Working with Tier

Tier is a logical entity that constitutes high level grouping of individual nodes and nodes can be individual servers, app pool or JVMs. There are two types of tiers, such as ND Tiers, and Non-ND Tiers:

  • Drill down a tier to view various reports,
  • View top 10 transactions,
  • Group/ungroup a tier,
  • View dashboard of a tier,
  • View tier info,
  • View flow map of a tier,
  • View/hide tier integration,
  • Change icon of a tier,
  • View instance recycle history, and
  • Search a FlowPath by FlowPath ID/correlation ID.

Type of Tiers

There are two types of tiers:

  • ND Tiers: Those tiers in which ND instance is running.
  • Non-ND Tiers: Those tiers in which ND instance is not running.

Drill Down

Drill down is the process to access data which is in a lower level of a hierarchically structure. User can have tier level drill down and integration-point level drill down. First, we are describing the tier level drill down. To view the drill down options in Application End-to-End View, right click on any tier and go to DrillDown menu. The following menu-items are displayed:

  • Flowpaths By Response Time
  • Flowpaths By Callout Error
  • DB Queries
  • Hotspots
  • Methods By Response Time
  • Exceptions
  • BT IP Summary

Flowpaths by Response Time

This feature is used to view the Flowpaths by response time. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, go to DrillDown, and click Flowpaths by Response Time option.
  1. The Flowpath report is displayed. Flowpaths are sorted based on the response time in descending order, means the flow path with highest response time is displayed at the top and so on.

Split View Flowpath Report

User can view the records in split view format where flowpath details are listed at a single place. Split View Report displays all other reports of DDR at a single place and user can see all the reports related to same flowpath instance in a single flow. This report is helpful for observing all the details related to same flowpath instance. Through this report, user can further drill down to other reports.

  • First Row: BT name, category, start time, response time.
  • Second Row: Tier Name, Server Name, Instance Name.
  • Third Row: Icons with values (only non-zero values and icons) and status code.

Integrated flowpath Report

Integrated Flowpath Report is useful in case of user wants to see all reports at one place. User can see all the reports related to single flowpath instance at one place.

Now, there is no need to traverse through breadcrumb to see all the reports related to single flowpath instance. This saves time for user and helps in observing data in a better way.

There are following integrated flowpath reports:

  • Method Call Details
  • HotSpot
  • DB Queries
  • HTTP Report
  • Exception
  • Method Timing
  • IP Summary

The detail of these reports are provided in later sections.

Flowpaths by Callout Errors

This feature is used to view the Flowpaths by callout errors. This displays the top flowpath with category as error. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, go to DrillDown, and click Flowpaths by Callout Errors option.
  1. The Flowpath report is displayed. The report displays the top flowpaths with callout errors.

DB Queries

Right-click on a tier and go to DrillDown > DB Queries > ALL DB to view the four DB Queries.

These four DB Queries are described below.

Slow DB Calls by Response Time

This feature is used to view the slow DB calls by response time. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier and go to DrillDown > DB Queries > ALL DB > Slow DB Calls by Response Time.
  1. A report displays with graphical and tabular representation. This report displays slow DB calls by response time.

Top DB Calls by Count

This feature is used to view the top DB calls by count. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier and go to DrillDown > DB Queries > ALL DB > Top DB Calls By Count.
  2. A report displays with graphical and tabular representation. The report displays top DB calls by count.

DB Calls by Business Transaction

This feature is used to view the top DB calls by business transactions. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier and go to DrillDown > DB Queries > ALL DB > DB Calls by Business Transaction.
  1. The DB Request Report is displayed with DB calls by business transaction.

Top DB Queries by Error Counts

This feature is used to view the top DB queries by error counts. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier and go to DrillDown > DB Queries > ALL DB > Top DB Queries by Error Counts.
  2. The DB Request Report is displayed with top DB queries by error counts.

Hotspots

This feature is used to view the Hotspot thread details. This section displays information on Thread HotSpot Stats, hotspot summary, integration point calls, and thread stacktrace. To view these, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, go to DrillDown, and click Hotspots.
  2. The Hotspot thread details is displayed with all the above-mentioned sections.

Thread Hotspot Stats

This displays two sections:

  • Hotspot thread by State: This displays hotspot thread based on various states, such as runnable, waiting, blocked, and timed_waiting.
  • Hotspot thread by Stack depth: This displays hotspot thread based on stack depth.

Hotspot Summary

This section displays a summarized view of hotspot that includes – thread id, thread name, tier, instance, hotspot entry time, hotspot duration, total hotspot duration, thread state, thread priority, and stack depth.

