Viewing the Distribution Server Status

In this section:

Separate Job Queues for Each Data Server

How to:

Turn Distribution Server Traces On or Off

The Server Status tool, accessed by selecting the Server Status tab in the Console, enables you to view the status of the Distribution Server. When you configure ReportCaster with a failover Distribution Server or Workload Distribution, the status of all servers is provided and you can perform basic tasks, such as switching the primary and failover server roles. The Server Status tool also provides details about the Distribution Server, such as the host name and port number, the status, and the number of jobs that are running and in the queue. The Distribution Server information includes:

Distribution Server. The name used to identify the server in the Console. Primary is the name given to the server listed in the ReportCaster Configuration tool setting (Primary Distribution Server). Failover is the name given to the server listed in the ReportCaster Configuration tool setting, Failover Console Host. For more information on Distribution Server Settings and Configuring failover and Workload Distribution, see Failover Distribution Server Status and Tasks.
Note: When the Distribution Server attempts to make an SMTP connection to an Email server, the connection will timeout after five minutes.
Host and Port. The host name and port number where the Distribution Server is installed.
Mode. The state and function of the Distribution Server. Options include:
- Manager. When a Distribution Server operates as a Manager, the server listens for requests for on-demand jobs and polls the repository for scheduled jobs. Scheduled and on-demand jobs are dispatched by the Manager to a Distribution Server operating as a Worker. The Manager does not execute jobs. The Manager monitors jobs running on the Worker and communicates job status information to the Client and the ReportCaster API.
- Worker. When a Distribution Server operates as a Worker, it receives a job from a Manager and executes the job. The Worker communicates with the Client to retrieve procedures stored in the Repository and with the Reporting Server to run schedule job procedures. The Worker also dispatches HTTP requests and communicates with the file system or FTP servers to retrieve files for distribution. The Worker distributes the results returned from the Reporting Server, or HTTP or file requests by Email, FTP, Printer, or to Managed Reporting or the Report Library as specified in the schedule. The Worker also updates the ReportCaster logs with job information and updates the schedule with the next run time.
- Full Function. Indicates that the Distribution Server is up and functioning. When you configure ReportCaster with a secondary Distribution Server, this indicates that the server is acting as the primary Distribution Server.
- Failover. When you configure ReportCaster with a failover Distribution Server, this indicates that the server is acting as the failover Distribution Server. For more information, see Failover Distribution Server Status and Tasks.
- Down. Indicates that the Distribution Server is stopped.
Running. The number of scheduled and on demand jobs that are currently running.
Queued. The number of scheduled and on demand jobs that are in the Distribution Server queue.
Services. The services currently running on the Distribution Server. Options include:
- IBFS Cache Cleaner. The Distribution Server uses this service to refresh the IBFS Cache. The frequency at which the cache is refreshed is controlled by the setting IBI_Repository_Sync_Interval in the Administration Console. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.
- Console. The Distribution Server uses this service to listen for communication from the ReportCaster application or API.
- Reader. The Distribution Server uses this service to poll the Repository.
- Dispatcher. The Distribution Server uses this service to execute scheduled jobs.
- Failover Monitor/Synchronizer. This service is used by the secondary Distribution Server to determine if it needs to take over as the primary server. The Failover/Synchronizer service is used by the primary and secondary Distribution servers to monitor their respective statuses.
Status. The status of each service currently running on the Distribution Server. Options include:
- Ready. The service is available.
- Standing By. The service is standing by.
- Suspend. The service is suspended.
- Listening. The Console service is actively listening.
- Polling. The Reader service is active.
- Monitoring. The Failover Monitor or the Repository Monitor is active.

From the Server Status interface, you can perform the following tasks:

Refresh. Retrieves the most current information and refreshes the Distribution Server status with this information.
Switch. This option is only available when a failover Distribution Server is configured. Changes the current roles of the servers, so that the primary server becomes the failover server and the failover server becomes the primary server.
Server. Displays a drop-down menu listing the servers, whose status you can view.
Restart. Recycles the Distribution Server and the Application Server.
Suspend. This option is always available, regardless of whether a failover Distribution Server is configured or not. Suspends the Distribution Server services, but the server remains running. When you suspend a server, the Suspend button label will change to Resume.
Stop. Brings the Distribution Server completely down.
Note: When you stop the Distribution Server using this option, you must restart it from the machine where it resides. You cannot restart the Distribution Server remotely.
View Trace. Allows you to view trace information for the scheduler.log, main.trc, reader.trc, console.trc, and dispatcher.trc files. You can also turn the Distribution Server traces on or off. For more information, see How to Turn Distribution Server Traces On or Off.
Note: Distribution Server traces are tracked separately from Job traces using this functionality. You do not need to turn on job traces to see distribution server traces.
Help. Opens the Console Server Status online documentation.

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Procedure: How to Turn Distribution Server Traces On or Off

From the ReportCaster Console, select Server Status.
From the Distribution Server list, select a server.
On the toolbar, click View Trace.
Click Turn On Trace to turn the Distribution Server traces on.

To disable the Distribution Server traces, follow steps 1 and 2, and then click Turn Off Trace.

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Separate Job Queues for Each Data Server

The Distribution Server has separate job queues for each Reporting Server, as well as an additional queue for tasks that do not require a Reporting Server. Therefore, there will always be at least one job thread available for each Reporting Server, in addition to at least one thread for non-server based jobs. No one Reporting Server can have all of the available job threads consumed by jobs associated with that server.

Note: This feature is available as of Release 8.0 Version 02 and higher.

Each Reporting Server is allocated job threads equal to the total number of connections available for that Reporting Server. The Maximum Threads setting is now the total number of threads for each Reporting Server, in addition to the number of threads allocated for remaining tasks, as shown in the following image.

WebFOCUS