Viewing WebFOCUS Sessions

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The Session Viewer enables you to review traces of system events that took place during recent work sessions and export them to system administrators or customer support staff. Traces of system events and error messages captured by the Session Viewer provide a clear picture of system operations, and enable you to investigate the causes of system disruptions or performance issues.

The Session Viewer complements the Session Monitor page by extending the range of sessions under review, from those that are currently active, to those that occurred in the past. The parameter Days Until Traces Are Deleted (IBI_TRACE_RETAIN_DAYS) defines the number of days that the Session Viewer retains information about sessions. It also focuses your review by limiting the range of available sessions to those created by you and by those users whose session activities you have permission to review.

The Session Viewer is only available to Managers. To open the Session Viewer, sign in as a Manager, and in the Portal Menu bar, click Tools, and then click Session Viewer. If you are signed in as a Manager, you can also open the Session Viewer from the View Trace icons in the Session Monitor page.

You can view sessions you started and sessions started by other users.

Reviewing the Session Viewer Main Page

The main page of the Session Viewer displays information about your current work session. It also lists entries for all recently completed sessions that you have permission to review, as shown in the following image.

The main page of the session viewer.

To open the main page of the Session Viewer, sign in as a Manager, and in the Portal Menu bar, click Tools, and then click Session Viewer. When the main page opens, your sign-in information and the ID of the session you are viewing appear at the top of the screen. The session ID follows the format YYMMDD/username_HHMMSS. It contains the date, time, and username of the session on display. For each session, the following information is available:

User Name

The name of the user that signed in to this work session.

Tracing Level

The level of traces captured by the current session. The default value for this field is Off, but you can choose another value from the drop-down list. The Session Viewer saves this selection when you close the viewer, and uses it as the default setting for your next session.

The four tracing levels are cumulative, meaning each higher level includes the traces of all of the levels below it. These levels include:

  • Basic. Generates a trace for each URL, which includes IBFS traces and procedure traces.
  • Outputs. Includes Basic level traces and output from URLs that run requests on the Reporting Server. This level of tracing affects the amount of disk space required to capture output traces, but does not affect system performance.
  • Debug. Includes Outputs level traces and log4j debug level written to the Session Viewer output.
  • Details. Includes Debug level traces and legacy WFServlet traces. This level of tracing affects session performance.
  • Server. Includes Details level traces and generates traces for the Reporting Server activity for the current work session.
Fex Echo Setting

The level of echo traces captured from the execution of FEX file commands. In a FEX file, the &ECHO variable displays command lines as they execute in order to test and debug procedures. These levels include:

  • On. Displays WebFOCUS commands that are expanded and stacked for execution in its traces.
  • All. Displays Dialogue Manager commands and WebFOCUS commands that are expanded and stacked for execution in its traces.
  • Off. Suppresses the display of both stacked commands and Dialogue Manager commands in its traces. This value is the default.
  • None. Prevents procedure code from being displayed (echoed). Once the value of &ECHO has been set to NONE, it cannot be changed during the session or connection.
SQL Tracing

The level of traces captured from SQL events. These levels include:

  • On. Displays traces of all SQL request and response events. Even if you select this setting, however, the Session Viewer will not display SQL event traces if there are no requests issued to an SQL database.
  • Off. Suppresses the display of traces of SQL request and response events.
Viewing File

The name of the Viewing File. You can specify New_File, to capture a new trace file, which allows users to refine the URLs that are being reviewed.

Session Started

The time that your active session started, in HH:MM:SS format.

Last Activity

The start time of the most recent activity in your active session, in HH:MM:SS format.

URL Count

The total number of URLs issued for the session that you are viewing.

Average Response

The average response time for all URLs issued for the session that you are viewing.

Server Requests

The number of requests made to your Reporting Server during your active session.

Average Server Time

The average time (in seconds) that it takes the Reporting Server to respond to a request.

Average DBMS Time

The average time (in seconds) that it takes the Reporting Server to respond to a request directed to a non-WebFOCUS or RDBMS database.

If no current session file is available, the section below the status bar displays the following text:

Session file does not exist.

If a current session file is available, the section below the status bar lists traces for that file.