Integration Point Calls

This section displays details of integration point calls that includes – IP name, type, start time, duration, status, and query.

Clicking the query link displays query details in a dialog box.

Clicking on the IP name navigates the user to Integration point health section.

This window displays various information on integration points, such as average response time (ms), maximum response time(ms), response time trend, Calls per second (CPS), CPS trend, total number of calls, total errors, and error trend.

It also displays expanded view of response time trend, CPS trend, and error/sec trend.

Thread StackTrace

This section displays details of thread stack trace based on the selected thread id. The information displays, such as frame, class, method, line, and source file.

Methods by Response Time

This section displays method stats that includes methods by percentage and methods by count. It also provides method summary with details, such as package, class, method, percentage, cumulative self-time, average self- time, average CPU self-time, and count.

Apart from this, user can perform following actions using the icons provided:

  • To view summary of all packages, click the  icon.
  • To view summary of all classes, click the  icon.
  • To view summary of all methods, click the  icon.

Follow the below mentioned steps to view the methods by response time:

  1. Right-click on a tier, go to DrillDown, and click Methods by Response Time.
  2. The method timing report is displayed.

The description of the terms has already been defined.

Exceptions

Exception instance report displays detailed information on the exception occurred, such as exception trend, aggregate exceptions (exception class, throwing class, throwing method, and exception count), exception details (tier, server, instance, integration point, time, exception class, message, throwing class, throwing method, line method, and cause), stack trace, and source code. To view this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, go to DrillDown, and click Exceptions option.
  2. The Exceptions window is displayed with various sections.

Exception Stats

This section displays two sub-sections. One for group by exceptions where percentage of exception groups (such as PSQLException and NumberFormatException) is displayed and another is exceptions where exception stats (exception by time at X-axis and exception by count at Y-axis) is displayed.

Aggregate Exception(s)

This section provides aggregated details of the exception(s), such as exception class, throwing class, throwing method, and exception count.

Exceptions

This section displays details of an exception. To view details of a particular exception class, click the exception counts within the Aggregate Exception(s) section. The details include tier, server, instance, integration point, time, exception class, message, throwing class, and throwing method.

Stack Trace

This section displays stack trace that contains stack data. On clicking a record from the left, source data is displayed at the right.

User can perform further actions from this section:

  • To view recorded variables, click the  icon.
  • To copy source code, click the  icon.
  • To download method body, click the  icon.
  • To download class file, click the  icon.

BT IP Summary

This is an advanced BT Analyzer to capture all respective and individual Integration Point Calls. This section displays BT callout summary and BT callout details. In BT callout summary, the details include – BT name, minimum / maximum / total HTTP callouts, minimum / maximum / total DB callouts, minimum / maximum / total callouts, and flowpaths. Upon clicking the total callout link, the BT callout details for that particular BT is displayed.

Top 10 Transactions

This feature is used to view top 10 transactions performed on a tier. There are further subsections where user can view transactions per second and transaction based on response.

TPS

TPS or transaction per second displays top 10 transactions based on the number of transactions executed per second. To view this, right-click on a tier, go to Top 10 Transactions By, and click TPS.

 

The top 10 transactions based on TPS is displayed.

To close this window, click the close icon 156.

Response

This feature is used to view top 10 transactions by response. For this, right-click on a tier, go to Top 10 Transactions By, and click Response. The top 10 transactions based on response is displayed.

To close this window, click the close icon 156.

Group

This feature is used to create a group of tiers or ungroup tiers from a group. This might be required when user has to create a group of similar tiers.

Group Tier

To group tiers, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, go to Group, and click Group Tier.

  1. The Add New Group window is displayed.

  1. To add the tier in an existing group, select the group from the Add Into Existing Group drop-down list and click the Save button.
  2. To create a new group, select the Create New Group radio button. The following options in the Add New Group is displayed.

  1. Enter the group name. Space is not allowed in group name.
  2. Select the tier(s) from the Available Tiers and move them to the Tiers to be Grouped section using the navigation icon 158. To remove the tier from the Tiers to be Grouped section, use the 159 icon. The user can use the search option to select a tier.

  1. Click the Save System prompts for the confirmation, click OK. A group of selected tiers is created with the group name specified.

Ungroup Tier

User can ungroup all or selected tier(s) from a group. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a grouped tier, go to Group, and click the UnGroup Tier option.

