Monitoring Workflows Overview
Monitoring Workflows Overview
By PenchalaRaju.Yanamala
You can monitor workflows and tasks in the Workflow Monitor. A workflow is a
set of instructions that tells an Integration Service how to run tasks. Integration
Services run on nodes or grids. The nodes, grids, and services are all part of a
domain.
With the Workflow Monitor, you can view details about a workflow or task in
Gantt Chart view or Task view. You can also view details about the Integration
Service, nodes, and grids.
The Workflow Monitor displays workflows that have run at least once. You can
run, stop, abort, and resume workflows from the Workflow Monitor. The Workflow
Monitor continuously receives information from the Integration Service and
Repository Service. It also fetches information from the repository to display
historic information.
The Workflow Monitor displays time relative to the time configured on the
Integration Service machine. For example, a folder contains two workflows. One
workflow runs on an Integration Service in the local time zone, and the other runs
on an Integration Service in a time zone two hours later. If you start both
workflows at 9 a.m. local time, the Workflow Monitor displays the start time as 9
a.m. for one workflow and as 11 a.m. for the other workflow.
Using the Workflow Monitor
The Workflow Monitor provides options to view information about workflow runs.
After you open the Workflow Monitor and connect to a repository, you can view
dynamic information about workflow runs by connecting to an Integration Service.
You can customize the Workflow Monitor display by configuring the maximum
days or workflow runs the Workflow Monitor shows. You can also filter tasks and
Integration Services in both Gantt Chart and Task view.
Select Start > Programs > Informatica PowerCenter [version] > Client
>Workflow Monitor from the Windows Start menu.
Configure the Workflow Manager to open the Workflow Monitor when you run a
workflow from the Workflow Manager.
Click Tools > Workflow Monitor from the Designer, Workflow Manager, or
Repository Manager. Or, click the Workflow Monitor icon on the Tools toolbar.
When you use a Tools button to open the Workflow Monitor, PowerCenter uses
the same repository connection to connect to the repository and opens the
same folders.
You can open multiple instances of the Workflow Monitor on one machine using
the Windows Start menu.
Connecting to a Repository
When you open the Workflow Monitor, you must connect to a repository. Connect
to repositories by clicking Repository > Connect. Enter the repository name and
connection information.
Note: If you are not connected to a repository, you can remove the repository
from the Navigator. Select the repository in the Navigator and click Edit > Delete.
The Workflow Monitor displays a message verifying that you want to remove the
repository from the Navigator list. Click Yes to remove the repository. You can
connect to the repository again at any time.
When you connect to a repository, the Workflow Monitor displays all Integration
Services associated with the repository. This includes active and deleted
Integration Services. To monitor tasks and workflows that run on an Integration
Service, you must connect to the Integration Service. In the Navigator, the
Workflow Monitor displays a red icon over deleted Integration Services.
You can also ping an Integration Service to verify that it is running. Right-click the
Integration Service in the Navigator and select Ping Integration Service. You can
view the ping response time in the Output window.
Note: You can also open an Integration Service in the Navigator without
connecting to it. When you open an Integration Service, the Workflow Monitor
gets workflow run information stored in the repository. It does not get dynamic
workflow run information from currently running workflows.
You can filter tasks and Integration Services in both Gantt Chart view and Task
view. Use the Filters menu to hide tasks and Integration Services you do not
want to view in the Workflow Monitor.
Filtering Tasks
You can view all or some workflow tasks. You can filter tasks you do not want to
view. For example, if you want to view only Session tasks, you can hide all other
tasks. You can view all tasks at any time.
You can also filter deleted tasks. To filter deleted tasks, click Filters > Deleted
Tasks.
To filter tasks:
Note: When you filter a task, the Gantt Chart view displays a red link between
tasks to indicate a filtered task. You can double-click the link to view the tasks
you hid.
When you connect to a repository, the Workflow Monitor displays all Integration
Services associated with the repository. You can filter out Integration Services to
view only Integration Services you want to monitor.
When you hide an Integration Service, the Workflow Monitor hides the Integration
Service from the Navigator for the Gantt Chart and Task views. You can show
the Integration Service again at any time.
You can hide unconnected Integration Services. When you hide a connected
Integration Service, the Workflow Monitor asks if you want to disconnect from the
Integration Service and then filter it. You must disconnect from an Integration
Service before hiding it.
