JR48321: INFINITE LOOP OCCURS WHEN HUMAN SERVICE WITH A TRANSITION FROM ONE COACH BACK TO THE SAME COACH WHICH CHANGES A LIST CONTAINSNU

Version 8.5 Refresh Pack 5 for the IBM Business Process Manager products
Download Version 8.0.1 Fix Pack 3 for the IBM Business Process Manager products
Version 8.5.0 Fix Pack 2 for the IBM Business Process Manager products

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• When a Human Service transitions from one Coach step back to
  the same Coach step (with potentially other steps in between)
  the user will not observe a page refresh. Instead, only the
  delta data is transferred back to the client.
  If this delta contains a change to a variable that is a list
  and that list contains null, the thread running the Coach will
  enter an end-less loop and the server will appear hanging.  The
  user may detect high CPU utilization on one or more threads.
  The Java stack of the thread in a javacore file looks like the
  following:
  3XMTHREADINFO      "WebContainer : 7"
  J9VMThread:0x0000000006172A00,
  j9thread_t:0x00007F6AD0A4C940,
  java/lang/Thread:0x000000001C8D1118,
  state:CW, prio=5
  3XMJAVALTHREAD            (java/lang/Thread getId:0xF8,
  isDaemon:true)
  3XMTHREADINFO1            (native thread ID:0x20E7, native
  priority:0x5, native policy:UNKNOWN)
  3XMTHREADINFO2            (native stack address range
  from:0x00007F6A64C28000, to:0x00007F6A64C69000, size:0x41000)
  3XMHEAPALLOC             Heap bytes allocated since last GC
  cycle=0
  (0x0)
  3XMTHREADINFO3           Java callstack:
  4XESTACKTRACE                at
  com/lombardisoftware/core/TWObject.getArrayData(TWObject.java:75
  0(Compil
  ed Code))
  4XESTACKTRACE                at
  com/lombardisoftware/server/ejb/workflow/EJBWorkflowManagerBean.
  addObjectToJSON(EJBWorkflowManagerBean.java:1885(Compiled Code))
  4XESTACKTRACE                at
  com/lombardisoftware/server/ejb/workflow/EJBWorkflowManagerBean.
  getSymbolTableDifferencesAsJSON(EJBWorkflowManagerBean.java(Comp
  iled Code))
  4XESTACKTRACE                at
  com/lombardisoftware/server/ejb/workflow/EJBWorkflowManagerBean.
  generateStayOnUiResult(EJBWorkflowManagerBean.java:1702(Compiled
  Code))
  There will also be a WSVR0605W message logged for the thread
  [10/25/13 16:29:02:349 EDT] 0000001c ThreadMonitor W
  WSVR0605W: Thread "WebContainer : 7" (0000006b) has been active
  for 732844 milliseconds and may be hung.  There is/are 1
  thread(s) in total in the server that may be hung.
   at
  com.lombardisoftware.server.ejb.workflow.EJBWorkflowManagerBean.
  addObjectToJSON(EJBWorkflowManagerBean.java:1888)
   at
  com.lombardisoftware.server.ejb.workflow.EJBWorkflowManagerBean.
  getSymbolTableDifferencesAsJSON(EJBWorkflowManagerBean.java)
  

Local fix

• Make sure list items do not contain null values in
  their human service.
  

Problem summary

• Human Service does not transition and causes CPU starvation
  
  PROBLEM DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
  When a Human Service transitions from one Coach step back to the
  same Coach step with potentially other steps in between; the
  client will not observe a page refresh.  Instead, only the
  delta data is transferred back to the client. If this delta
  contains a change to a variable that is a list and that list
  contains null, the server will end in end-less loop.
  

Problem conclusion

• The endless loop was removed by correcting the logic causing it.
  
  FIX AVAILABILITY:
  iFix for 8.0.1.1 is available on Fix Central, search for APAR
  JR48321 at http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
  
  For 8.0.1.2 the iFix is superseded by JR49373.
  
  iFix for 8.5.0.0 is available on Fix Central, search for APAR
  JR48321 at http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
  
  iFix for 8.5.0.1 is available on Fix Central, search for APAR
  JR48321 at http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
  
  Fix is also targetted for inclusion in next fixpack for BPM
  8.0.1, BPM 8.5.0
  
  When obtaining any of the above fixes, be sure to download the
  accompanying readme for itself, and any prerequisite fixes, and
  review them thoroughly.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  BPM STANDARD

• Fixed component ID

  5725C9500

Applicable component levels

• R801 PSY

     UP

• R850 PSY

     UP