  1. The UnGroup Tier(s) window is displayed.

  1. Select the tier(s) to be ungrouped and click the 158 icon. The ungrouped tiers are displayed under the Tiers to be UnGrouped section. The user can use the search option to select a tier
  2. Click the Save System prompts for the confirmation.
  3. Click OK for the confirmation, the selected tier(s) are ungrouped from the group.

Rename Group

This feature is used to rename a group. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a grouped tier, go to Group, and click the Rename Group option.

  1. The Rename Group Name window is displayed. Enter the new name of the group and click Apply.

Delete Group

This feature is used to delete a group. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a grouped tier, go to Group, and click the Delete Group.

  1. System prompts for the confirmation of the group deletion, click OK to delete the group.

Show Dashboard

This feature displays information in graphical format about transaction per second, response time, and CPU utilization. To view dashboard, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier and click Show Dashboard.

  1. The dashboard is displayed at bottom pane with information on transaction per second, response time, and CPU utilization.

  1. To close the graphical view, click the close icon at the right. Or right click the tier and click Hide Dashboard.

Note This information can be also viewed from tier.

Show Tier Info

This feature is used to view the tier information that constitutes the overview of the tier, and health of various server and instances. To view the tier information, right click on the tier and click the Show Tier Info option.

The Tier Info dialog box is displayed.

The Tier Info section is composed of two tabs – Overview and Health.

Overview

The overview tab contains overall information of the server health that constitutes of TPS, Response time, and CPU usage. The server health is demonstrated with different colors. Green represents normal, yellow represents major, and red represents critical servers in terms of percentage.

Health

Health tab displays the information on server and instances along with their health. In the below figure, there are 4 servers inside the tier and each server contains 2 instances. The health of each server and instance is demonstrated by the color coding – green, yellow, and red.

Show FlowMap for Selected Tier

By default, the system displays FlowMap of all the tiers.

Using this feature, user can view the FlowMap of the selected tier only. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, and click Show FlowMap for Selected Tier.

  1. System displays FlowMap of the selected tier only.

  1. To go back and view the FlowMap of all tiers, right-click on the tier and click Show Full FlowMap option.

  1. The system displays full FlowMap.

Hide Tier Integration

By default, a tier is displayed with its associated integration points.

Using this feature, user can hide the tier integration points. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps.

  1. Right-click on a tier, and click the Hide Tier Integration option.

  1. The integration point of the selected tier is hidden from the panel.

  1. To view the tier integration, right-click the tier and click the Show Tier Integration option.

  1. System displays the tier integration.

Change Icon

By default, the tier icon is displayed as .

User can also change this icon. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, and click the Change Icon option.

  1. The Changed Icon dialog box is displayed.

  1. Click Choose to browse the icon file (to set the new icon), and then click Upload. The tier icon is changed.

Instance Recycle History

This feature is used to enable automatic restart of the instances on a particular time interval. This feature is enabled for ND mode only.

Viewing Instance Recycle History

To view the Instance Recycle History and to perform other operations, follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, and click the Instance Recycle History option.

  1. The system displays the Instance Recycle History window.

408

User can view the data in following formats:

  1. Hourly
  2. Daily
  3. Monthly

Hourly view is shown by default. Above GUI shows hourly data.

For daily view:

409

For monthly view:

410

Here, user can see last 24 hours’ information of restart/stop/start status of instance by default. To see last 24 hours/ last 30 days/ last 12 months data, click the  button.

If any operation was performed in the time range specified, then system displays an icon on cell denoting the last operation (Red as Fail, Green as Pass) and a count of number of operations that occurred in that specific hour, day or not.

When user clicks on the cell containing the icon and count, a pop-up window is displayed showing the details of all the operations that occurred at that time.

411

Recycle Rule Configuration

This feature is used to configure the recycle rule. To view the Recycle Rule Configuration window, user needs to click the Settings icon on the Instance Recycle History page.

412

Admin Mode

413

Other Mode

414

User can perform the following operations from the Instance Recycle Rule Configuration window.

  1. Go back to instance recycle history window
  2. Add a rule to the instance rule file. (Only in admin mode)
  3. Update an existing rule. (Only in admin mode)
  4. Delete some rules from the file. (Only in admin mode)
  5. Edit the recycle manager settings. (Only in admin mode)

Go back to instance recycle history window: To view the instance recycle history window, click on back icon.

415

Add a rule to the instance rule file: To add a new rule, click the Add button. The Add Instance Recycle Rule window is displayed.

