Using System Monitor

System Monitor is a tool that allows you to monitor the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server system from the Web. It allows you to configure how you view the data and also allows you to view historical data as well as current data. System Monitor also allows you to start, stop, and pause components. For instructions on starting, stopping, and pausing components, see Administering components of the system.

This section describes the various components involved in configuring and using System Monitor, and covers the following topics:

Setting up System Monitor

Steps for logging on to System Monitor

Overview of the System Monitor interface

Setting up views to monitor the system

Customizing data

Using persistent monitoring

Setting up System Monitor

Before you begin using System Monitor, you must have the required web servers, client browsers, and other software installed on your system.

You also must decide whether you want to use the default monitors provided with System Monitor or if you want to create additional monitors using the Monitor Definition wizard. For example, you might want a monitor called System Overview, which displays status and start time of all system components. You create this monitor using the Monitor Definition Wizard, a tool opened from System Manager.

Requirements for System Monitor

System Monitor requires the following software, listed in Table 1:


Table 1. Required software for System Monitor

Supported Web servers Software required on Web server Supported browsers

A Web application server which supports JSP versions 1.1 or later, and servlets versions 2.2 or later, such as IBM WebSphere Application Server versions 5.0.2 with fixpack 4 or 5.1, or Tomcat versions 4.1.24 or 4.1.27 (using IBM JDK 1.4.2)

DB2 Client (if using DB2 for InterChange Server repository database)

  • 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 (on a Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system only)

Steps for reviewing default monitors

Refer to Table 2 below for information you can use to determine if you want to use the default monitors included with the System Monitor.

Note:
Table 3 contains a description of the display options listed in Table 2.. The section entitled Examples of display options contains samples of the display options listed in Table 2..


Table 2. Default monitors

Default monitor Definition Display options Available operations when viewing monitor
System Overview Overview of the current status of all major components of the system: collaborations, connectors, maps, and relationships Table tree (a table with expandable nodes in the first column that display more rows)
  • Start, stop, pause, and shut down a collaboration
  • Start, stop, pause, and shut down a connector
  • Restart a connector agent
  • Start and stop a map
  • Start and stop a relationship

Collaboration Statistics Current status and statistics of all collaborations in the system:
  • Status
  • Start time
  • Total flows
  • Successful flows
  • Failed flows
  • Events in process
  • Queued events
  • Max concurrent events
Table
  • Start, stop, pause, and shut down

Connector Statistics Current status and statistics of all connectors:
  • Status
  • Start time
  • Total up time
  • Business objects received
  • Business objects sent
  • Agent status
Table
  • Start, stop, pause, and shut down
  • Restart connector agent

Map Status Status of all maps Table Start and stop
Relationship Status Status of all relationships Table Start and stop
Server Statistics Current statistics of the server: the number of failed and successful calls, events, and flows Stacked bar None
Database Connections Current status of database connections:
  • Number of free connections
  • Number of active connections
  • Maximum number of connections
  • Peak number of connections
Table None
Message Queues Current status of message queues:
  • Current depth
  • Maximum depth configured
Table None
Business Objects Current statistics of the business objects for a particular connector: business objects sent and business objects received Table None
Connector Subscriptions Current statistics of the subscriptions for a particular connector:
  • Collaboration object
  • Initiator
Table None
Collaboration Events Current statistics of collaboration events, which includes the following information:
  • Events in process
  • Queued events
Bar None
Historical Server Statistics Server statistics for a specific period of time. Statistical information:
  • Successful calls
  • Failed calls
  • Total calls
  • Successful events
  • Failed events
  • Total events
  • Successful flows
  • Failed flows
  • Total flows

Time intervals:

  • Start date
  • End date
Bar None
Historical Server Flows Flow statistics of the server for a specific period of time at certain time intervals. Statistical information:
  • Successful flows
  • Failed flows
  • Total flows

Time intervals:

  • 15 min., 30 min., hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly
  • Start date
  • End date
Line None
Historical Collaboration Flows Stack Flow statistics of a particular collaboration for a specific period of time at certain time intervals. Statistics information:
  • Successful flows
  • Failed flows
  • Total flows

Time intervals:

