UBE Introspection & Dynamic UBE Logging in EnterpriseOne

Troubleshooting a UBE on the enterprise server in E1 has always been difficult. Even more difficult when the users are on the web client.  Debugging without causing some sort of interruption for other web users was nearly impossible.  Gathering certain information about how a job was submitted, such as processing options and data selection was also difficult and determining whether a long-running UBE was actively processing was a hit-or-miss proposition.

In Tools Release 8.98 things got easier with UBE Introspection, Dynamic UBE Logging and UBE Audit Data or what Oracle calls collectively "Utilities for Batch Processing". Now CNC administrators (and anyone else not secured out of P986114A) have the ability to monitor a processing UBE, turn debugging on and off at will and to perform what Denver calls Introspection - "The ability to display statistics regarding the state of a batch job while it is running". 



Dynamic UBE Logging

The benefits of Dynamic UBE Logging are obvious and will be welcomed by anyone who has ever tried to troubleshoot a UBE running on the enterprise server, particularly in production.  We now have the ability to begin debugging a UBE after submission, turn debugging off and on as needed and view the logs from one location.

UBE Introspection
 
The UBE Introspection feature will be useful for developers/report writers as the information it returns gives real-time insight into what the UBE is doing with regard to section, events, business function and line/page number.  Using this tool, one can tell if the UBE is processing and if it's not, where it is hanging.  A CNC administrator could conceivably use introspection to help determine whether a job is hung or still actively processing and whether to kill it or let it run.

UBE Audit Data

The Audit Data portion of  the Utilities for Batch Processing seems to be the least useful item of the three.  The primary benefit appears to be the revelation of  the UBE run time and the stop time.  The start time could already  be found in when one double-clicks a WSJ record (P986110B|W986110BC - Job Maintenance) but now we get the stop time (and the run time) and not just the last activity time.  Of interest however, may be the additional audit data that can be viewed for a UBE  - processing option values, data selection, data sequencing, report interconnect information and the SQL statement as the UBE was submitted.  For all audit data, the UBE need not be actively processing as it must be in order to view introspection data.  And remember - the additional audit data (po's, data selection, SQL Statement, etc.) is from the initial submission of the job.

To clarify two points: the audit data is available even after the UBE completes and the additional audit data contains information about the UBE as it was submitted.


Enabling

The new Utilities for Batch Processing functionality requires Tools Release 8.98, a minimum application release level of 8.11 SP1 and an ESU corresponding to your apps release level.

As of this article, the ESU numbers are:

• JK17733 for 8.12
  
• JL11723  for 9.0
• JJ16940 for 8.11 SP1
  

The following objects are included in the ESU's to enable the new batch processing functionality:

• B986114 BatchUtilitiesFunctions
• D986114A TurnOnOffLogging
• D986114B TurnOnOffIntrospection
• D986114C RetrieveIntrospectionData
• D986114D Determine If Auditing Service Pack is Present
• F986114 Auditing Information Data Repository
• F986114A Audit Repository Detail
• N986114A Determine If Auditing Service Pack is Present
• P986110B Job Control Master
• P986114A Submitted Job Execution Detail
• V986114A Auditing Information Data Repository
• V986114Z Server Job Audit Repository Detail

Special Instructions  must be executed to complete the enabling of the functionality.  Briefly, the Special Instructions require that you:

• Generate F986114 and F986114A in all server maps
• Create OCM mappings for F986114 and F986114A similar to those existing in System and Server Map(s) for F986110 (according to Denver, this item can be safely ignored)

  
Utilizing

Using the enhanced Batch Utilities couldn't be easier - in the Submitted Jobs form (P986110B\W986110BA), select a processing job and press the Execution Detail row exit button.

Once in the Submitted Job Execution Detail form, you can turn logging and introspection on and off, easily view the logs, and view Audit Detail by selecting the appropriate tab.

The commands in the web client are in the equivalent locations.  I'll assume that if you are smart enough to get this far, you can figure the web client out yourself.


Maintaining

Oracle has done us a great favor by not forcing us to add yet another item to our purge and maintain lists when dealing with Batch Utilities.  The entire functionality is contained within the aforementioned F986114/F986114A tables and those tables are purged when one runs the UBE to purge the Submitted Jobs (R9861101).

I would recommend keeping an eye on the PrintQueue directory as the debug logs may fill this location faster than normal.

Also, two additional IPC resources are needed per UBE so adjust your enterprise server JDE.INI accordingly.


Summary

In Tools Release 8.98 Denver has provided us with another gadget for our troubleshooting toolbox.  We should be thankful that something we have been requesting for a long time has finally been given to us - the ability to gain insight into running UBE's and the ability to debug UBE's without interrupting other users.