In the Navigator, right-click a repository to which you are connected and select
1.Filter Integration Services.
-or-
Connect to a repository and click Filters > Integration Services.
The Filter Integration Services dialog box appears.
Select the Integration Services you want to view and clear the Integration
2.Services you want to filter. Click OK.
If you are connected to an Integration Service that you clear, the Workflow
Monitor prompts you to disconnect from the Integration Service before filtering.
3.Click Yes to disconnect from the Integration Service and filter it.
The Workflow Monitor hides the Integration Service from the Navigator.
Click No to remain connected to the Integration Service. If you click No, you
cannot filter the Integration Service.
Tip: To filter an Integration Service in the Navigator, right-click it and select Filter
Integration Service.
You can select which folders to open and close in the Workflow Monitor. When
you open a folder, the Workflow Monitor displays the number of workflow runs
that you configured in the Workflow Monitor options.
You can open and close folders in the Gantt Chart and Task views. When you
open a folder, it opens in both views. To open a folder, right-click it in the
Navigator and select Open. Or, you can double-click the folder.
Related Topics:
Configuring General Options
Viewing Statistics
You can view statistics about the objects you monitor in the Workflow Monitor.
Click View > Statistics. The Statistics window displays the following information:
Related Topics:
Viewing Integration Service Properties
Viewing Session Statistics
Viewing Properties
Tasks. You can view properties, such as task name, start time, and status. For
more information about viewing Task progress, see Viewing Task Progress
Details. For information about viewing command task details, see Viewing
Command Task Run Properties. For information about viewing session task
details, see Viewing Session Task Run Properties.
Sessions. You can view properties about the Session task and session run,
such as mapping name and number of rows successfully loaded. You can also
view load statistics about the session run. For more information about session
details, see Viewing Session Task Run Properties. You can also view
performance details about the session run. For more information, see Viewing
Performance Details.
Workflows. You can view properties such as start time, status, and run type.
For more information about viewing workflow details, see Viewing Workflow Run
Properties.
Links. When you double-click a link between tasks in Gantt Chart view, you can
view tasks that you filtered out.
Integration Services. You can view properties such as Integration Service
version and startup time. You can also view the sessions and workflows running
on the Integration Service. For more information about viewing Integration
Service details, see Viewing Integration Service Properties.
Grid. You can view properties such as the name, Integration Service type, and
code page of a node in the Integration Service grid. You can view these details
in the Integration Service Monitor. For more information about the Integration
Service Monitor, see Viewing Integration Service Properties.
Folders. You can view properties such as the number of workflow runs
displayed in the Time window. For more information about viewing folder details,
see Viewing Repository Folder Details.
To view properties for all objects, right-click the object and select Properties. You
can right-click items in the Navigator or the Time window in either Gantt Chart
view or Task view.
To view link properties, double-click the link in the Time window of Gantt Chart
view. When you view link properties, you can double-click a task in the Link
Properties dialog box to view the properties for the filtered task.
You can configure how the Workflow Monitor displays general information,
workflows, and tasks. You can configure general tasks such as the maximum
number of days or runs that the Workflow Monitor appears. You can also
configure options specific to Gantt Chart and Task view.
You can customize general options such as the maximum number of days to
display and which text editor to use for viewing session and workflow logs.
Table 21-1 describes the options you can configure on the General tab:
You can configure Gantt Chart view options such as workspace color, status
colors, and time format.
Table 21-2 describes the options you can configure on the Gantt Chart tab:
You can select the columns you want to display in Task view. You can also
reorder the columns and specify a default column width.
You can configure advanced options such as the number of workflow runs the
Workflow Monitor holds in memory for each Integration Service.
Table 21-3 describes the options you can configure on the Advanced tab:
The Workflow Monitor toolbars allow you to select tools and tasks quickly. You
can perform the following toolbar operations:
After a toolbar appears, it displays until you exit the Workflow Monitor or hide the
toolbar. You can drag each toolbar to resize and reposition each toolbar.
You can perform the following tasks with objects in the Workflow Monitor:
In both the Gantt Chart view and Task View, you can open and view previous
workflow runs.
