PM73332: CONTROL CENTER MENU ITEMS ARE VERY SLOW (FREEZES) WHEN SEVERAL (E.G. 2) OTHER USERS RUN AN EXCEL LINK REPORT SIMULTANEOUSLY

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• There are 3 users logged into Controller. Everything works
  OK/fast for all users. User1 opens an Excel spreadsheet (XLS)
  report and presses F9. User 2 and 3 are unaffected - they can
  still use Controller. User 2 then opens an Excel spreadsheet
  (XLS) report and presses F9. User3 clicks "Group - Control
  Center". User3 clicks the 'down arrow' next to one of the
  selection boxes (e.g. "Actuality"). The choices appear
  instantly. User3 keeps repeatedly clicking on this to
  "expand/collapse" the selection box. Suddenly User3 finds that
  the selection box does not expand/contract any more. Instead,
  they find that their Command Center is 'stuck'. It appears to
  them that Controller had become frozen and "not responding".
  After a while (e.g. 15 seconds) the expand/contract
  functionality works.    ========================================
   NOTE: There are other causes for this behaviour. This APAR only
  relates to the scenario where the cause is a code production
  problem in Controller.   This defect causes the Controller
  application to check with the server (to see if it needs to
  re-populate the drop-down lists with updated information) each
  time they are accessed  This is different from the optimal (for
  performance) behaviour where it should assume that the
  information has not changed since the window was last opened
  (i.e. it should cache the information for future re-use).
  ========================================    Imagine a scenario
  where User1 and User2 both run similar spreadsheets that take
  2:30 minutes to run.  0 - 30 seconds  Excel says "Analysing
  Sheet" at the lower-left corner  There is reasonable CPU
  activity on the Controller application server, and very little
  on the SQL server.  30 - 120 seconds  Excel says "Calling
  RunReport" at the lower-left corner  There is very little CPU
  activity on the Controller application server, and a huge amount
  on the SQL server.  140 - 150 seconds  Excel says "Fetching
  Values" at the lower-left corner  There is little CPU activity
  on the SQL server.     In this scenario, the User3 will find
  their "Command Center" is very slow to respond (e.g. 15 seconds
  to open drop down list, compared with the normal 1 second)
  during the "Calling RunReport" phase.
  

Local fix

• Wait a short period (e.g. 15 seconds) for the menu item to becom
  e responsive.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:                                              *
  * All                                                          *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:                                         *
  * See error description.                                       *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  * Upgrade to IBM  Cognos Controller 10.1.1 FP1                 *
  ****************************************************************
  

Problem conclusion

• Code Fix
  

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

  COG CONTROLLER

• Fixed component ID

  5724W24CO

Applicable component levels