1: Overview

The queueMonitor tool runs in the background and polls the workflow queues in Sterling B2B Integrator.  It looks for the number of processes in queue and the maximum amount of time that a process has been on thread.  If either of these goes over a configured threashhold, queuemonitor will gather information.  Thread dumps and OS information and put it all into an archive file, which can be sent to support for analysis.

2: Problem queueMonitor is trying to solve

The queueMonitor tool is designed to gather information to help identify out of memory (OOM) issues in IBM Sterling B2B Integrator.  When gathering data for OOM issues in Sterling B2B Integrator, a snapshot of the state of the system leading up to the OOM is very useful.  Because the OOM itself is destructive, a snapshot after the issue occurs is less useful.  This makes tracking down intermittent issues difficult.  One solution in the past has been to gather the snapshot on a regular basis in hopes of catching the issue.  The drawback there is the snapshots take up a lot of space.  If you collect the snapshots with a short interval between collections, you run into issues with where to store them.  If you choose a longer interval you are less likely to capture the issue as it is happening.  When the OOM is not predictable this makes it hard to gather data and often results in many system outages before getting the data needed to address the issue.

These issues often present quite quickly and we need snapshots within one or two minutes before an OOM happens.

This tool allows us to quickly identify memory issues without having to let a system go through multiple outages.  This reduces downtime, lost data, and speeds up resolution time.

3: How to I use queueMonitor?

1) Download the attached .zip file.  queuemonitor.10132014.zip

2) The zip file includes a readme file with installation instructions and the install files themselves.

Note:  This currently only runs on Unix and Linux.  I am working on getting this running on Windows, but that is a future functionality.