In the Navigator or Workflow Run List, select the workflow with the runs you
1.want to see.
2.Right-click the workflow and select Open Latest 20 Runs.
The menu option is disabled when the latest 20 workflow runs are already open.
Up to 20 of the latest runs appear.
Running a Task, Workflow, or Worklet
The Workflow Monitor displays workflows that have run at least once. In the
Workflow Monitor, you can run a workflow or any task or worklet in the workflow.
To run a workflow or part of a workflow, right-click the workflow or task and select
a restart option. When you select restart, the task, workflow, or worklet runs on
the Integration Service you specify in the workflow properties.
You can also run part of a workflow. When you run part of a workflow, the
Integration Service runs the workflow from the selected task to the end of the
workflow.
Related Topics:
Manually Starting a Workflow
Restarting and Recovering Real-time Sessions
1.In the Navigator, select the task or worklet you want to run.
2.Right-click the task or worklet in the Navigator and select Restart Task.
The Integration Service runs the task or worklet you specify. It does not run the
rest of the workflow.
1.In the Navigator, select the task from which you want to run the workflow.
2.Right-click the task and select Restart Workflow from Task.
-or-
Click Task > Restart.
The Integration Service runs the workflow starting with the task you specify.
In the workflow properties, you can choose to suspend the workflow or worklet if
a session fails. After you fix the errors that caused the session to fail, recover the
workflow in the Workflow Monitor. When you recover a workflow, the Integration
Service recovers the failed session, and continues running the rest of the tasks in
the workflow path.
1.In the Navigator, select the workflow or worklet you want to recover.
2.Click Tasks > Recover.
-or-
Right-click the workflow or worklet in the Navigator and select Recover.
The Workflow Monitor displays Integration Service messages about the recover
command in the Output window.
Related Topics:
Restarting and Recovering Real-time Sessions
Recovery Options
You can restart a task or workflow without recovery by using a cold start. Cold
start is a start mode that the Integration Service uses to restart a task or workflow
without recovery. When you restart a failed task or workflow that has recovery
enabled, the Integration Service does not process recovery data. The Integration
Service clears the state of operation and the recovery file or table before it
restarts the task or workflow. You do not want to recover data if you already
cleaned up the target system.
1.In the Navigator, select the task or workflow you want to restart.
2.Click Tasks > Cold Start Task or Workflows > Cold Start Workflow.
-or-
Right-click the task or workflow in the Navigator and select Cold Start Task or
Cold Start Workflow.
1.In the Navigator, select the task, workflow, or worklet you want to stop or abort.
2.Click Tasks > Stop or Tasks > Abort.
-or-
Right-click the task, workflow, or worklet in the Navigator and select Stop or
Abort.
The Workflow Monitor displays the status of the stop or abort command in the
Output window.
Related Topics:
How the Integration Service Handles Stop and Abort
Stopping Real-time Sessions
You can schedule and unschedule workflows in the Workflow Monitor. You can
schedule any workflow that is not configured to run on demand. When you try to
schedule a run on demand workflow, the Workflow Monitor displays an error
message in the Output window.
When you schedule an unscheduled workflow, the workflow uses its original
schedule specified in the workflow properties. If you want to specify a different
schedule for the workflow, you must edit the scheduler in the Workflow Manager.
You can view session and workflow logs from the Workflow Monitor. To view
workflow or session logs, right-click the session or workflow in the Workflow
Monitor and select Get Session Log or Get Workflow Log. You can view the most
recent session or workflow log.
When you open a session or workflow log, the Log Events window sends a
request to the Log Agent. The Log Agent retrieves logs from each node that ran
the session or workflow. The Log Events window displays the logs by node.
If you want to view past session or workflow logs, you can configure the session
or workflow to save log files. When you configure the workflow to save log files,
the workflow creates a text file and the binary file that displays in the Log Events
window. You can save log files by timestamp or by workflow or session runs. You
can configure how many workflow or session runs to save.
To view past session or workflow log files, configure the session or workflow to
save logs by timestamp.
Tip: When the Workflow Monitor retrieves the session or workflow log, you can
press Esc to cancel the process.
