xml (For more information, refer to the WebSphere Product Center: Installation Guide). If desired, a user can define a service on a different host through the WebSphere Product Center GUI.

Below the Service Status table is a Create New Service table. Enter a name for the new service, the service type, select a host, and click the ADD+ button.

Figure 21.14 - Create a new service

It is not possible to create more than one instance of a service on a machine. If no service name is specified, the default name is used:


Import Environment

If a company environment has been packaged for import, the Import Environment component allows a user to browse for the packaged company environment file and import it into the current company. This feature can be used to port a company that was created in a test environment into a production environment.

 

Figure 21.15 - Importing a company environment


Size Distribution

The WebSphere Product Center database designates a tablespace for all the files stored in the Document store. When a file is stored, a new record in the Oracle DB is created and the file is stored as a BLOB (Binary Large Object) file.

Viewing distribution files in document store

To view the distribution of files within the document store, use the following path:

System Administrator > Size Distribution

1. Select a company or set of companies from the Select Companies selection box.

2. Determine the level of subdirectories to search and enter the number in the Max Slash Levels.

3. If desired, view file statistics of a specific path. Enter a path in the Doc Path Like field.

4. Click the Search button to view the size distribution statistics.

Figure 21. 16 - DocStore Size Distribution Statistics