Tuxedo PIA Server Queues Test

When a Tuxedo application server process carries out a request, it makes a call to a service, such as MgrGetObject. The server process waits for the service to complete, then returns information to the device that initiated the request, such as a browser. While a server process waits for a service to complete, other transaction requests wait in a queue until the current service completes. A service may take a fraction of a second to complete or several seconds, depending on the type and complexity of the service. When the service completes, the server process is then available to process the next request in the corresponding queue.

If the length of a queue keeps increasing, it is a sign that the corresponding server process is unable to process requests quickly. Therefore, to be able to swiftly spot a probable processing bottleneck in an application server domain, administrators must monitor the queues in the domain continuously, isolate those queues that are growing in length, and identify which server process is using that queue. This can be achieved using the Tuxedo PIA Server Queues test. This test auto-discovers the queues used by each server process in every node of a domain, and for every queue, reports the number of requests in the queue and the number of instances of that server process sharing the queue. This way, the test rapidly leads administrators to a potential slowdown in request processing by the domain node, and helps them accurately isolate which server process is contributing to the slowdown.

Target of the test : A Tuxedo Application Server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every queue used by each server process of a domain node

First-level descriptor: Server process

Second-level descriptor: Queue ID

Third-level descriptor: Machine ID that represents the node of the application server domain. In a partitioned domain, where a single domain exists across more than one node, different partitions or nodes within a domain must be given different names. The PeopleSoft configuration is delivered as a single node domain by default. However, it is perfectly possible to configure it as a partitioned domain.

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameter	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
Port	The port number at which the specified Host listens to. By default, this will be 12345.
PSAdmin Home	To collect metrics from a Tuxedo application server, this test runs PeopleSoft Server Administration (PSADMIN) commands on the target server. The first step towards this is to launch the psadmin.exe. To enable the test to run the psadmin.exe, you need to configure the test with the full path to the directory in which the psadmin.exe resides. Therefore, in the PSAdmin Home text box, specify the location of the psadmin.exe. Typically, this will be the install directory of the Tuxedo application server. For instance, on Windows, your specification can be C:\ps\appsrv and on Unix, your specification can be: opt/ps/appsrv.
Domain	An application server Domain is the collection of server processes, supporting processes, and resource managers that enable connections to the database. A single application server machine can support multiple application server domains running on it. A server process is executable code that receives incoming transaction requests. The server process carries out a request by making calls to a service. Using a managed Tuxedo application server, you can monitor only those server processes and transactions that pertain to a single domain. This is why, the eG agent needs to be explicitly configured with the application server Domain it needs to monitor.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Servers connected	Indicates the number of instances of this server process that are currently connected to this queue.	Number	This is a good indicator of the number of instances of a server processes that are currently running in a domain.
Average queue length	Indicates the average length of this queue.	Number	A consistent rise in the value of this measure is a cause for concern, as it indicates that this server process is not able to process the requests in this queue quickly. Under such circumstances, you may need to add more instances of that particular server process to improve its processing capability.
Service requests queued	Indicates the number of service requests in this queue.	Number
All requests in queue	Indicates the total number of requests in this queue.	Number