Monitoring processes and services in the Process Admin Console

To identify performance issues with your process application, view the performance data available in the Process Monitor page of the Process Admin Console. Identify process applications that have bottlenecks, drill into the process application to identify the steps that are expensive, and learn how long it takes to run services.

Before you begin

In IBM® Cloud Pak for Business Automation containerized environments, the Process Monitor displays instance-local state only. That is, data from the single pod instance that handles your request through the Zen load balancer.

What this means:

The Process Monitor shows in-memory data from only one pod at a time.
You cannot directly select or target a specific pod through the Process Admin Console.
The system displays server information as generic "PS" instead of individual pod identifiers.
The Zen load balancer determines which pod handles your request, and you cannot bypass this through the standard user interface.

About this task

Tip: You can also use the Performance Dashboard in the Process Admin Console to monitor processes and other artifacts that affect the health of your databases.

Limitations

The system keeps all monitor and instrumentations data in memory and shows information only about a particular cluster member. Restarting the server clears the data. To view information across different cluster members, connect to the deployment manager through a JMX console.
In IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation containerized environments, you cannot bypass the Zen load balancer to access specific pods directly. The system displays the server information as "PS", making it impossible to determine which pod you are accessing.
The haltProcess() and haltService() methods might not always be able to stop a process instance or service. The instance or service stops only if the process and service engine is running it. It does not stop if it is stuck inside a service implementation (for example, in the middle of calling a web Service or running JavaScript).

Procedure

To view the performance information for your process apps and services:

Log in to the Process Admin console by entering the URL.
For example: http://servername:9080/ProcessAdmin, where servername is the name of your server and 9080 is the default port.
In the side menu of the Process Admin Console, expand Monitoring to list the available monitoring options.
Click the Process Monitor option.

Note: To start this option, an administrator must assign you the appropriate security role. Configure the console.process.monitor security property in the BPMConsoleSection configuration object. For information about the console.process.monitor security property and other security properties, see Security configuration properties .
Switch to the Summary page, which provides an overview of the active and most expensive processes and services.
1. To view details of a particular process app, click the process app. The Processes page opens showing the details of the process app. You can view the duration of each step in the process, including the type of activity, such as event or gateway. You can also view the list of services that are running and the total duration of each service. Identify a service to investigate, for example, the service that is taking the longest time.
2. To view details of all active and completed process apps, click Processes.
Switch to the Services page and see a list of all the service steps and their activity types. Identify the step, for example, a coach, that is taking a long time. Determine why that particular step has a long duration. For example, you might notice that a particular coach is taking a long time to complete. When you rerun the process, the time might be less, indicating that the performance issue is most likely due to the initial loading of the model. On further analysis, you might notice that there are numerous calls to stand-alone Ajax services. These calls might affect the scalability and performance of the coaches. Rework the process app so that you minimize the number of such calls.
To stop an active process:
1. Click Processes.
2. Under Active Processes Currently Executing, click the name of the process that you want to stop.
3. Click Halt Process.
  
  Note: The Halt Process button appears only if the process is running.
The halted process now appears in the Active Processes Not Currently Executing list.
To stop an active service:
1. Click the Services option.
2. Under Active Services Currently Executing, click the name of the service that you want to stop.
3. Click Halt Service.
  
  Note: The Halt Service button appears only if the service is running.
The halted service now appears in the Active Services Not Currently Executing/Completed Services list.