Creating An Application
Connecting To Tuxedo
Connecting To WebLogic
Troubleshooting Monitoring
Where to get information
on what went wrong
There are two main sources of error information when an error
occurs in Isis.
The first, and most visible, is when an error occurs
and is reported to the user through a message box.
In some instances, Isis may fail to behave as expected normally,
but not produce an error message informing the user of exactly
what has gone wrong. This can be an indication of an error
of a more serious nature. In this situation, it may be possible
to locate more information regarding Isis by referring to
the log files for the application.
Isis logs information in two areas: the log directory where
the Isis application was initially installed, and the log
directory.
For example, if Isis was installed to
c:\Program Files\Integral Technology Solutions\Isis, and an
application had been created under the
c:\Program Files\Integral Technology Solutions\Isis\apps\imhotep
directory, then Isis would create log files in the
c:\Program Files\Integral Technology Solutions\Isis\log directory
and the
c:\Program Files\Integral Technology Solutions\Isis\apps\imhotep\log
directory.
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The following is a list of the errors which can occur when
attempting to create a new application. Should an error occur
which is not described here, please refer to the troubleshooting
section for information on general troubleshooting, and contact
information for Integral Technology Solutions Support.
An invalid path was entered in the Application Path field.
This could be a path containing special characters like %
or *, or possibly an empty path. To correct this error, ensure
that the path in the Application Path field is a valid path.
The application id entered for the new application is already
in use by another application. Another application id will
need to be selected.
An application type has not been selected from the list of
available application types.
All applications within Isis must have an application type,
select one of the application types from the list.
The directory represented by
could not be created by
Isis. When creating a new application, Isis can create subdirectories
under existing directories, but it cannot several levels of
directory structure.
For example, if the path entered for a new application was:
c:\Isis\WeblogicApps\Production\thebes
then creation of the new application would only succeed if
the following path existed:
c:\Isis\WeblogicApps\Production
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When experiencing difficulties connecting to a Tuxedo
application, the following steps are of use in determining
the exact problem.
Confirm the workstation address (WSNADDR) for the
Tuxedo application with the Tuxedo administrator.
Ensure that the WSL server for the Tuxedo application
is currently running, and that the WSL server has
successfully opened the appropriate port on the machine
the Tuxedo application is running on using the netstat command.
If the WSNADDR setting uses a hostname, ensure the machine Isis
is running on can resolve the hostname using the following steps:
- Open a command prompt by clicking the Windows Start button and
selecting Run, then typing ‘cmd.exe’
- Enter ‘ping <hostname>’
In order to provide the necessary security permissions to monitor
a Tuxedo application at runtime, Isis must connect to the Tuxedo
application using a client name of tpsysadm.
Ensure that the client name is set to ‘tpsysadm’.
If security for the application is set to APP_PW, then the Application
Password field must be set to the value of the application-wide
password. The value of the Password field is unimportant.
If security for the application is set to ACL or MANDATORY_ACL,
then the Password field must be set to the password configured
for the tpsysadm user.
To test different values for connection information, select
Application / Connection Settings from the menu, and modify each piece
of data supplied to test different values. To test connection to the
application using different connection information, click the
‘Test Connection’ button.
To test the ability to connect to the application without involving
Isis, the Tuxedo wud32 utility can be used to attempt a connection
to the Tuxedo application. To run wud32, follow these steps:
- Open a command prompt (either from Start / Run within Windows or
from Start / Programs / Accessories / Command Prompt
- Ensure that the WSNADDR environment variable is set to the
required value by typing ‘echo %WSNADDR%
- Run wud32 by entering the command ‘wud32 –U <username> -C <clientname>.
If the WSNADDR environment variable is configured correctly and the WSL
server for the application being connected to is running correctly, then
the user will be prompted for the application password by wud32, and
will then connect successfully.
For more information regarding the wud32 utility, refer to Tuxedo
documentation for the specific Tuxedo version at BEA’s edocs site.
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When experiencing difficulties connecting to a Weblogic
application, the following steps can be of use in resolving
difficulties.
As the configuration process differs for each version of Weblogic,
while the basic steps involved in the troubleshooting process are
similar, the steps taken to achieve them may differ between different
versions of BEA Weblogic.
There are two major causes of error when connecting to a Weblogic
application; the configuration of the SNMP Agent running as part
of the Weblogic application, and the configuration settings used
within Isis to contact the SNMP Agent.
Within Weblogic 5.1, SNMP access to Weblogic is provided through the
external BEA SNMP Agent. The SNMP Agent is booted by the the startSNMP batch file/shell script, where all configuration for the
SNMP Agent is performed. startSNMP passes the following parameters
to the SNMP Agent:
| -password |
Must be set to the password for the system user.
|
| -serverURLs |
Must provide the details for the host running the Weblogic
server (either host name or IP address) and the port to connect
to the Weblogic server on. The information is supplied in the
following form:
-serverURLS t3://<host>:<port>
|
| -trapDestinations |
Configures the destination address for SNMP traps. This should
be set to the following:
-trapDestinations <host>:162
where
is the same host information provided for the server
URL.
|
| -debugLevel |
Sets the debug level for the SNMP Agent. Debug levels range
from 0 (silent) to 3 (verbose). Setting a higher debug level
for the SNMP Agent can assist in the debugging process.
