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 a network deployment environment, the Process Monitor is server-specific. The monitor data is only kept in memory, and it is specific to the Java virtual machine (JVM) process. To ensure that you are looking at Process Monitor for the correct server, connect directly to the Business Automation Workflow server http or https port, instead of connecting to an http server that might route you to any one of the underlying Business Automation Workflow servers.

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
  • All monitor and instrumentations data are kept in memory and only show information 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.
  • The haltProcess() and haltService() methods might not always be able to stop a process instance or service. The instance or service stops only if it is currently being run by the process and service engine, and is not 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 invoke this option, you need to be assigned the appropriate security role. This is accomplished by configuring the console.process.monitor security property in the BPMConsoleSection configuration object. Information about the console.process.monitor security property and other security properties is found in the topic Security configuration properties.
  • Switch to the Summary page, which provides an overview of 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, gateway. You can also view the list of services that are running and the total duration of each service. You can identify a service to investigate, for example you might look at 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. Here you can identify the step, for example a coach, that is taking a long time. You can now try to 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, and when you re run the process, the time might be significantly 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, which might affect the scalability and performance of the coaches, and rework the process app so that the number of such calls are minimized.
  • 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.
      This screen capture shows the halt process button on the process loop details window
      Note: The Halt Process button appears only if the process is currently 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.
      This screen capture shows the halt process button in the Service details window
      Note: The Halt Service button appears only if the service is currently running.
    The halted service now appears in the Active Services Not Currently Executing/Completed Services list.