Processes & Usage Page

This Processes & Usage sub-page lists all server processes.

Overview

The Processes & Usage sub-page displays information about the currently existing work processes (WPs) in a system. You can retrieve information about them and execute basic commands.

Currently inactive processes are displayed with a light gray symbol. You can open the statistics and the current report of a process via the context menu. You can also end individual server processes.

Where to find the page:

The Administration perspective is only available, if the user has the required privilege.

  1. Open the Administration perspective.
  2. In the Navigation pane on the left, find the Automation Engine Management page.
  3. Click its tab to expand its sub-entries, find the Processes & Usage sub-page.

Functions

The processes listed here can be accessed further and commands be used via the context menu.

In the toolbar the default buttons Export to export the table content as .csv and Refresh are available.

In addition you can use the General Usage button to display the Usage panel at the bottom of the Processes table.

Table Columns Information

To sort by a certain column, click the column header. A small arrow in the column header will indicate the sorting direction.

The table columns display the following information:

Column

Description

Name

Server process name including the patch level.

This name is a combination of the system name, #, process type and the consecutive 3-digit process type number.

Type

Details: Server Processes

C ... Communication Process
P ... Primary Work Process
W... Work Process
D ... Dialog Process
N ... NonStop Process

Version

Server process version including the patch level.

IP address

TCP/IP address of the server process.

Port No.

Server process port number.

Host

Name of the computer on which the server process is running.

B.01

Percentage of server process utilization during the last minute.

B.10

Percentage of server process utilization during the last 10 minutes.

B.60

Percentage of server process utilization during the last 60 minutes.

Process ID

Process identification number of the server process.

Time difference

Time difference between the computer on which the server process is running and the AE system.

Server time

Date and time of the computer on which the server process is running.

Connections

This column shows the number of external connections. Internal connections between communication processes and work processes are shown in the ServiceManager.

Number of connections to the communication process (such as UserInterfaces and agents).Connections to work processes are exempted.

For work processes:

The value is always "0".

Role

Server role that the work process assumes.

Possible values: "O" and "R"

"O" - Output

"R" - Resource

Each role is only assigned once. Therefore, a work process does not necessarily assume a role.

Communication processes cannot assume Server roles.

Linked  
Net Area

Name of the server processes' net area. Details: Net Areas in the Automation Engine

By default, this value complies with the name of the AE system. WPs always run within the same net area.

Context Menu

Right-clicking a process's entry in the Processes table opens its context menu. The context menu items provide the following commands:

Column

Description

Executions

Calls the Executions - Statistics for Agents page.

Open Report Opens the last Reports for Server and Agents
Start

Starts the selected server process via a ServiceManager.

You can only use this option if a ServiceManager is available that can be used to start the server process. You must also enter the ServiceManager settings  in the Server object either manually or by using the command Verify connection to ServiceManager.

Change logging

Causes the log file to be changed.

Changing the log file of a particular work process implies that the log files of all other work processes are also changed.

Quit Process

Closes the server process immediately regardless of tasks that might be running.

Change Server mode to DWP / Change Server mode to WP

Changes the work-process mode from WP to DWP and vice versa (see also WP_MIN_NUMBER)

WP ... Work Process
DWP ... Dialog Process

You cannot change a work process to a dialog process, if it performs a Server role (check in the Role column).

Change Server mode to PWP / Change Server mode to WP

Changes the work-process mode from WP to PWP and vice versa.

WP ... Work Process
PWP ... Primary Work Process

You cannot change a work process to a primary work process, if it performs a Server role (check in the Role column).

Verify connection to Service Manager

Refreshes the ServiceManager's connection settings for the selected server processes.

You must specify these settings if you start the server processes via the System Overview or the script element MODIFY_SYSTEM by using a ServiceManager. You can use the Server object's Attributes Pages of Executable Objects in order to show and manually edit these settings.

This scan is automatically made when the server processes start for the first time. It can happen that the service name defined in the Server object does no longer comply with the related service name in the ServiceManager. In this case, Automic recommends running the Verify connection to Service Manager command or entering the relevant values manually.

