Dashboard, Alerts and more

View business transactions and alerts within your cloud platform.

Dashboard

The dashboard for End-to-End Monitoring gives you a collective view of all the business transactions carried out within your cloud platform. The default Dashboard view includes the transaction widgets, Transactions list and Groups list.


  • – An alert icon to notify you of any new transaction notifications.
  • – User help that includes the help content for this application.
  • – Use the link provided here to log off from the application.
  • Time range – Below is the drop-down list for time range selection. By default, it is set to half an hour prior from the current system time. For example, if current system time is 3:30 PM, then the time range shows as 3 PM to 3 30 PM. Click next to the time range to select a specific duration.
  • Time zone – This is displayed next to the Time range field. Any time stamp displayed in End-to-End Monitoring is based on the user’s registered time zone specified in IBM webMethods iPaaS.
    Note that not all the time zones in IBM webMethods iPaaS are supported in End-to-End Monitoring. If a time zone in IBM webMethods iPaaS is not supported, then the time stamp in End-to-End Monitoring defaults to the Pacific Standard Time (PST) time zone.
  • Transaction widgets

    The following widgets are available on the dashboard:

    Note
    • You can customize the parameters to view by clicking next to Create Group.
    • When you create a transaction group for a specific environment, it includes only the transactions occurring within that particular environment. On the other hand, the default All transactions group consists of transactions based on your selected Environment group and Stage in view mast head filter.

      For instance, let’s consider an environment group called e2eMFinance with two environments: Environment1 with the Development stage in view, and Environment2 with the Development stage in view.


      Now, let’s take the transaction group B2BSuccessTxns present in both Environment1 and Environment2, containing 108 and 23 transactions respectively. These transaction groups are clearly associated with their respective environments and stages, as displayed in the image below.


      However, the default All transactions group is not restricted to a single environment or stage in view. It includes all transactions that meet the criteria set in the mast head filter selections. Therefore, it contains the total number of B2BSuccessTxns transactions from both Environment1 and Environment2.

    Search logic

    Transaction search and group search utilize a contains logic. For instance, if you are searching for a transaction with the name My transaction, then searches such as My, transaction and My transaction will return relevant results. However, searches like Mytransaction and transactions will not fetch accurate results.

    This search mechanism also applies to group creation. When you create a transaction group using specific keywords in the Transaction name(s) or Error Message(s) filter, the same contains logic is applied.

    Custom transaction tracing for enhanced filtering

    You can specify a custom transaction ID as part of your IBM webMethods Integration Flow services and Workflows and the on premises Integration Server Flow services. This persists as part of your transaction trace stored in End-to-End Monitoring. This feature allows you to reference or search a transaction based on your own identifier such as order ID or shipping reference. The identifier does not necessarily have to be unique to the transaction. The identifier can be used to find all distinct transactions related to a common asset such as a customer or order.

    Note
    • You can use the custom identifier to filter for related transactions from the updated End-to-End Monitoring dashboard using the search field.
    • For a IBM webMethods B2B transaction, the document ID is displayed as custom transaction ID.

    Finer details on custom transaction IDs

    Creating a Group of Transactions

    Creating a group of transactions allows you to categorize the transactions based on your requirements.

    1. In the Dashboard page, select Groups tab and click Create Group.

    2. In the Create group dialog box, provide the following details:

      Parameter Description
      Name Type a name for this group.

      Note
      The group name cannot be edited after you save this form.
      Environment Provide the environment where this group will be created.
      Stage Provide the stage under which this group will be created.

      For Integration Cloud tenants, this can be either of the following options:

      • Development

      • Test

      • Pre-Live

      • Live

      However, in case of IBM cloud tenants, the stage is automatically mapped to the environment. Hence, the stage option is not available during group creation in IBM webMethods iPaaS tenants.
      Status Group the transactions on the basis of their status.

      Note
      Click Select All to select all the listed options.

      It can be a combination of:

      • Success

      • Failed

      Starts with Group the transactions on the basis of the application from where the business flow starts.

      You can choose one or more products when creating the group. For example, you can have a group where you have one transaction starting from IBM webMethods API Gateway and another transaction starting from IBM webMethods Integration.

      Click Select All to select all the listed options.

      You can select from the following:

      • IBM webMethods API Gateway

      • IBM webMethods B2B

      • Note
        Currently, End-to-End Monitoring support for B2B is very basic. You may not get complete trace for all types of B2B transactions. For example, transactions invoked by the AS2 protocol may not provide you the complete trace results.