  • 15 min., 30 min., hourly, 4 hours, 12 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly
  • Start date
  • End date
Stacked bar None
Historical Collaboration Flows Line Flow statistics of a particular collaboration for a specific period of time at certain time intervals. Statistics information:
  • Successful flows
  • Failed flows
  • Total flows

Time intervals:

  • 15 min., 30 min., hourly, 4 hours, 12 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly
  • Start date
  • End date
Line None
Event Rate Current number of processed events per minute Meter None
Flow Control Current state of collaboration objects and connectors under Flow Control:
  • Buffered events
  • Max event capacity
  • Blocked status (does not apply to non-blocking collaboration)
  • Events pending in database (applies only to non-blocking collaborations)
  • Saturated status
Table None
State Change Log Current persisted state changes on a component for a specified time period. State change information:
  • Time stamp
  • State

Time intervals:

  • Start date
  • End date
Table None

Steps for creating additional monitors

Before you begin creating additional monitors, review the existing default monitors in Table 2, to see if the monitor you want to create already exists.

Perform the following steps to create a monitor:

  1. Open System Manager.
  2. In the InterChange Server Component Management view, right-click the server instance to which you want to connect, then click Connect. The Server User ID and Password dialog box appears.
  3. Type the User ID and password for that server, then click OK. The status of the server changes from unknown or disconnected to connected.
    Note:
    If the status does not change to connected, make sure the selected InterChange Server instance is running.
  4. Right-click the server instance, then click Monitor Definition Wizard. The Monitor Definition Wizard appears. See Figure 1..

    Figure 1. Monitor Definition Wizard, page for selecting information type and display option

    The figure shows the first screen in the Monitor Definition Wizard, where you can select your information types and display options. The left side of the screen shows the available information types, for example, System Overview, Collaboration Statistics and Map Status, while the right side of the screen shows the display options, for example, Table, Table Tree, or Stacked Bars.

  5. Select the type of information you want in the monitor from the Information Types list, and select how you want the information displayed under Displayed Option(s).

    Each information type has one or more available display options, and each display option has configurable properties. When you select an information type, only the display options for that information type are available under Displayed Option(s). For a description of the configurable properties of each display option, see Steps for using monitor display options, and for examples of how the display options appear in System Monitor, see Examples of display options.

    Note:
    If business object probes exist, they appear in the Information Types list. For instructions on adding business object probes, refer to the Collaboration Development Guide.
  6. Click Next. The Specify Monitor Properties page appears (see Figure 2).

    Figure 2. Monitor Definition Wizard, Specify Monitor Properties page

    The figure shows the second screen in the Monitor Definition Wizard, where you can specify monitor properties. The top of the screen shows allows you to name the monitor and enter an optional description. The remainder of the screen allows you to select the layout of your table, for instance, setting the number of rows for your monitor table, selecting the table column attributes and ordering the attributes.

  7. Add the following information on the Specify Monitor Properties page:
  8. Do one of the following:

    Figure 3. Monitor Definition Wizard, Specify Attribute Thresholds screen

    The figure shows the last screen in the Monitor Definition Wizard, where you can specify attribute thresholds. On this screen you can specify the number of buffered events, events pending in the database and the maximum event capacity.

Steps for using monitor display options

Perform this step to use display options for monitors you are creating with the Monitor Definition Wizard (see Steps for creating additional monitors) or using monitors in System Monitor (see Steps for setting display properties for monitors:

Refer to Table 3 to determine ways you can configure display options when creating monitors in Monitor Definition Wizard, or when you are using the monitors in System Monitor. (For examples of the display options, see Examples of display options.)

Table 3. Configurable display options for monitors

Display option Properties you can configure when building monitors in Monitor Definition Wizard Properties you can configure when using monitors in System Monitor
  • Table
  • Table tree

  • Columns to display
  • Order of columns
  • Number of rows to display

  • Font and color settings of the labels and data
  • Number of rows to display

  • Stacked bar
  • Line
  • Bar

None
  • Font and color settings of the labels and data
  • Show or hide values

Meter Meter threshold Font and color settings of the labels and data

Examples of display options

The following exemplify the display options you can select when creating monitors in the Monitor Definition Wizard and how they appear in System Monitor:

Note:
The data in the examples is not indicative of actual data in an InterChange Server system.