The default debug level if this parameter is not supplied is 0. |
For more information regarding the BEA SNMP Agent within
Weblogic 5.1, refer to BEA's online documentation for the SNMP Agent.
To confirm the settings for the SNMP Agent within Weblogic, access
the Weblogic administration console. The configuration settings for
SNMP can be found by clicking on the node for a domain.
-
| Enabled |
This checkbox must be ticked to allow Isis to retrieve data
from the Weblogic application.
|
| SNMP Port |
This should be set to the default port (161). Isis will not
attempt to connect to a Weblogic application using a non-standard
port.
|
| Mib Data Refresh Interval |
While the refresh interval will have no direct effect on
connection to a Weblogic application, the refresh interval
and monitoring period should be set to similar values to ensure
that up-to-date data is retrieved each time.
Note: setting the refresh interval to a small period
(eg. 10 seconds) may cause performance loss on a Weblogic
application.
|
| Server Status Check Interval Factor |
This should be set to a default value of 1.
|
| Community Prefix |
This should be set to the default name of 'public'. If a
non-standard name is used, then care should be taken to ensure
that the name is also used in configuring connection settings
within Isis for the Weblogic application.
|
| Debug Level |
When connection is running normally, this should be set to no
debug (0). When experiencing problems connecting to a Weblogic
application, this should be set to 3. Note that a change to the
debug level for the SNMP Agent will require a restart of the
Weblogic application. |
Once the debug level for the SNMP Agent is set to a level higher
than 0, the debug information generated by the SNMP Agent can be used
to confirm network communication between the SNMP Agent and Isis.
Open the Connection Settings dialog by selecting Application / Connection
Settings from the menu within Isis. Click the 'Test Connection' button,
and a debug message should be generated to the Weblogic domain log.
If no message is generated, the hostname and port specified for
the SNMP Agent are the most likely cause of communication problems
between Isis and the Weblogic application.
- Ensure that the port specified is the default SNMP port of 161
- Ensure that the host name specified within Isis can be resolved
on the machine that Isis is installed to.
If messages are reaching the SNMP Agent, then check the following:
- Is the community name provided by Isis correct?
- Is the application configured to use the correct version of Weblogic?
If the community name provided by Isis is incorrect, then Isis will
contact the SNMP Agent successfully, but will not be able to provide
the correct security information, and connection will fail.
If the application is configured within Isis to use the wrong version
of Weblogic, then in some cases connection may fail altogether, and
in other cases Isis will fail to retrieve data when monitoring.
Ensure that the Weblogic version selected from the drop-down list is
correct.
The following information provides further details
regarding application behaviour and specific error messages which can
occur while attempting to configure monitoring.
The polling period Isis uses to control the monitoring of an
application must be between 10 and 3600 seconds. A monitoring period
outside this range will not be allowed by Isis.
Ensure that the "Perform Monitoring?" checkbox is ticked, and that
the 'Apply' button has been clicked after enabling monitoring.
If monitoring is configured for an application, monitoring settings
will still have an effect even when that application is disconnected.
Isis will continue to move through the configured monitoring period
for that application, updating the next time monitoring will take
place. The "Next Fetch" time for the application being monitored
will only have an effect once Isis successfully connects to that
application.
While disconnected, or while experiencing monitoring difficulties,
the "Last Fetch" time will remain displaying the last time monitoring
was successfully performed for the application.
More information regarding the Monitoring Interval tab, where the
Next Fetch and Last Fetch information for an application can be
found, can be found here.
Ensure that:
- the client name used to connect to the application is
configured as
tpsysadm.
- Isis has connected successfully to the Tuxedo
application by performing a 'psc' command from within
tmadmin.
- all servers within the Tuxedo application are
currently booted by performing a 'psr' command from within
tmadmin.
- at least one server has been selected to monitor.
Ensure that:
- the application is configured within Isis as the correct Weblogic
version. If the wrong Weblogic version is specified, the application
may connect successfully but fail to return any data.
- all servers to be monitored within the Weblogic application are
currently deployed and active.
- at least one source is selected for monitoring.
Under normal conditions the amount of processing time consumed by
monitoring within Isis is minimal.
If monitoring slows response time in the application to a
point where it is difficult for the user to interact with the
application, several steps should be taken to resolve this problem.
- Firstly, either disable monitoring or set the monitoring period
for the application to a long enough interval to minimise disruption.
(eg. 120 - 240 seconds).
- Determine if the problem is caused by inadequate CPU resources
locally using Windows Task Manager. Which processes are taking the
majority of CPU resources when performance is at its lowest? Does
the client machine have adequate resources under ideal conditions
to run Isis?
- If adequate memory and CPU resources are available locally, the
problem may be with network communication between the client machine
where Isis is installed and the machine running the application
being monitored. Investigate network communication time between
the two machines.
- If no network communication problem is evident between the two
machines, there may be a significant problem with available resources
on the machine being monitored. Are serious performance problems
evident currently in the production machine? If so, these problems
may be endemic to the environment or so widespread that Isis may
not aid in highlighting specific performance problems. In this
situation, it is recommended that the client contact Integral Support
for a more detailed initial performance analysis before using Isis to
highlight key areas for improvement.
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