Tasks

View status information and monitor active and completed IBM Spectrum Protect sessions, jobs, and processes across all servers.

The header area of the page shows the following status indicators for completed sessions, jobs, and processes:

• Successful: The number of jobs and processes that completed successfully. No action is required. Sessions that completed successfully are not shown on this page or included in this count.
• Warning: The number of sessions, jobs, and processes that completed, but finished with a warning. When a task completes with a warning, problems might occur later. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot issues.
• Failed: The number of sessions, jobs, and processes that did not complete. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot failed tasks.

The following actions and task information is available:

Interrupt

You can interrupt retention jobs that are in the running or sleeping state. Interrupting a running job stops all child processes of the job. Interrupt jobs to resolve problems or to take other necessary actions for a job. For example, to copy a retention set to tape storage, a retention job requires tape devices and tape volumes. You might interrupt the job if a tape device requires maintenance, or if a new scratch volume needs to be made available.

Remember: An interrupted job remains interrupted until you explicitly resume it. After you resolve any problems, use the Resume action to resume the job.

Resume

You can resume an interrupted retention job. Interrupted jobs typically require some administrator intervention before they are resumed. Determine why the job was interrupted and resolve any problems before you resume the job.

Resuming an interrupted job places that job in the sleeping state. The next time the job's associated storage rule begins processing, the storage rule restarts the job.

Cancel

You can cancel tasks that are server processes or that are client sessions. You can cancel individual server processes that are managed by a job, but you cannot cancel a job by using this action. To terminate a Retention Set job, go to the Retention Sets page and use the Terminate action. For other types of jobs, select the processes that are managed by the job to cancel them.

When you cancel a task, the following conditions apply:

• If the task is waiting for a tape volume to be mounted, the mount request is automatically canceled. If the request requires an operator response, the task might not end until the request is answered, canceled, or times out.
• If a volume that is associated with the task is being mounted, the task might not end until the mount is complete.
• If a backup or archive operation is interrupted, the server rolls back the results of the current transaction. Any uncommitted changes are undone, which can take some time to complete.
• For a session that is in the "Running" state, the session does not end until it enters one of the following states: "Send wait", "SSL wait", "Receive wait", or "Idle wait".
• A session that is in the "Idle wait" state is automatically reestablished when the client starts to send data again.
• If you cancel a process that is managed by a retention job, the job is interrupted. The job remains in the interrupted state until you resume the job.

State

Different states are shown depending on whether the task is a session, job, or process. Different states are shown depending on whether the task is completed or active.

Session States

For a completed session, the following states are shown. Sessions that completed successfully are not shown on this page. You can view sessions that completed successfully by opening the Details notebook for a server.

Warning

Processing completed, but finished with a warning and problems might occur later. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot issues.

Failed

Processing did not complete. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot failed tasks.

For an active session, the following states can be shown:

Ending

The session is ending, and resources are being released.

Idle wait

The server is waiting for the client's next request. The session is canceled if the client does not initiate communication within the time limit that is specified by the IDLETIMEOUT server option.

Media wait

The server is waiting for access to a tape volume.

Receive wait

The server is waiting to receive an expected message from the client. The session is canceled if the client does not respond within the time limit that is specified by the COMMTIMEOUT server option.

Running

The server is completing an operation, and is not waiting to send data.

Send wait

The server is waiting for acknowledgment that the client has received a message that was sent by the server.

SSL wait

The server is waiting for a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) session to complete.

Starting

The session is starting, and authentication is in progress.

Job States

For a completed job, the following states are shown:

Completed

Processing completed successfully. No action is required.

Warning

Processing completed, but finished with a warning and problems might occur later. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot issues.

Failed

Processing did not complete. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot failed tasks.

Terminated

The job is ended permanently and cannot be restarted. No follow-on action is possible on a terminated job. An administrator might terminate a job if an unresolvable issue occurs and the job cannot be completed successfully. A job can also be terminated by the server based on certain error conditions. For example, if a DELETE RETSET command was issued on a retention set that is incomplete and which still has an active job associated with it or if an EXPIRE INVENTORY command was issued and expires a retention set that is incomplete and still has an active job associated with it.

For an active job, the following states can be shown:

Interrupted

The job is interrupted and must be resumed by an administrator. Typically some intervention on behalf of the job is required before the administrator resumes the job. Jobs can be interrupted by an administrator, or the server might interrupt the job based on error conditions. For example, a job to copy a retention set to tape storage requires tape devices and tape volumes. An administrator might interrupt a job to upgrade a tape device. After the new device is configured, the administrator can resume the job. The server interrupts a job if any of processes that are managed by the job exit with an error. A process might exit with a timeout error, for example, if the process is unable to write to tape. The error might be due to a problem with the tape device, a lack of tape volumes, or a network connectivity problem. After the problem is resolved, the administrator resumes the job.

Running

The job is running. A job runs only during the processing window for its associated storage rule. Multiple server processes run under the job to complete discrete actions.

Sleeping

The job is waiting for the next processing window of its associated storage rule.

Process States

For a completed process, the following states are shown:

Successful

Processing completed successfully. No action is required.

Warning

Processing completed, but finished with a warning and problems might occur later. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot issues.

Failed

Processing did not complete. View the activity log pane to troubleshoot failed tasks.

For an active process, the Running state is shown, even if a process is idle.

Job ID

A job ID is shown for jobs and for processes that are managed by a job. By filtering or sorting this column, you can group all the processes that are managed by a particular job.

Parent Process

A parent process ID is shown for processes that were started by another process. By filtering or sorting this column, you can group all the processes that were started by the same parent process. For older legacy processes, it is not possible to provide parent process information.

Activity Log

Use the activity log pane to monitor task progress or to troubleshoot failed tasks. The activity log shows the messages that were issued between the start time and end time for a selected task. To view more messages, use the QUERY ACTLOG command.

Duration

A duration is shown for processes and specifies how long the process took to complete.

For more information about using IBM Spectrum Protect commands, see the IBM Spectrum Protect documentation.