416

Enter the required details keeping in mind the following rules:

  1. Tier name and Interval should not be empty.
  2. Tier name can not contain any special characters except _, @, ., –
  3. Tier name should not be same as any of the existing tier names in rule configuration file.
  4. Interval should be an integer and must lie between 1 and 168.
  5. At least one allowed time should be present.
  6. At least one day must be selected for the specified allowed times.

Add more allowed time: To add more allowed time, click on the “+” button.

Remove allowed time: To remove a particular allowed time, click on “x” button.

Add the instance rule: To add the rule to file, click on Save button. System displays an alert confirming to save the changes or not.

To add the rule, click on “OK” else click on “Cancel”.

  • On clicking “Cancel” button, the control returns back to the popup to add the rule.
  • On clicking “OK” button, the rule is added to the table if it was successfully added to the rule file. The status of the operation is displayed through an alert message:

418

Update an existing rule: To edit a rule, select a rule, and click on “Update” button.

419

A popup is displayed as follows:

420

Edit the required details keeping in mind the following rules:

  1. Tier name and Interval should not be empty.
  2. Tier name can not contain any special characters except _, @, ., –
  3. Tier name should not be same as any other existing tier (except this one).
  4. Interval should be an integer and must lie between 1 and 168.
  5. At least one allowed time should be present.
  6. At least one day must be selected for the specified allowed times.

Add more allowed time: To add more allowed time, click on the “+” button.

Remove allowed time: To remove a particular allowed time, click on “x” button.

Update the instance rule: To add the rule to file, click on Save button. System displays an alert confirming to save the changes or not.

              

To update the rule, click on “OK” else click on “Cancel”.

  • On clicking “Cancel” button, the control returns back to the popup to update the rule.
  • On clicking “OK” button, the rule is updated in the table. The status of the operation is displayed through an alert message:

422

Delete some rules from the file: To delete the rules from rule file, select the rules, and click on Delete button.

423

System generates an alert confirming if user wants to delete the rules.

424

To delete the rule, click on “OK” else click on “Cancel”.

  • On clicking “Cancel” button, the control returns back to the popup to delete the rule.
  • On clicking “OK” button, the rule is deleted the table. The status of the operation is displayed through an alert message:

425

Edit the recycle manager settings
  1. Enable or disable Recycle Manager using the checkbox.
  2. Set the minimum gap between two restarts in minutes.
    • Interval should not be empty and should contain only numbers.
    • Interval should be an integer.
    • Interval should be greater than or equal to 5.

3. Enable or disable continue on failure operation.

After editing the settings click on “Save” button to save the recycle manager settings. An alert appears confirming if you want to save the settings.

426

Click on “OK” to save the settings otherwise click on “Cancel”.

  • If user clicks on “Cancel”, settings are not saved.
  • If user clicks on “OK”, request is sent to update the settings. If updated, an alert appears displaying the status of request.

427

Flowpath Search

This feature is used to search a FlowPath by providing Correlation ID, FlowPath ID, or both, as a search parameter. Suppose, there are various FlowPath displayed (with FlowPath ID and Correlation ID) on the FlowPath report window, and user has to search for a particular one, then user can use the search feature.

38

For this, user needs to follow the below mentioned steps:

  1. Right-click on a tier, and click the Search By option.

  1. The system displays Search by dialog box.
  2. Specify the Correlation ID/FlowPath ID, or both. User can also specify the mode of searching, such as exact, starts with, ends with, and contains.

  1. Click the Search button. The system searches for that particular FlowPath whose Correlation ID/Flowpath ID is provided and displays the result.

  1. If the FlowPath doesn’t exist with the provided FlowPath ID/Correlation ID, then system displays a message – No records were found based on current Filter Settings.
Searching Flowpaths using Multiple Correlation IDs

A user can also search related FlowPaths via targeting multiple correlation IDs for a tier. A user can search multiple correlation IDs in Flowpath report. There are two ways of searching it:

Search Flowpath: As user can access it through Application End-to-End View.

  1. Go to Application End-to-End View. Then right click on Tier status > click on search by > enter correlation id in the standard Flowpath.

2. The searched correlation id will be displayed in the Flowpath report.

Common Query Manager UI Filter

  1. Go to Application End-to-End View. Right click Tier Status, click on Drill Down Report, then Flow Path response time.
  2. Click on UI filter options, user can search multiple correlation id and separate them with pipe (|).

3. The searched correlation id will be displayed in the Flowpath report.

Web Dashboard:

  1. Go to application metrics > business transactions > Tier > Server > Instance > all transaction > average response time.
  2. Right click on graph > drill down > flow path report.

3. This displays the flowpath report.

  1. Specify the correlation IDs in the Corr ID text box.