Working with failed events
You can use two tools in InterChange Server Express to
locate, view, and process failed events: Failed Event Manager, a
browser-based tool with role-based security that allows you to work
with failed events from the Web, and Flow Manager, a tool installed
with the InterChange Server Express product. To resolve transactional
flows, you must use Flow Manager, but both Failed Event Manager
and Flow Manager allow you to work with failed events. This section
contains the following:
Using Failed Event Manager
Using Flow Manager
Using Failed Event Manager
Failed Event Manager allows you to view and manage failed
events from the Web. To access Failed Events Manager, log onto System
Monitor. The Failed Events Manager category shows up in the left
hand frame, with two choices: Access Rights and Query. The Access
Rights item allows you to display the Failed Event Manager access
rights currently associated with your logged-on username. The Query
item opens the display in which you perform actions with Failed
Event Manager.
The actions you can perform with those failed events depends
on role-based security. Administrators can assign users one or more
of four default roles. For information on these roles, see Default roles for Failed Event Manager.
Administrators also can create custom roles for your specific
team. For more information on these roles, see Custom Roles in Failed Event Manager.
Failed Event Manager works with IBM WebSphere Application Server
Express or with Tomcat (Windows and Linux systems only). Refer to
the WebSphere Business Integration Server Express installation guide for Windows, for Linux,
or for OS/400 and i5/OS, for additional
information about setting up Failed Event Manager to work with WebSphere
Application Server, WebSphere Application Server Express, or Tomcat.
OS/400 and i5/OS does not support Tomcat.
Failed Event Manager works with the following versions of WebSphere
Application Server, WebSphere Application Server Express, and Tomcat:
- WebSphere Application Server versions 5.1 or 6.0
- WebSphere Application Server Express versions 5.1 or 6.0
If you selected an Administrative Toolset Express installation of WebSphere Business Integration Server Express, Failed Event Monitor is automatically installed and configured if WebSphere Application Server or WebSphere Application
Server Express versions 5.1 or 6.0 are detected on your system.
Only role-based security must be configured. Refer to Security and Role-based access for Failed Event Manager.
- Tomcat versions 4.1.24 and 4.1.27 (Windows and Linux systems
only)
By default, security is enabled after you have installed Tomcat
with Failed Event Manager (Refer to the WebSphere Business Integration
Server Express installation guide for Windows, for Linux, or for
OS/400 and i5/OS). A user with the role of Administrator must be
created in the Tomcat_home\conf\tomcat-users.xml file so that the administrator can gain full access to the
application. For details on how to create roles in Failed Event
Manager, refer to Security and Role-based access for Failed Event Manager.
This section includes the following procedures:
Security and Role-based access for Failed Event Manager
Failed Event Manager includes default roles. Administrators
can also create additional security roles. For more information
on role-based access control, see Administering role-based access control (RBAC).
Default roles for Failed Event Manager
Failed Event Manager provides four basic roles, that is:
- Administrator, which provides the user all privileges.
- SubmitEvents, which provides rights to view and manage (submit
and delete) events but not business object data.
- ViewAll, which provides rights to only view events and business
object data.
- ViewEvents, which provides rights to only view events but not
business object data.
To create the default roles, with the exception of Administrator,
use the Server Administration Tool in System Manager. All of the
default roles must have, and only have, security policy permission
at the server level to view failed events. For more information,
see Administering security policy permissions.
Note:
You can only use the SubmitEvents role in conjunction
with another custom role that includes security policy permission
at component level to submit and delete failed events for collaborations and
connectors.
Custom Roles in Failed Event Manager
You can also create custom roles for use with Failed Event
Manager using the Server Administration Tool in System Manager.
You can assign both custom and default roles to a user. Custom
roles can provide component level access, for example, a user with
an appropriate role can be restricted to viewing failed events that
belong to a specific event owner (connector or collaboration).
For more information, see Administering roles.
All custom roles must have security policy permission at the
server level to view failed events.
At the component level, each custom role must have Submit_Failed_Events
and Delete_Failed_Events security permissions for each component.
The event owner (collaboration object or connector object) must
be identified, as well.
Steps for logging on to Failed Event Manager
You can access Failed Events Manager when you log onto
System Monitor. Failed Events Manager shows up in the left hand
frame along with the System Monitor views and settings.
Failed Event Manager can only be accessed through a supported
browser on Windows platforms only. The supported browsers are:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 or higher, with Adobe SVG
Viewer 3.0 plug-in
- Netscape 4.7x (only), with Adobe SVG Viewer 3.0 plug-in
Since WebSphere Business Integration Server Express now integrates
System Monitor and Failed Events Manager, you must first log onto
System Monitor to access the failed events. Once you have logged
onto System Monitor, simply select the Failed Events Manager option
from the left frame.
For information on logging into System Monitor, see Steps
for logging on to System Monitor.
