Working with Flowmaps

Flow maps are dynamic visual representation of components and activities within the monitored application environment. It is a representation of ND tiers, non-ND tiers, IPs, business transactions between tier and IPs, and transaction scorecard. It also contains connection lines that represent connections between components (Tier/IP etc.) in the flow map.

Layout

The layout of flow map consists of:

  • ND tiers, Non-ND tiers
  • Tier details, such as tier name, TPS, response time, and CPU utilization, type of tier representation by icon (example – java/dot net, and so on)
  • Tier health, Server health, and Instance health on the basis of alerts

Representation of Entities

Entity Representation
ND Tier
Non ND Tier/Agent Only Nodes
Integration Point
Integration Point (whose IP is not available)
Business Health
Server Health

Selection of Nodes

User can select the node for which the FlowMap is required to be displayed. User can select one, more, or all nodes.

The flow map is displayed based on the nodes selected.

Usage of JMS Queue Technology

Java Message Service (JMS) is an API that provides the facility to create, send and read messages. It provides loosely coupled, reliable and asynchronous communication. JMS is also known as a messaging service. JMS is mainly used to send and receive message from one application to another.

Here, JMSP works as a producer of the details where are JMSC works as a consumer. Whenever any request comes, JMSC consumes the request and JMSP produces the request. JMSC works on the concept of inbound calls whereas JMSP works on the concept of outbound calls. Both are represented in the form of Integration Points (IP) with the dotted boundaries.

Discovery of Tier and IPs

There are various types of tier/IPs available in the Application End-to-End View, such as ND tier, Non-ND tier, and IPs.

  • ND Tier
    • ND agent enabled in tier
    • Presence of business transactions using ND
  • Non-ND tier
    • CavMon Agent installed
    • Presence of System Status monitor data
  • IP
    • Call outs from ND nodes
      • HTTP/HTTPS
      • JDBC
      • Coherence
      • BigData
      • MemCache
      • Cloudant
      • Custom Callouts

Features

There are following features of flow map:

  • Visual representation of monitored application Tiers with KPI metrics
    • ND Enabled Tiers
    • Non-ND Tiers
    • Integration Points (DB, HTTP)
  • Tier and Instance Level

Flow Map Management

In flow map management, a user can perform following tasks:

  • Search a node
  • Edit Current Flow Map
  • Manage Flow Map
  • Default Flow Map
  • Save as Flow Map
  • Pause/Resume Auto Refresh
  • Auto Layout
  • Auto Fit Layout
  • Circular Layout
  • Grid View
  • Settings
  • Maximize
  • Zoom

We are covering each section one by one, let’s first have a description on how to edit current flow map.

Search a Node

A user can search Tiers and IPs by clicking the  icon. After searching, the searched Tier/IP is highlighted for 10 seconds and then the highlight disappears.

Edit Current Flow Map

User can edit the current flow map. To do this follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Mouse hover on the Edit flowmap  icon, and then click the Edit Current Flowmap option.

  1. This displays the Configure Flow Map window.

  1. Below is the description of each entry in the Configure Flow Map window:
    • Use Local Renaming of Integration Points: If user has renamed any integration point then, on selecting this check box, the local renaming of the integration point is considered, else the system considers the default name of the integration point.
    • Show Integration Point with 0 calls: On selecting this check box, the system also considers the integration points that execute no calls, else system eliminates those integration points that constitute no calls.
    • Show Flowpath upto n level on double click: On selecting this check box, a user can double-click a tier to view all the connected tiers and integration points up to ‘n’ level.Note: In case of shared flowmaps, when only read access is given to other users, the above three filters are disabled.

Value Filters

  • Transaction per Second: On selecting this check box, user can filter the flow maps based on number of transactions per second. First, select the operator either greater than (>) or smaller than (<) and specify the value for which the filter needs to be applied.
  • Response Time: On selecting this check box, user can filter the flow maps based on the response time of transactions. First, select the operator either greater than (>) or smaller than (<) and specify the value (in milliseconds) for which the filter needs to be applied.
  • CPU Utilization: On selecting this check box, user can filter the flow maps based on CPU utilization. First, select the operator either greater than (>) or smaller than (<) and specify the value (in percentage) for which the filter needs to be applied.

Apply these settings on Integration Point also: To apply these settings (value filters) i.e. Transactions per second filter, Response time filter, and CPU utilization on Integration Point also, select this check box.

Show Call Details per: A user can choose to show calls per seconds or minutes.

Show Integration Point names in Flowmap upto characters: A user can configure Integration Point character length. The default character length is 15.

Name Filters

  • Show only specified Tiers/ Integration Points: This can also be termed as Name Filters, where user can apply filters based on the Tier/Integration Point names. On selecting this check box, two sections are displayed, one for Hidden Tiers/ Integration Points and other for Visible Tiers/Integration Points. User can move the tiers/integration points from one section to another by using the arrow buttons 135 / 134.

If user selects this check box and doesn’t apply value filters, then system displays all those tiers/integration points that are under Visible Tiers / Integration Points section.

