Problems when debugging message flows

This section outlines some of the common problems that can arise when debugging message flows. It contains advice for dealing with the problems:

Starting and stopping the debugger
During debugging
After debugging

You get Java class errors when trying to start the debugger

You get an endless "waiting for communication" message when starting the debugger

Debugger seems to stop

Session ends abnormally while debugging

You get an error saying that the IBM Agent Controller is not installed

Message flow engines are not available for selection

You cannot see the list of execution groups

You see the wrong execution group names in the agent page

Shared Memory Allocation Error on AIX

  1. Scenario: Your Agent Controller has started, your broker is running, and you get an error message saying that shared memory allocation has failed after the broker is attached to the Agent Controller.
  2. Explanation: This is a general timing problem that occurs when the Agent Controller is connected to the broker when the broker has not started completely.
  3. Solution: Wait until the broker has started completely before attaching it to the Flow Debugger. Alternatively, set the logging level in the Agent Controller to debug or information; this allows more time for the broker to start up. The following steps show you how to change the logging level.
    1. Go to the IBM Agent Controller install dir/config directory and open the configuration file serviceconfig.xml.
    2. Change the loggingLevel tag to debug or information. The default value is warning.
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
      <!DOCTYPE AgentControllerConfiguration SYSTEM
      "../dtd/serviceconfig.dtd">
      <AgentControllerConfiguration
      activeConfiguration="default" loggingDetail="LOW"
      loggingLevel="DEBUG" port="10002" secureport="10003"
      version="5.0.0">
    3. Restart the Agent Controller.

The debugger does not pause at the next breakpoint

The message does not stop executing at any breakpoint

Editing problems occur in the message flow editor

Editing the MQMD causes unexpected behavior in the debugger

You cannot see the message content when debugging your message flow

You cannot see the message flow names in the flow debug view

You cannot see the deployed flow names in the flow debug view

You cannot change a message flow after debugging

You redeployed a debugged message flow, but deployment hangs

Related concepts
Flow debugger overview

Related tasks
Starting the debugger
Debugging a message flow
Attaching to the flow engine
Redeploying a flow
Dealing with problems