Steps
for viewing failed events
Perform the following steps to view information about
failed events in Failed Event Manager:
- On the Query page, select the information about the failed events
that you want to view:
- Event Status: select whether you want
to view events with the status of Failed, In Transit, Possible Duplicate, Deferred,
or Any of those four status categories.
- Point of Failure: select the component
in which the failure occurred.
- Business Object: select a name of a business
object.
- Source Connector: select a name of an
adapter or other source connector.
- Select Date: click Any Time,
or click Between and select a beginning and end date and time.
- No. of events/page: Select how may events
you want to be displayed on each page of Failed Event Manager.
- Click Submit.
A Table of Failed Events appears, as show in Figure 64.
Figure 64. Failed Event Manager Table of Failed Events
If you are not assigned to one of the roles that has access to
viewing business objects, the business object buttons may not be
available in this table, as shown in Figure 65.
Note:
Depending on your browser, buttons or other controls
either do not appear or appear and are unavailable.
Figure 65. Failed Event Manager Table of Failed Events without rights to view business objects
- If you want to view details for a particular failed event, select
the check box in the left column and click View in
the Details column.
The Event Details dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 66.
Figure 66. Failed Event Manager Event Details dialog box
- If you are assigned to a role that has access to the business
object, click the business object button in the Business Objects column
to view details about the business object. The Business Object Data
dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 67.
Figure 67. Failed Event Manager Business Object Data dialog box
Steps
for processing failed events in Failed Event Manager
Perform the following steps in a Table of Failed Events
to process failed events:
- Select the check box in the left column for the failed events
that you want to work with.
- Do one of the following:
- To send the events back to the destination application, click Submit.
This action is available if you are assigned to a role that can
submit events.
- To refresh the selected events and then send them back to the
destination application, click Refresh & Submit.This
action is available if you are assigned to a role that can submit
events.
- To cancel the selected events if they are long-lived business
processes, click Cancel Waiting.
- To delete the selected events, click Delete.
Steps for checking your access
rights in Failed Event Manager
Perform the following steps to check the roles you are
assigned for Failed Event Manager role-base security:
- log on to Failed Event Manager (see Steps for logging on to Failed Event Manager).
- On the query page that opens, click the Check your access rights link
in the bottom left.
A page appears listing the default roles available. You can type
a role name to see if you are assigned to that role.
Using Flow Manager
To locate, view, and process failed events, use Flow Manager,
a tool that is installed with the InterChange Server Express product.
Flow Manager allows you to easily construct a query to locate and
display unresolved flows. Flow Manager allows you to display unresolved
flows for multiple servers, and launches either as a standalone
tool or as a System Manager editor.
After you display the unresolved flows, you can select any flow
in the display and submit it, discard it, or perform other actions.
For background information on failed flows, see Flow
failures.
The following topics describe how to use Flow Manager for constructing
the queries, viewing the details, and processing the events:
Steps for starting
Flow Manager as a standalone tool
Steps for starting
Flow Manager from System Manager
Steps
for finding unresolved flows
Steps for viewing details for unresolved
flows
Steps
for processing unresolved flows
Steps for starting
Flow Manager as a standalone tool
Perform the following steps to start Flow Manager as a
standalone tool:
- Click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > Toolset Express > Administrative > Flow Manager.
The Flow Manager application window opens.
- Select Server > Connect to Server.
The Connect to InterChange Server window displays.
- Enter the server name using one of the following methods. For
Windows, the default server is WebSphereICS. For OS/400 and i5/OS,
the default server is QWBIDFT44.
- Type the name of the server in the Server Name field.
- Select the server name from the Server Name list.
- Click the browse button to browse for the server on the network.
- Type the user name and password for the server you want to connect
to. If you check the Remember user name and password check
box, the user name and password are stored in the registry along
with the server name, and the password is encrypted. Click Connect.
Note:
To remove unwanted users or servers from the registry,
click Options. This opens the Options dialog box, from which you
can remove servers or users.
The following figure shows the Options dialog box.
Figure 68. Options dialog box
After you click Connect in the Connect to
InterChange Server dialog box, Flow Manager opens (see Figure 69).
Steps for starting
Flow Manager from System Manager
Perform the following steps to start Flow Manager from
System Manager:
- Start System Manager and connect to the server.
- In System Manager, right-click the server in the InterChange
Server Component Management view and click Flow Manager.
Steps
for finding unresolved flows
Perform the following steps in Flow Manager to find all
unresolved flows:
- Start Flow Manager. See Steps for starting
Flow Manager as a standalone tool or Steps for starting
Flow Manager from System Manager.
- Do one of the following:
- If you want to locate and display all unresolved flows, accept
the defaults of Any for all the fields.
- If you want to construct a query to find specific flows, refer
to the following sections that describe the search options in each
tab:
- After specifying your search criteria, click the Find button
or click FlowManager > Event > Find.