      • IBM webMethods Integration

      • Integration Cloud

      • webMethods Integration Server
      Duration (ms) Group the transactions on the basis of their execution time in milliseconds.

      You can select from the following:

      • – Select this operator to group the transactions that have an execution time which is lesser than or equal to the value specified here.

      • – Select this operator to group the transactions that have an execution time which is greater than or equal to the value specified here.

      • – Select this operator to group the transactions that have an execution time which is between the values specified here. For example, if you specify 20 and 30 (ms), then both the values 20 and 30 are also taken into consideration.
      Product(s) involved Group the transactions on the basis of the product(s) involved in a business transaction.

      Use the drop-down list to select one or more products. The group includes all the transactions for the selected product. If you select more than one product, it will list the transactions for the standalone products along with the transactions that involve both the products. For example, if you select IBM webMethods API Gateway and IBM webMethods Integration, the group will include the following:

      Note
      Click Select All to select all the listed options.

      • all transactions that involve only IBM webMethods Integration

      • all transactions that involve only IBM webMethods API Gateway

      • all transactions that involve both IBM webMethods Integration and IBM webMethods API Gateway.
      Transaction name(s) Group the transactions on the basis of their names. The transaction name relates to an asset that produces transactions as defined by the chosen product types. For example, IBM webMethods Integration generates transactions based on the name of services being run, whereas API Gateway generates transactions based on the name of the associated API. You can choose more than one transaction name and it can either be a complete match or a partial match.

      Note
      • Click X to remove the added names.

      • Transaction name autocomplete list is based on the products selected in the Starts with criteria. For example, if you have selected IBM webMethods API Gateway and IBM webMethods B2B in Starts with, then the autocomplete list will contain all transactions starting within IBM webMethods API Gateway or IBM webMethods B2B.

      • Transaction name autocomplete list is also based on the products selected in the Products involved criteria. For example, if you have selected IBM webMethods API Gateway and IBM webMethods B2B in Products involved, then the autocomplete list will contain all transactions passing through IBM webMethods API Gateway or IBM webMethods B2B.
      Transaction ID(s) Group the transactions based on their custom transaction IDs.

      Click + to add more than one entry.

      Click X to remove the added IDs.
      Error Message(s) Group the transactions on the basis of an error message.

      Click + to add more than one entry.

      Click X to remove the added messages.
    3. Click Save.

    Transaction grouping logic

    When you create a transaction group for a specific environment, it includes only the transactions occurring within that particular environment. On the other hand, the default All transactions group consists of transactions based on your selected Environment group and Stage in view mast head filter.

    For instance, let’s consider an environment group called e2eMFinance with two environments: Environment1 with the Development stage in view, and Environment2 with the Development stage in view.


    Now, let’s take the transaction group B2BSuccessTxns present in both Environment1 and Environment2, containing 108 and 23 transactions respectively. These transaction groups are clearly associated with their respective environments and stages, as displayed in the image below.


    However, the default All transactions group is not restricted to a single environment or stage in view. It includes all transactions that meet the criteria set in the mast head filter selections. Therefore, it contains the total number of B2BSuccessTxns transactions from both Environment1 and Environment2.

    Viewing the Transactions List

    1. On the Dashboard page, select the group for which you want to view the transactions. On the Transactions list page, you will see all the transactions for the selected time frame and the set filter(s).

    2. Click on the upper-right corner of the screen to open the Show Columns dialog box.

    3. Select the parameters for which you want to view the transaction details and click Save. The transactions list shows the following parameters:

      Parameter Description
      Status Status of the transaction. Currently, we have the following states:

      • – Transaction successful.

      • – Transaction failed.
      Name Name of the transaction. This name is based on the starting point of the transaction. For example, if the transaction starts from IBM webMethods API Gateway, then this name would be the name of the API.
      Duration (ms) Total time taken by the transaction to complete.
      Starts with The application from which the transaction starts. For example, IBM webMethods Integration.
      Started on Start time for the transaction.
      Error message Message with which the transaction failed.
      Trace ID This is a unique identifier for the transaction.
      Transaction ID This is a custom transaction ID set by you for better traceability and usability.

    This is an example of the transaction list view:

    You can also filter the transactions from this page. For more information, see Filtering the Business Transactions.