If user applies value filters, then system only considers the Tiers / Integration Points that are under Visible Tiers / Integration Points section. The Tiers/Integration points that are under Hidden Tiers / Integration Points section are not taken into consideration and hence are not be displayed whether they are matched with the condition of value filters.

  1. After performing the required configuration, click the Apply button.

Example

In this example, we have performed following tasks:

Input

  • Selected the Use Local Renaming of Integration Points check box
  • Selected the Show Integration Point with 0 Calls check box
  • Applied Transaction per second filter and it should be less than 3.
  • Selected the Apply these settings on Integration Point also check box.

Output

The output after the application of the above filters, would be as below. Here we can see that system displays only those tiers whose transaction per second (TPS) is less than 3 (i.e. 2, 0, 0).

 note To save the current flow map, click the Save Flow Map icon 136.To save as a copy of the current flow map, click the Save As Flow Map icon 137.

Manage Flow Map

Manage Flow Map feature is used for following purposes:

  • To set as default flow map
  • To make a flow map sharable to other owners
  • To remove a flow map

To view Manage Flow Map window

  1. Mouse hover on the Edit flowmap  icon, and then click the Manage My Flow Maps option.

  1. The Manage Flow Map window is displayed.

To set as default flow map

Select the desired flow map from the Default Flowmap drop-down list and click Apply.

To make a flow map sharable

To make a flow map sharable means it is viewable by other owners also. For this, select the Shared check box corresponding to the flow map.

To remove a flow map

To remove a flow map, select the flow map and click the Remove button, the flow map gets removed from the list.

Default Flow Map

To load the default flow map, click the Default Flow Map option. It is loaded by default at the time of accessing the Application End-to-End View. User can create a custom flow map and can mark it as default flow map.

Save as Flow Map

Save as Flow Map feature creates an identical copy of the flow map. It works similar to Save As option of any application software, such as Microsoft Word, PPT etc. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Click the Save As FlowMap icon 137. The Copy FlowMap window is displayed.

  1. Enter the name for new flow map and click Save. This saves a copy of the flow map with the name provided in the box.

Pause/Start Request

The details of the flow maps refreshed automatically in every 2 minutes (progress interval of the test run). User can also pause the auto refresh of the flow map details. To do this, user needs to click the Pause request icon 140. After clicking, the auto refresh feature of flow map is disabled and the icon changes to 141. To resume the auto refresh feature, click the 141 icon.

Auto Layout

Auto layout arranges the tiers and integration points in the form of an ellipse. This layout creates two layers. The outer layer represents the integration points and the inner layer represents the tiers. To execute the auto layout feature, click the Auto Layout icon .

Example:

Auto Fit Layout

Auto Fit layout wraps the flow map entities, such as tiers and integration points, within the panel. This eliminates scrolling and arranges the entities in such a way that the flow map can be viewed in a single snapshot. User can execute the auto fit layout by click the Auto Fit Layout icon .

Example:

Dispersed Layout (shows scrolling)

Auto Fit Layout (scrolling eliminated and fitted entities in panel)

Circular Layout

Circular layout is similar to auto layout. The difference is – in auto layout, two ellipses are created, one for tiers and other for integration points. But, in circular layout, only one ellipse is created and both tiers and integration points are represented in that ellipse. To change the layout to circular layout, click the Circular Layout icon .

Example:

Auto Layout

Circular Layout

Grid View

Grid view is the representation of flow map in grid/tabular format. To view the flow map in grid format, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Click the Grid View icon 147. The flow map details are displayed in grid format.

  1. By default, tier detail is displayed. To view the integration point details to which the tier is connected to, click the 148 icon. This expands the tier and displays the integration points.

 Information displayed

    • From: This represents the tier from where the call is executed.
    • To: This represents the integration point connected to the tier.
    • TPS/CPS: This represents transactions per second / calls per second.
    • Res Time: This represents the response time taken by the system.
    • CPU (%): This represents the usage of CPU in percentage.
    • Count: This represents total number of calls.
  1. To go back to map view, click the Map View icon . The information can be sorted in ascending/descending order by using the 150 button.

Settings

In this section, user can select the connection pattern and the view pattern. To view the settings with different options, click the Settings icon . The following pop-up is displayed.

There are following options:

  • No Connection Call: On selecting this option, the flow map is displayed with no connection call.

  • All Connection Calls: On selecting this option, the flow map is displayed with all connection calls.

  • Connection Calls in Slide Show: On selecting this option, the connection calls are displayed in slide show manner for one tier at a time. The duration for showing connection call for next tier is 5 seconds.

  • Current Value: On selecting this option, the data for the current value (last sample) is displayed.

  • Time Period View: On selecting this option, the data is displayed for the time period specified.

Maximize

This option is used to maximize the pane where the tier and integration points are displayed. To maximize, click the Maximize icon . The pane is maximized which hides the right pane:

To restore it to the previous view, click the Restore icon .

Zoom 

The user can use the mouse scroll to zoom in or zoom out the view of the pane.