The results appear in the bottom half of the Flow Manager window.
- To save the current filter information as a query, click FlowManager > Query > Save.
The query name you type appears in the Query list.
Event Attributes tab
Click the Event Attributes tab to
search according to the characteristics of the unresolved event
(see Figure 70).
Figure 70. Flow Manager Event Attributes tab
The following options are available from the Event Attributes tab:
- Status: Select events according to their
status, which you can designate as one of the following:
- Any: Selects all unresolved events.
- Failed: Selects all unresolved events
that are in the Failed state.
- In Transit: Selects all unresolved events
that are in the In Transit state.
- Possible Duplicate: Selects all unresolved
events that are in the Possible Duplicate state.
- Deferred: Selects all unresolved events
in which the point of failure was a collaboration with a recovery
mode setting of Deferred.
- Waiting: Selects all unresolved events
in which the point of failure was a collaboration with a recovery
mode setting of Waiting.
- Event Owner: Select a collaboration name
or a connector name to query for flows that failed within that collaboration
or connector. You can string together multiple selections by clicking
in the new empty field that is created below each existing selection.
To search all of your collaborations and connectors, select Any.
- Event: For each collaboration or connector
that you select, select an event, as represented by a business object.
You can select one event, string together multiple events, or select Any.
- Verb:
Chose the verb to query for each event.
- Source Connector
Select the source connector or connector whose flows you want
to query, or select Any.
Date & Time tab
Use the Date & Time tab
to query only the flows that failed during a specific time period
(see Figure 71).
Figure 71. Date & Time tab
The following options are available from the Date & Time tab:
- Any Time: Queries for all failed events,
with no restriction on when occurred
- Find all events: Queries for all failed
events that occurred within a specified time period:
- between (specified times)
- within (period of days)
- older than (number of days)
Error Text & Business Object Attributes tab
Use the Error Text & Business Object Attributes tab
to construct a query that includes only certain business objects,
business object attributes, and attribute values (see Figure 72).
Figure 72. Error Text & Business Object Attributes tab
Select values in the following columns:
- Business Object
- Attribute
- Operand
- Value
You can also query only unresolved flows that produce a message
containing specified text that you type in the Containing Error Text field.
Note:
The keywords you type in the Containing Error Text field
are not case-sensitive.
Steps for viewing details for unresolved
flows
Perform the following steps to view details for unresolved
flows in Flow Manager:
- Select a query from the Query list.
- Do one of the following:
- Click the Find button.
- Click FlowManager > Event > Find.
The results appear in the bottom half of the Flow Manager window.
An unresolved flows table appears with a list of events and the
following information:
- Event Status
- Event Owner
- Point of Failure
- Connector
- Event
- Time
- Message
- Key Attributes
For the waiting events, the Event Status cell
contains the following information:
Waiting
[timeout expiration:...]
[scenario name:...]
[scenario node ID...]
- To access more information about any of the events, double-click
the row containing the event (or click FlowManager > Event > Select All).
This opens the Show Event Details dialog box (see Figure 73).
Figure 73. Flow Manager Show Event Details dialog box
- To access more information about the business object associated
with the selected event, click FlowManager > Event > Display Details.
The Show Business Object Data dialog box appears (see Figure 74).
Figure 74. Show Business Object Data dialog box
If you want to take action on any of the unresolved flows, refer
to Steps
for processing unresolved flows.
Steps for managing queries
Perform one of the following steps to manage queries you
created for unresolved flows:
- To save the current filter information as a query, click FlowManager > Query > Save.
The query you type appears in the Query list.
- To delete a selected query in the Query menu,
click FlowManager > Query > Delete.
- To show or hide the content of the query, click FlowManager > Query > Show/Hide.
Steps for managing results of queries
Perform the following steps to manage queries you created
for unresolved flows:
- In the results list in Flow Manager, select one or more events
in the results list.
- Do one of the following:
- To delete selected events, click FlowManager > Event > Delete.
- To save all the failed events in the results list in an Excel
file, click FlowManager > Event > Save.
- To print the selected events to a table, click FlowManager > Event > Print.
A dialog box appears with Print All Events or Print Selected Events options.
- To display the number of events corresponding to the current
query, click FlowManager > Event > Get Count.
- To clear all the result events, close the result list, and refresh
all the filter controls, click FlowManager > Event > New Search.
Steps
for processing unresolved flows
Perform the following steps to process any failed events
in the results list in Flow Manager:
- In the results list in Flow Manager, select one or more events
in the results list.
- Do one of the following:
- To send the data of the events back to the destination application,
click FlowManager > Event > Submit.
- To cancel waiting events (long-lived business processes), click FlowManager > Event > Cancel Waiting.
- To refresh the data and then send the events back to the destination
application, click FlowManager > Event > Refresh & Submit.