Figure 4. Table display option

The figure shows a table display, with the connector name, the status of the connector, the start up time, the total time the connector has been running, the number of business objects received and sent by the connector, and the agent status.

Figure 5. Table tree display option

The figure shows a table tree display, listing the component name, the component type, the component status, the component start time, and the total time the component has been running.

Figure 6. Line display option

The figure shows an example of a line display, with a left axis that shows the total amount in integer format, and the bottom axis, which shows various system items, for example, calls or events. A diagonal line charts the rise and fall of the information being charted.

Figure 7. Bar display option

The figure shows an example of a bar display. Each bar in the chart represents a unique piece of information, and the height of the bar is determined by the informational value.

Figure 8. Stacked bar display option

The figure shows an example of a stacked bar display, with like information grouped together on top of each other to make composite bar displays.

Figure 9. Meter display option

The figure shows an example of a meter display, where information displays in a metered format, much like a speedometer.

Steps for logging on to System Monitor

After you have either created new monitors or decided to use the default monitors, you are ready to log on to System Monitor to monitor the system.

Before you begin:

Perform the following steps to log on to System Monitor:

  1. In a Web browser, navigate to the URL for System Monitor. The URL you use for System Monitor depends on whether you are using WebSphere Application Server or Tomcat. Refer to the WebSphere Business InterChange Server Installation Guide for additional information about setting up System Monitor to work with WebSphere Application Server or Tomcat.

    The WebSphere InterChange Server System Monitor login window appears (see Figure 10).

    Figure 10. System Monitor, Login window


  2. Type the server name, user name, and password for the InterChange Server instance that you want to monitor, then click Login. System Monitor appears (see Figure 11).
    Note:
    If role-based access control is enabled, the user will not be allowed to log in to System Monitor unless they are assigned to a role that is granted permission to monitor the server. For more information on role-based access control, see Administering role-based access control (RBAC).

Figure 11. System Monitor, displaying System Overview as the default view


Overview of the System Monitor interface

System Monitor contains the following items:

Setting up views to monitor the system

You can either begin monitoring the system using the default views, or you can add, change, or delete views before monitoring the system. The following sections describe how to use existing views or create and configure views from System Monitor. Views can contains one or more monitors. Several default views are included in the installation of System Monitor. You may use these default views or create new views. Before you can create and configure views, you must log on to System Monitor. For instructions on logging on to System Monitor, see Steps for logging on to System Monitor.

This section covers the following topics:

Steps for using default views

Steps for creating your own views

Steps for configuring views

Steps for deleting views

Steps for resetting default views

Steps for using default views

Perform the following step to use default views:

  1. Open System Monitor.
  2. In the left frame, select one of the views listed in Table 4 from the Views list.

    The table describes which monitor or monitors are contained in the view, and which display option is used. For descriptions of default monitors used in the views, see Steps for reviewing default monitors.


    Table 4. Default views

    Default view Monitor(s) and display options
    System Overview System Overview monitor displayed in a table tree
    Collaboration Overview Collaboration Statistics monitor displayed in a table
    Collaboration
    • Collaboration Events monitor displayed in bar chart, and
    • Event Rate monitor displayed in a meter

    Collaboration History
    • Historical Collaboration Flows monitor displayed in a stacked bar chart
    • Historical Collaboration Flows monitor displayed in a line chart

    Connector Overview Connector Statistics monitor displayed in a table
    Connector
    • Business Objects monitor displayed in a table
    • Connector Subscriptions monitor displayed in a table

    Maps and Relationships
    • Map Status monitor displayed in a table
    • Relationship Status monitor displayed in a table

    Server Statistics
    • Server Statistics displayed in a stacked bar chart
    • Database Connections displayed in a table
    • Message Queues displayed in a table

    Server History
    • Historical Server Statistics displayed in a bar chart
    • Historical Server Flows displayed in a line chart

    Flow Control Flow Control monitor displayed in a table
    State Change Log State Change Log monitor displayed in a table

    The table or chart for that view opens in the System Monitor main window. For examples, see Examples of display options.

Steps for creating your own views

Perform the following steps to create a view:

  1. Click Create and Configure Views in the left frame of System Monitor. The Create and Configure Views dialog box appears (see Figure 12).

