Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Overview and System Design Guide

11.4 Considerations for automated actions

Consider both the conditions for executing an automated action, and the resulting action itself (contents of the executed command).

The command execution environment and user authentication functionality are also involved in executing automated actions. Consider these as well.

Organization of this section

(1) Points to consider when using automated actions

(2) Notes

(1) Points to consider when using automated actions

Consider the following points:

Before suppressing an automated action, consider carefully whether the action is one that can be safely discarded. Examples are given below.

Examples of actions that need to be executed once only during a set period (actions that can be suppressed):

- An action that flashes a signal light

- A user-notification action that sends an email

- An action that needs to be suppressed during troubleshooting

Examples of actions that should not be suppressed:

- An action that performs recovery without user intervention

- An action that changes depending on the event that triggered it

When setting delay monitoring of an automated action, consider how long the action should take to complete from the time the JP1 event that triggers the action is received. Also consider the following:

Number of levels from JP1/IM - Manager to the target host
The processing for sending an action from JP1/IM - Manager to the target host entails transfer processing to send the action request from the higher-level manager host to the lower-level manager hosts, and finally to have the target host receive the action. The greater the depth of the configuration management hierarchy, the greater the transfer processing involved and the longer the action will take to complete.

Network traffic from JP1/IM - Manager to the target host
If JP1/IM - Manager is on a different server from the target host, the load on the network connecting the two hosts affects how long the action takes to complete. It will take longer when the network is busy than when traffic is light.

Load on the JP1/IM - Manager server
The load on the server on which JP1/IM - Manager is running affects how long the action takes to complete. The greater the load, the longer it will take for the action to be sent from JP1/IM - Manager to JP1/Base on the same manager host, and the longer the action will take to complete.

Load on the target host
The load on the target host affects how long the action takes to complete. The greater the load, the longer the action will take to complete.

Action execution time
When an action takes longer than the delay monitoring time to execute, it will be reported as a delayed action. Make sure that you estimate action execution time accurately and set an appropriate delay monitoring time.

In JP1/IM, you can set a maximum delay monitoring time of 24 hours. If you need to monitor an action that takes longer than 24 hours to execute, link with JP1/AJS as explained below to monitor the action.

Example of monitoring the execution of an automated action by linking with JP1/AJS:

Prepare a batch file or similar as the action to be executed by JP1/IM. The batch file or similar triggers execution of a JP1/AJS job, and then ends.

To check whether a command (executed as a JP1/AJS job) that takes a day or longer to execute is running properly, use JP1/AJS.

The commands in automated actions execute one by one, in the sequence that the actions are received at the target host. Delays might occur when one of these commands takes a long time to execute. In this case, you can reduce the chance of a delay by using the jcocmddef command to increase the number of commands executed concurrently by the JP1/Base on the target host.
However, when commands are executed concurrently, those that take less time to process end more quickly. If you want commands to be processed in sequence, do not change the default (execute commands one by one).
A maximum of 48 commands can be executed concurrently by the JP1/Base on the target host. When automated actions are executed by multiple instances of JP1/IM - Manager, bear the following in mind:

The total number of commands being executed concurrently by the instances of JP1/IM - Manager must not exceed 48.

Sufficient resources to execute the commands must be available on the target host of the automated action.

An event that notifies the user of the status of an automated action references information saved in the action information file when invoked. If you are setting this type of action, set an adequate file size for the action information file. You can set the size of the action information file in the automated action environment definition file (action.conf.update).

For details about automated actions, see the following references:

About automated actions:

Overview of automated actions
See 5. Command Execution by Automated Action.

Overview of the command execution environment
See 7.4.4 Managing command execution.

Setting automated actions (via the GUI)
See 2.24 Action Parameter Definitions window in the manual Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager GUI Reference.

Setting automated actions (in a definition file)
See Automated action definition file (actdef.conf) in 2. Definition Files in the manual Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Command and Definition File Reference.

Setting the automated action environment
See Automated action environment definition file (action.conf.update) in 2. Definition Files in the manual Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Command and Definition File Reference.

Setting the environment for monitoring the execution of automated actions
See Automatic action notification definition file (actnotice.conf) in 2. Definition Files in the manual Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Command and Definition File Reference.

Setting the command execution environment for automated actions on the target host
See the description of the jcocmddef command in the Job Management Partner 1/Base User's Guide.

Configuration definition
See Configuration definition file (jbs_route.conf) in 2. Definition Files in the manual Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Command and Definition File Reference.