You can also view a table containing links representing recently completed sessions. If multiple viewable sessions occurred on a specific date, they are listed from left to right in that table in the order in which they occurred, earliest to latest.

Information from completed sessions remains available for the period defined in the setting, Days Until Traces Are Deleted (IBI_TRACE_RETAIN_DAYS).

To view a different session, click a session link on the main page or the session details page. A new page displaying traces for your selected session opens.

Note: The session information links connect to completed sessions only. To view a current session, open the Session Monitor page from the Administration Console, and click an Information icon, if one appears.

Reviewing the Session Details Page

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To open the session details page, click a session link in the Existing session traces column of the main page. The session details page opens, as shown in the following image:

This page displays a group of features that enables you to review relevant details about your selected session, review summary versions of the traces it created, and move on to other sessions.

When the review of your selected session is complete, close the session details page to return to the main page.

When you open the session details page, your sign-in information and the ID of your selected session appear at the top of the screen.

A table underneath the Session ID lists additional details identifying the session under review. The User Name entry identifies the name of the user who initiated the session on display.

The Inactive Session entry identifies the session as being inactive or active. If this entry is blank, the session on display is inactive. If a value appears in this entry, the session on display is currently open.

The Viewing File entry identifies the range of trace entries on display, as defined by start time. By default, this value displays the entire range of trace entries from the start time to an undefined end time. If a drop-down button appears, you can select a different time range from the drop-down menu.

You can use the following options to change the display of trace information that you want to view.

  • Refresh. Adds any traces to the list that were generated after you opened an active session. This option is not available to previously completed sessions.
  • Previous. Moves the display back to view an earlier set of traces.
  • Next. Moves the display forward to view a later set of traces.
  • Last. Moves the display to view the final set of traces captured right before the end of the session.
  • View. Limits the list of traces by type.
    • All URLs. Displays URLs that return static content, such as .css files, .html files, .js files, and dynamic URLs that perform a Client action, as well as URLs that perform an action on the Reporting Server.
    • Work URLs. Limits the display to dynamic URLs, as well as Reporting Server requests. This is the default setting.
    • Server Requests. Limits the display to URLs that access the Reporting Server.
  • In groups of. Determines the number of trace entries that appear on a single page. You can select 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, or 200. Your selection in this field impacts the use of the Previous, Next, and Last options. The larger the value you select, the fewer times you will be required to move to the previous or next page.
  • HighLight. Assigns a yellow highlight to the start time field of all trace entries that contain the search term that you type in this field.

    For example, if you type the term short, a highlight appears in the Start Time field for any trace entry that contains this term, such as:

    IBFS checkPolicy Success
    IBFS:/EDA/ACTWIN7/ibisamp/short.mas

    Note: After your search results produce a match, the highlights from that match will not clear until you close the session details window. Therefore, to prevent false matches to any subsequent search, you must close and reopen the session details window.

  • ZIP Session Traces. Saves all of the traces from the session to a single.zip file. When you click this link, you are prompted to open or save the file. Click Save As, browse to a storage location for the.zip file, and then click Save.

    The default name for this .zip file is sessionmonitor, followed by the number of trace and log files it contains.

These options also appear below the trace information table.

The trace information table enables you to review individual session traces in more detail. It displays one summary entry for each trace captured during the session. You can expand these entries to review the detailed event messages captured by the trace.

The table located below the trace information table and options identify the User Agent and Build that started the session. Details identifying the User Agent include the browser, operating systems, and supporting applications. Details identifying the Build include, the version number, build number, and generation date of the version of WebFOCUS BUE to which this session was connected.

A list of recently completed sessions appears at the bottom of the page. This list is a duplicate of the session list on the main page and appears here to enable you to move on to another session without having to leave the session details page.

Reviewing Trace Entries

Each entry in the list of traces on the session details page represents the record for a single system activity, as shown in the following image.

One activity can include multiple events, and these events become visible when you expand the icon next to a trace to view its full detail.

For each trace, the following information is available:

Start

The time, in hours, minutes, and seconds, that an event in the trace began. Hours are expressed in twenty-four hour time notation.