    Figure 12. Create and Configure Views Window


  2. Click the Create New View button. The View Name dialog box appears.
  3. Type a name for the view in the View Name field, then click OK. The new view name appears in the View field of the Create and Configure Views dialog box.
  4. Select one or more monitors in the Select Monitor(s) list, or select Select all to select all the monitors listed. Your selections appear in the Order Monitors list.
  5. Use the up and down arrows to the right of the Order Monitors list to put the monitors in the order you want to view them, from top to bottom.
  6. Click Preview if you want to see a preview of the new view.
  7. Click Save View. A "View was saved successfully" message appears. The new view appears immediately under Views in the left frame of System Monitor.

Steps for configuring views

Perform the following steps to change an existing view:

  1. Click Create and Configure Views in the left frame of System Monitor. The Create and Configure Views dialog box appears (see Figure 12).
  2. Select the view you want to change from the View list.
  3. Add monitors to or remove monitors from the view in the Select Monitors list. The revised monitors for the view appear in the Order Monitors list.
  4. Use the up and down arrows to the right of the Order Monitors list to put the monitors in the order you want to view them.
  5. Click Preview if you want to see a preview of the new view.
  6. Click Save View. A "View was saved successfully" message appears.

Steps for deleting views

Perform the following steps to delete a view:

  1. Click Create and Configure Views in the left frame of System Monitor. The Create and Configure Views dialog box appears (see Figure 12).
  2. Select the view you want to delete from the View list.
  3. Click Delete View. A message appears, asking if you are sure you want to delete the view.
  4. Click OK. The view is removed from the Views list in the left frame of System Monitor.

Steps for resetting default views

After creating, deleting and configuring views, you may reset all views back to the original system defaults. All new or modified views will be lost when resetting back to the original defaults. Perform the following steps to reset default views:

  1. Click Create and Configure Views in the left frame of System Monitor. The Create and Configure Views dialog box appears (see Figure 12).
  2. Click the Reset All Views button. The Reset All Views pop-up window appears, displaying a listing of the number of views that will be deleted, reintroduced or modified.
  3. Click View Details to view additional information on the changes that will occur if you proceed. When you have completed viewing details, click Yes. The views are set to the original system defaults. The navigation pane automatically updates the view listing.

Customizing data

You can make adjustments to many of the elements of System Monitor, fine-tuning the level of system data you can monitor. These adjustments are described in the following sections:

Steps for setting a default view

Steps for setting display properties for monitors

Steps for setting the refresh rate for run-time values

Steps for setting the frequency for historical data capture

Steps for resetting run-time statistic values

Steps for capturing state changes

Steps for deleting the state change log

Steps for deleting historical statistics

Steps for deleting the business object probe data file

Steps for setting a default view

The default view is the view you first see when you log on to System Monitor.

Perform the following steps to change the default view:

  1. Click Create and Configure Views from the left frame of System Monitor. The Create and Configure Views dialog box appears (see Figure 12).
  2. Select the view that you want to be the default view from the View list.
  3. Select the Default View check box.
  4. Click Save View. A "View was saved successfully" message appears. The next time you log on to System Monitor, the view you selected as the default view is displayed.

Steps for setting display properties for monitors

The display options of monitors can be customized by changing the preferences of the display options.

Perform the following steps to change the appearance of a monitor:

  1. When viewing a monitor, click the chart icon in the upper right corner. The Preferences dialog box appears for that particular display option in that monitor. Figure 13 is an example of the Table Preferences dialog box.

    Figure 13. System Monitor, Table Preferences dialog box

    The figure shows the Table Preferences screen, where you can select the font, font style, font color, and font size for the characters in your table.

  2. In the Preferences dialog box, select the appearance options that you want to change. For a list of appearance options are available with each display option, see Steps for using monitor display optionsand Table 3..
  3. Click Preview to see a preview of the changes you made.
  4. Click OK. The changes appear in the monitor. Changes to the preferences of a display option appear in all monitors that use that particular display option.
    Note:
    If you want to return the monitor to its original appearance, open the Preferences dialog box, select Default, then click OK.