(2) Notes

When a command execution log (ISAM) file is wrapped, the results of automated actions can no longer be acquired or displayed.
Example:
When you open the Action Log Details window, the message KAVB5150-W appears in the Message area.

If this message is displayed, take action as described in 9.5(9) Actions to take when KAVB5150-W is displayed in the detailed information (message) for the action result in the Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Administration Guide.

Delays might occur when a large number of events that trigger actions are generated in a short space of time, leading to a considerable backlog of actions queued on the target hosts.
In this situation, consider changing the number of commands that can be executed concurrently. Use the jcocmddef command to change this setting. However, when commands are executed concurrently, those that take less time to process end more quickly. If you want commands to be processed in sequence, do not change the default (execute commands one by one).

If any of the following events occurs during the execution processing of an automated action, the action ceases to proceed through the usual status transition (this applies only to actions whose status is Wait, Send, Queue, Running, Wait (Canceling), Send (Canceling), Queue (Canceling), or Running (Canceling)):

The manager host, action relay host, or action target host is shut down or otherwise stopped.

Network error

JP1/Base failure

In this situation, check the status of the automated actions as follows.
Using the JP1/Base jcocmdshow command (supported in version 07-51):
You can check the action status using this command if the automated action was being processed by JP1/Base (command execution management) on the target host.^#
#: If the processing request has not yet been received or if processing has ended, you cannot use this command to check the action status.
If an automated action ceases to progress and the jcocmdshow command cannot be used to check its status, evaluate whether it needs to be re-executed, and do so if necessary from the Execute Command window.

If you cannot check the execution status or result of an automated action, there might be inconsistencies in the automated action logs (command execution log file, action information file, and action hosts file).
In this situation, take action as described in 9.5(5) Actions to take when Unknown is displayed as the automated action execution status in the Job Management Partner 1/Integrated Management - Manager Administration Guide.

Using the jcocmddef command, you can disable registration of detailed execution results (message information) to the command execution log file, thereby increasing the processing speed of the underlying JP1/Base components (registration is enabled by default). Disabling registration, by increasing the JP1/Base processing speed, also increases the speed at which automated actions are executed.
However, when you disable registration of detailed information, the Message area of the Action Log Details window will show message KAVB2401-I for every action.
Change the setting (disable registration) only if this is not an issue and you definitely need to increase the automated action execution speed.

Using the jcocmddef command, you can restrict the amount of execution log data forwarded to the manager host. This helps control the size of the command execution log file and reduces congestion on the network between the hosts. Note that the default setting for restricting log data transfer differs according to the JP1/Base version, as follows:

If you performed a new installation of JP1/Base version 8, the amount of result data logged for an action executed on that host is restricted to a maximum of 1,000 lines.

If you are running version 7 or earlier of JP1/Base, or if you upgraded from version 7 to version 8, there is no restriction on the amount of result data logged for an action executed on that host.

When log data transfer is restricted, only the specified amount of execution results will be forwarded. This might mean that the displayed data is truncated. (The fact that the results have been truncated is mentioned at the end of the displayed information.)
Change the setting (restrict log data transfer) only after you have considered whether you will need full data in the execution results.

Do not use a command that directly shuts down the OS in an automated action. Use JP1/Power Monitor to shut down an agent.

The length of the commands that can be executed as automated actions is restricted by the system in which JP1/IM and JP1/Base are running.
When the automated action execution path includes a host (including the source manager or target host) that is running JP1/IM or JP1/Base version 6 or 7, the command must not exceed 1,024 bytes. (When all the hosts on the path are running JP1/IM and JP1/Base version 8 or later, you can specify commands to a maximum length of 4,096 bytes.) When version 6 and version 7 products coexist in the system, the execution status of the automated action will be Error if the command specified in the action exceeds 1,024 bytes. The command will not be executed, and message KAVB2623-E will appear in the Message area of the Action Log Details window.

Example 1:

When the manager that generates the automated action is running JP1/IM and JP1/Base version 8, but JP1/Base on the execution target host is version 7, the maximum command length is 1,024 bytes.

Example 2:

When JP1/IM and JP1/Base on the source manager, and JP1/Base on the execution target host, are all version 8, the maximum command length is 4,096 bytes.

Figure 11-24 Command length restrictions according to the version of JP1/IM and JP1/Base on the execution path

[Contents][Back][Next]

[Trademarks]