IBM Support

How to Troubleshoot a Planning Analytics Web Tier Hang

Troubleshooting


Problem

Planning Analytics Web Tier hang (TM1 Application Server, TM1 Web, Spreadsheet Service)

Symptom

If you have encountered a scenario where your Web Tier is unresponsive and you believe that it can be hung - the first action that must be taken is to verify whether the server is hung or if it is just slow to process specific requests.  This is an important step as there can be a long running process affecting subsequent processes/user actions, or a TM1 Server lock contention problem that makes the issue look like a problem with the Web Tier, when the real issue resides external to the Web Tier.

To rule out a long running process or a contention issue, use TM1Top or Planning Analytics Administration to view the active threads on the TM1 Server.  If you see threads that are active (the run time continues to count up), then the TM1 Server is not truly hung and the investigation needs to start with understanding the specific user interactions occurring at this time.

Otherwise, the steps in this document cover the collection of details IBM Support requires in order to help diagnosing the problem.

Resolving The Problem

In the event of a Web Tier hang, collect the following:

  1. Basic description of the problem.
    • What was it that the user was doing when the perceived hang occurred?
    • Was it limited to just one user, or all users?
    • Did the problem resolve after a period of time, or is it still unresponsive?
  2. Screen captures of the java.exe from Task Manager / Process Explorer
    • Collect 3 screen captures, 30 seconds apart. This allows us to have a quick glance at resources at the time of the Hang.
  3. Process Explorer Hang DMP of the java.exe process (Full Dump)
  4. Entire \install_dir\logs\ directory
  5. GarbageCollection log file
  6. Any recent javacore* files
    • Found in \install_dir\bin64\ directory
  7. Any recent *.hpd files
    • Found in \install_dir\bin64\ directory
  8. tm1web.log
    • Found in \install_dir\webapps\tm1web\WEB-INF\logs\
  9. pmpsvc.log
    • Found in \install_dir\webapps\pmpsvc\WEB-INF \logs\
  10. tm1server.log
    • Location defined in the affected server's tm1s.cfg file(s)
  11. tm1top.log
    • Location defined by TM1Top or Planning Analytics Administration
  12. tm1s.cfg
    • Typically resides in or near your TM1 Data directory
  13. cmplst.txt
    • Found in \install_dir\

After the above has been collected, the following actions can be taken to better understand the problem that occurred:

  • Look at the screen captures and live view of Task Manager or Process Explorer
    • Is the offending java process consuming CPU?
      • Does the CPU% taken fluctuate up or down, even if only by a percent or two?
      • Is there any movement in the Memory Usage?
      • If CPU% or Memory Usage is fluctuating, even if the movement is marginal, the server may not be 'hung'.
  • Depending on the type of issue, you may need to look in different places. The TM1 Application Server may only appear hung if it is waiting on the TM1 Server to process requests. Before doing much else, look at the TM1 Threads via TM1Top or Planning Analytics Administration for the TM1 Server(s) that the TM1 Application Server integrates with.
    • Is there any activity on the server? Perhaps there is a process/chore running, which is preventing subsequent actions, requests, or logons from running.
    • Are any locks/waits found in the tm1top.log? If so, it is very likely that the Application Server has not hung, and that the Application Server is waiting on the TM1 Server to finish its requests. We want to highlight the name of the chore, process, or action that may be running.
    • If it is not clear why the locks are being create, follow the guidance here: How to Troubleshoot Planning Analytics TM1 Server Lock Contention
  • Is there anything valuable in the tm1server, tm1_messages, tm1web, or pmpsvc logs?
    • What you would want to look for, is any sort of logging or actions being written to the log for the duration of the hang. If anything is being written to the log, it is very unlikely that the process is truly hung and may be busy with another request or encountering a specific error.

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Document Information

Modified date:
03 May 2022

UID

swg22002262

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