Related Topics:
Session and Workflow Logs
If you rename a task, workflow, or worklet, the Workflow Monitor can show a
history of names. When you start a renamed task, workflow, or worklet, the
Workflow Monitor displays the current name. To view a list of historical names,
select the task, workflow, or worklet in the Navigator. Right-click and select Show
History Names.
Table 21-4 describes the different statuses for workflows and tasks:
To see a list of tasks by status, view the workflow in Task view and sort by
status. Or, click Edit > List Tasks in Gantt Chart view.
You can view chronological details of workflow runs with the Gantt Chart view.
The Gantt Chart view displays the following information:
The Workflow Monitor lists tasks and workflows in all repositories you connect to.
You can view tasks and workflows by status, such as failed or succeeded. You
can highlight the task in Gantt Chart view by double-clicking the task in the list.
1.Open the Gantt Chart view and click Edit > List Tasks.
2.In the List What field, select the type of task status you want to list.
For example, select Failed to view a list of failed tasks and workflows.
3.Click List to view the list.
Tip: Double-click the task name in the List Tasks dialog box to highlight the task
in Gantt Chart view.
You can scroll through the Time window in Gantt Chart view to monitor the
workflow runs. To scroll the Time window, use one of the following methods:
When you click View > Organize, the Go To field appears above the Time
window. Click the Go To field to view a calendar and select the date you want to
display. When you select a date, the Workflow Monitor displays that date
beginning at 12:00 a.m.
You can change the zoom settings in Gantt Chart view. By default, the Workflow
Monitor shows the Time window in increments of one hour. You can change the
time increments to zoom the Time window.
Performing a Search
Use the search tool in the Gantt Chart view to search for tasks, workflows, and
worklets in all repositories you connect to. The Workflow Monitor searches for the
word you specify in task names, workflow names, and worklet names. You can
highlight the task in Gantt Chart view by double-clicking the task after searching.
To perform a search:
1.Open the Gantt Chart view and click Edit > Find.
The Find Object dialog box appears.
2.In the Find What field, enter the keyword you want to find.
3.Click Find Now.
The Workflow Monitor displays a list of tasks, workflows, and worklets that match
the keyword.
Tip: Double-click the task name in the Find Object dialog box to highlight the task
in Gantt Chart view.
You can open all folders that you have permission for in a repository. To open all
the folders in the Gantt Chart view, right-click the Integration Service you want to
view, and select Open All Folders. The Workflow Monitor displays workflows and
tasks in the folders.
Workflow run list. The list of workflow runs. The workflow run list contains
folder, workflow, worklet, and task names. The Workflow Monitor displays
workflow runs chronologically with the most recent run at the top. It displays
folders and Integration Services alphabetically.
Status message. Message from the Integration Service regarding the status of
the task or workflow.
Run type. The method you used to start the workflow. You might manually start
the workflow or schedule the workflow to start.
Node. Node of the Integration Service that ran the task.
Start time. The time that the Integration Service starts running the task or
workflow.
Completion time. The time that the Integration Service finishes executing the
task or workflow.
Status. The status of the task or workflow.
Filter tasks. Use the Filter menu to select the tasks you want to display or hide.
Hide and view columns. Hide or view an entire column in Task view.
Hide and view the Navigator. You can hide the Navigator in Task view. Click
View > Navigator to hide or view the Navigator.
To view the tasks in Task view, select the Integration Service you want to monitor
in the Navigator.
In Task view, you can view all or some workflow tasks. You can filter tasks in the
following ways:
By task type. You can filter out tasks you do not want to view. For example, if
you want to view only Session tasks, you can filter out all other tasks.
By nodes in the Navigator. You can filter the workflow runs in the Time
window by selecting different nodes in the Navigator. For example, when you
select a repository name in the Navigator, the Time window displays all
workflow runs that ran on the Integration Services registered to that repository.
When you select a folder name in the Navigator, the Time window displays all
workflow runs in that folder.
By the most recent runs. To display by the most recent runs, click Filters >
Most Recent Runs and select the number of runs you want to display.
By Time window columns. You can click Filters > Auto Filter and filter by
properties you specify in the Time window columns.
Workflow Monitor Tips
When you reduce the size of the Time window, the Workflow Monitor refreshes
the screen faster, reducing flicker.