Steps for setting the refresh rate for run-time values

Some monitors display run-time values of a component. For these monitors, you can specify how often you want statistics to be refreshed. The refresh rate you set is for the system as a whole, not for individual components.

Perform the following steps to set the refresh rate for monitored run-time values:

  1. Click Set Options from the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).

    Figure 14. System Monitor, Set Options dialog box


  2. Type a number in the Refresh Rate field to specify the number of seconds you want to set for the refresh rate, then click the Refresh Rate Submit button.

Steps for setting the frequency for historical data capture

Perform the following steps to set the rate at which historical data is captured:

  1. Click Set Options in the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).
  2. In the How frequently should historical data be captured? section, click the Review all interval settings link. The Historical Statistics Interval Rates dialog box appears (see Figure 15).

    Figure 15. System Monitor, Historical Statistics Interval Rates dialog box


  3. Set the interval rates for the server, for each collaboration object, and for each connector by selecting one of the following:
  4. Click Submit Changes to submit all of the interval rates for all of the components.
Note:
Alternatively, you can set the interval rate for a single component in the Set Options dialog box by selecting the component from the Component Type list and the interval rate from the Frequency list, then clicking the Submit button.

Steps for resetting run-time statistic values

The run-time statistics are kept in memory from the time the server is started. If the server is running for several days or weeks, these values can become very large.

Perform the following steps to reset the value of a component's run-time statistics to "0":

  1. Click Set Options in the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).
  2. In the Do you want to reset component statistics? section, select the component from the Component Type list.
  3. Click Submit.

Steps for capturing state changes

Perform the following steps to configure how state changes for each component are captured and sent to a log file:

  1. Click Set Options in the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).
  2. Under the Do you want to capture state changes of a particular component? section, select the component from the Component Type list.
    Note:
    If you selected Collaboration or Connector as the component type, you are prompted to select a particular collaboration object or connector.
  3. Select the Capture State Changes check box, then click the Submit button.

Steps for deleting the state change log

As the state change log grows, you may need to delete old data.

Perform the following steps to delete the log for a particular time:

  1. Click Set Options in the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).
  2. Under the Do you want to delete the state change log for all components? section, do the following:

Steps for deleting historical statistics

As the historical data grows, you may need to delete old data.

Perform the following steps to delete historical data for a particular time period:

  1. Click Set Options in the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).
  2. Under the Do you want to delete the historical statistics for all components? section, do the following:

Steps for deleting the business object probe data file

As the business object probe data grows in size, you may need to delete old data.

Perform the following steps to delete the data for a particular time period:

  1. Click Set Options in the left frame of System Monitor. The Set Options dialog box appears (see Figure 14).
  2. Under the Do you want to delete the data for a business object probe? section, do the following:

Using persistent monitoring

Persistent monitoring is a subsystem of InterChange Server that monitors and stores historical state and statistical information of collaboration objects, connectors and the system as a whole. You can use persistent monitoring with system components or with the entire system.

You configure the various levels of persistent monitoring for system components from the Set Options dialog box in System Monitor. Those procedures are included in the previous section, Customizing data:

To configure system-wide persistent monitoring, you use the Edit Configuration tool in System Manager. This section describes how to configure system-wide persistent monitoring with the Edit Configuration tool and how to access the results of system-wide persistent monitoring from System Monitor.

Note:
You must consider the database volume requirements and a data deletion strategy when planning the number of components being monitored and the frequency at which they are monitored. For more information about implementing database volume requirements, see the System Implementation Guide.

Steps for configuring system-wide parameters for persistent monitoring

Perform the following steps to configure system-wide parameters of persistent monitoring.

  1. Open the Edit Configuration tool by doing the following:

    The upper-right section of the System Manager window becomes a tool from which you can edit the InterchangeServer.cfg file.

  2. Click the Misc tab (see Figure 16).

    Figure 16. Edit Configuration tool, Misc tab


  3. Under Persistent Monitoring, do the following:

Steps for accessing the results from persistent monitoring

Perform the following steps to access the results of persistent monitoring:

  1. Open System Monitor.
  2. Select one of the following views in the Views column to display historical state and statistical information:

For more information on using default views, see Steps for using default views. Alternatively, you can create your own views that can contain historical data. For more information on creating views, see Steps for creating your own views.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2004