Trace options Opens the Trace Options window where you can specify trace flags and additional options as described below.

Setting Trace Options

The Trace options command in the context menu opens a dialog where you can specify trace flags and additional trace options. In doing so, you can log the behavior of the Automation Engine even in exceptional cases. You do not have to shut down the Server if you start tracing but your system's performance can decrease as a result thereof because traces can create a log of data. There are several trace flags, Automic recommends setting trace options only in close cooperation with Automic Support.

Additional trace settings are described in the table below.

Option Description
Memory Trace You can use this option in combination with the Trace Search Key. The trace messages will be saved to a memory buffer until the search string is found, at which time tracing stops and the messages are written to one trace file on the disk. Without this option, trace files are written directly to the disk, as one or more files, depending on the Max. Trace Size setting.
Memory Buffer Size

The maximum trace size influences the size of the trace files that are written to the disk of the agent's host. How it works depends on whether the Trace Memory option is enabled:

  • Trace Memory enabled

    In this case, the trace component reserves the specified space on the disk in preparation for when the trace files is written. If the trace file size in the memory buffer exceeds the reserved space defined here, the trace component will continuously truncate the oldest messages in the trace file to make room for the newest.

  • Trace Memory disabled or unavailable

    When a trace file reaches the defined limit, the tracing component finishes writing the message or command that it was writing at that time. When the size of the current trace file exceeds this limit, the file is closed and a new trace file is opened.

In all cases, the real size of the trace file tends to be larger than the maximum size defined because the trace component finishes writing the message or code that it is logging when the size limit is reached. Some script statements can be extremely long, so the file size will be noticeable larger than the limit set.

Important to understand is that the purpose of the Max. Trace Size is to limit the space used in memory. The file representation that is then saved on the disk can be much bigger. For example, if you are using memory tracing, the file will be much bigger, because the trace data is written to the memory buffer in binary form but when the buffer is flushed onto the disk, the trace file is written in hexadecimal form, which explodes the file size.

If you set the Max. Trace Size to 0 (zero) without memory tracing, this means that the trace file size is unlimited. However, with memory tracing set, the trace size cannot be lower than the default of 32MB. So, if you enter a value less than that, the system automatically treats it as if it were 32MB.

Regardless of the trace settings, if the agent crashes then tracing also stops. The last record will not be written. When the agent starts again, all trace options will be reset to the defaults that are defined in the agent's INI file.

Trace Search Key You can enter a text string, such as a specific error message, that signals the end of tracing. When the tracing component encounters this string, it finishes writing the current message and then it stops tracing and resets all trace options to "0" (zero). You use this to help you focus on the area where the problem occurred and to manage disk space by preventing excessive tracing.

Usage

In the panel at the bottom of the Processes table you can access additional statistical records about the currently selected process.

How to open the Usage panel:

  1. In the toolbar find the button General Usage.
  2. Click it to open the panel.
  3. Inside the panel, two more buttons can be found, Usage Chart and Usage Table. Use them to alternately display the chart or the table.

For Usage Chart and Usage Table the following behavior applies:

Usage Chart

General

To open the Usage Chart, click the button in the panel.

The Usage Chart is displayed by default, if you use the General Usage button in the toolbar. In this panel, you can also open and use a Usage Table.

Information provided

You see the data displayed as chart columns, by client. The x-axis shows the time of the workload data, the y-axis the percentage of workload at a given point in time.

What you can do:

You can use the Client icon to activate or deactivate the display of that particular client's data. (The icon turns light gray, when that client is deactivated.)

At the right-hand side of the chart you can choose the time frame of data you want to display from a drop down list.

The image shows the Usage Chart of a all work process of the system.

Usage Table

Opening the Usage Table displays the workload of one or all work processes in percent.

To sort by a certain column, click the column header. A small arrow in the column header will indicate the sorting direction.

Each of the columns stands for a certain hour. The headings show the respective time. Client data is displayed in lines, one line per client (hourly values and average value).

See also:

Cache Usage