If the Workflow Monitor takes a long time to refresh from the repository or to open
folders, truncate the list of workflow logs. When you configure a session or
workflow to archive session logs or workflow logs, the Integration Service saves
those logs in local directories. The repository also creates an entry for each
saved workflow log and session log. If you move or delete a session log or
workflow log from the workflow log directory or session log directory, truncate the
lists of workflow and session logs to remove the entries from the repository. The
repository always retains the most recent workflow log entry for each workflow.
The Workflow Monitor displays information that you can use to troubleshoot and
analyze workflows. You can view details about services, workflows, worklets, and
tasks in the Properties window of the Workflow Monitor.
Table 22-1 describes the attributes that appear in the Repository Details area:
When you view Integration Service properties, the following areas appear in the
Properties window:
Table 22-2 describes the attributes that appear in the Integration Service Details
area:
Table 22-3 describes the attributes that appear in the Integration Service Monitor
area:
To view information about a repository folder, right-click the folder and choose
Properties.
Table 22-4 describes the attributes that appear in the Folder Details area:
The Workflow Run Properties window displays information about workflows, such
as the name of the Integration Service assigned to the workflow and workflow run
details.
When you view workflow properties, the following areas appear in the Properties
window:
Table 22-5 describes the attributes that appear in the Workflow Details area:
The Task Progress Details area displays the Gantt Chart view of Session and
Command tasks in a running workflow.
The Session Statistics area displays information about sessions, such as the
session run time and the number or rows loaded to the targets.
Table 22-6 describes the attributes that appear in the Session Statistics area:
The Worklet Details Run Properties window displays information about worklets,
such as the name of the Integration Service assigned to the workflow and worklet
run details.
When you view worklet properties, the following areas appear in the Properties
window:
The Task Run Properties window for Command tasks displays information about
Command tasks, such as the start time and end time. To view command task
details in the Properties window, right-click on a Command task and choose Get
Run Properties.
Table 22-8 describes the attributes that appear in the Task Details area:
When the Integration Service runs a session, the Workflow Monitor creates
session details that provide load statistics for each target in the mapping. You
can view session details when the session runs or after the session completes.
When you view session task properties, the following areas display in the
Properties window:
To view session details, right-click a session in the Workflow Monitor and choose
Get Run Properties.
When you load data to a target with multiple groups, such as an XML target, the
Integration Service provides session details for each group.
Table 22-9 describes the attributes that appear in the Failure Information area:
Table 22-10 describes the attributes that appear in the Task Details area for
Session tasks:
The Source/Target Statistics area displays information about the rows the
Integration Service read from the sources and the rows it loaded to the target.
Table 22-11 describes the attributes that appear in the Source/Target Statistics
area:
Table 22-12 describes the attributes that appear in the Partition Details area:
The performance details provide counters that help you understand the session
and mapping efficiency. Each source qualifier and target definition appears in the
performance details, along with counters that display performance information
about each transformation.
By evaluating the final performance details, you can determine where session
performance slows down. The Workflow Monitor also provides session-specific
details that can help tune the following memory settings:
1.Right-click a session in the Workflow Monitor and choose Get Run Properties.
2.Click the Performance area in the Properties window.
The following table describes the attributes that appear in the Performance area:
Attribute Name Description
Performance Counter Name of the performance counter.
Counter Value Value of the performance counter.
When you create multiple partitions, the Performance Area displays a column for
each partition. The columns display the counter values for each partition.
3.Click OK.
All transformations have some basic counters that indicate the number of input
rows, output rows, and error rows.
When you view the performance details file, the first column displays the
transformation name as it appears in the mapping, the second column contains
the counter name, and the third column holds the resulting number or efficiency
percentage. If you use a Joiner transformation, the first column shows two
instances of the Joiner transformation:
When you create multiple partitions, the Integration Service generates one set of
counters for each partition. The following performance counters illustrate two
partitions for an Expression transformation:
Note: When you increase the number of partitions, the number of aggregate or
rank input rows may be different from the number of output rows from the
previous transformation.
Table 22-13 describes the counters that may appear in the Session Performance
Details area or in the performance details file:
**The Integration Service generates this counter when you do not use sorted input
for the Joiner transformation.
If you have multiple source qualifiers and targets, evaluate them as a whole. For
source qualifiers and targets, a high value is considered 80-100 percent. Low is
considered 0-20 percent.