End

The time, in hours, minutes, and seconds, that an event in the trace ended. Hours are expressed in twenty-four hour time notation.

Number of Seconds Max

The number in the header of this column represents the maximum number of seconds that were required to complete the longest trace in the list.

Entries in this column contain a (time) bar that represents the relative duration of the events in the trace, as shown in the following image.

  • The darkest blue section of the bar represents the number of Web CPU seconds that were required to process the events in this trace. It also identifies the trace as containing a Work URL component.
  • The lightest blue section of the bar represents the number of Web wait seconds that were required to retrieve a response from a database. It also identifies the trace as containing a Work URL component.
  • The brown section of the bar represents the number of Reporting Server seconds that were required to process the events represented in this trace. It also identifies the trace as containing a Server Request component.

You can view tooltips that identify the exact number of seconds that each section of a bar represents by pointing to that section with your mouse. If you are reviewing an active trace in a current session, the bar appears green and occupies the entire column entry.

Details

The ID of the trace. This is the URL of the destination of the request message that launched the trace events. The first term in the URL identifies the servlet or other application that launched the request. Each trace ID is unique.

When the URL ID number is highlighted in orange, events in the trace associated with it include one or more error messages. Within the detail trace display, events that contain error messages are also highlighted in orange to help you identify when the errors occurred.

Reviewing Expanded URL Details

When you expand an individual Trace Details list entry, a nested list of system-generated messages opens. These messages identify the events captured by that trace and the time, in milliseconds, at which those events took place. Events include request and response messages exchanged between the Client and the Reporting Server or between the Reporting Server and the application server. They also include error messages, informational messages, and system status messages generated by application programs as they execute commands. Entries representing repetitive or subordinate events are nested to help you identify them more quickly, as shown in the following image.

A trace entry begins with the event start time and the number of milliseconds after the trace start time at which the event took place. This value helps you distinguish between individual events, and places them in sequence within an individual trace.

The IBFS status code for the trace event follows the event start time.

This column contains one of the following symbols:

Symbol

Description

IBFS+

The starting event of a program or exchange of data between programs or applications.

IBFS-

The ending or final event of a program or exchange of data between programs or applications.

IBFX*

An error message.

IBFSX

An administrative or informational message.

The text of the message generated by the application or program that describes the event appears next. The type of text displayed in this section varies with the type of trace you have selected from the View drop-down list.

  • If you select All URLs or Work URLs, an expanded URL entry displays the status and error messages that were generated as the program ran.

    Note: If your entry includes a Server Request message, the underlined Request ID term of the trace entry links you to full details of the Reporting Server Request trace, and the underlined Response ID entry links you to full details of the Reporting Server Response trace.

  • If you select Server Request, an expanded URL entry displays the Reporting Server Request procedure, followed by a list of status or error messages generated during that procedure. (This is the same display that appears when you open a Server Request link from a Session Monitor Information icon.)

Reviewing Reporting Server Request Details

Traces captured from a Reporting Server Request identify the details of the query or other request operation sent from the Client to the Reporting Server during the session, as shown in the following image.

This information identifies the variables and commands sent during the request operation. These requests are usually TABLE requests or -HTMLFORM BEGIN/END requests that are sent from the Client to the Reporting Server.

The ID term in the first line above the procedure links it to the URL trace from which it was generated. For example, the ID, URL85, links the procedure to the server request event line within the activity captured in trace URL 85.

At the end of the list of variables and commands, the procedure displays a list of status messages describing the results of the query or other operation, as shown in the following image.

Reviewing Reporting Server Response Details

Traces captured from a Reporting Server response identify the information returned in response to a query or other request operation sent during a work session from the Reporting Server to the Client during a work session.

To view output traces, click on the link from an underlined URL request response entry in a URL Trace entry, such as:

URL103Req4Resp

The first part of this display identifies the format variables returned to the Client during the response operation, as shown in the following image.

The second part of the display identifies the data returned to the Client during the response operation, as shown in the following image.

The Session Viewer can display Reporting Server response traces in XML, HTML, or a standard report format. Reporting Server responses usually contain data or status messages returned in response to SQL-based queries, updates, or other database-related operations.

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