    Editing a Transactions Group

    1. On the Dashboard page, select in the row for the transaction that you want to edit.

      Note
      Editing a transaction group impacts all the rules associated with it.
    2. Make the necessary changes and click Update.

    Deleting a Transactions Group

    1. On the Dashboard page, select in the row for the transaction that you want to delete.

      Note
      Deleting a transaction group deletes all the rules and the rule violations associated with it.
    2. Click Delete. On successful deletion, you will see a confirmation message on the screen.

    Cloning a Transactions Group

    1. On the Dashboard page, select in the row for the transaction that you want to clone.

      Note
      Cloning a transaction group clones all the rules and the rule violations associated with it.
    2. Click Clone. On successful cloning, you will see a confirmation message on the screen.

    Filtering the Business Transactions

    You can filter the business transactions within any group to view a custom set of transactions.

    Note
    Filters that were set during group creation are already applied when you open the group.

    To filter the transactions

    1. On the Transactions list page, click as shown in the following example:

    2. In the Filter dialog box, you can choose from the following filters:

      Note
      Filters set during group creation are greyed out and not available for selection.
      Value Description
      Status Select the transaction status. You can select from the following and click Save:

      • Success – Lists all the completed business transactions.

      • Failed – Lists all the failed transactions.
      Name Type the name of the business transaction and click Save. To add more than one transaction name, click +.
      Duration Select from the following operators using the drop-down list and provide a valid time in milliseconds:

      • – Select this operator to filter the transactions that have an execution time which is lesser than or equal to the value specified here.

      • – Select this operator to filter the transactions that have an execution time which is greater than or equal to the value specified here.

      • – Select this operator to group the transactions that have an execution time which is between the values specified here. For example, if you specify 20 and 30 (ms), then both the values 20 and 30 are also taken into consideration.
      Transaction starts with Filter the transactions on the basis of the application from where the business flow starts. Select the checkbox next to the product. You can select more than one product.
      Error message Filter the transactions based on the error message with which it failed. Type the error message and click Save. For example, server not found. You can filter based on more than one error message by clicking+next to the error message box.
      Product(s) involved Filter the transactions based on the products that are involved with this transaction. Select the checkbox next to the product and click Save. You can select more than one product.
      Trace ID Filter the transactions based on this unique identifier associated with a transaction. Enter the trace ID and click Save. You can filter based on more than one Trace ID by clicking + next to the trace ID box.
      Transaction ID Filter the transactions based on the custom transaction identifier set by you. Enter the transaction ID and click Save.
    3. The applied filters show up on the top of the page as shown in the following example:

      You can close a particular filter by selecting the filter and clicking X adjacent to the filter name.

    4. After you apply the filters and retrieve the list of transactions, you can further sort the list by clicking the column headings. Sort in ascending or descending order by toggling the column header.

    Note
    When you add a custom transaction ID to your end-to-end business transaction, you can filter based on the custom transaction ID from the End-to-End Monitoring user interface. This is useful when you need to tag a specific transaction, beyond the filtering capability offered by service name, trace ID, status or duration.

    Business Transaction Details Page

    The Business Transaction Details page provides the following information about the transaction:

    Parameter Description
    Name Transaction name.
    Trace ID Distinct identifier for the transaction generated internally by the application.
    Transaction ID Transaction identifier set by you.
    Status Status of the transaction.
    Start period Time at which the transaction started.
    End period Time at which the transaction ended.
    Duration (ms) Total time taken by the transaction to execute. This includes the Total transit time and the Processing time of the transaction. Total transit time is the time from which the first product in the cross-product transaction receives the request from the client until it sends back the response to the client, excluding the processing time taken by each product. This is dependent on network latency and other factors such as IBM products on different tenants, in a cross-product transaction.

    This is an example of a business transactions details page:

    Duration

    Duration is the total time taken by a transaction from the time a client initiates a request to the time a response is received by the client. Let us consider the following scenario where the duration for a transaction to complete is 200ms. In the following image, 200ms is the time difference between INT22 and INT11. The time taken by the transaction within the API component which is 50ms is already taken into account as part of this 200ms value. End-to-End Monitoring records the duration only from the time a client request enters the first component of the cloud platform (INT11) and the time the response exits the last component of the cloud platform (INT22).

    Note
    The application does not note the time the client sends the request (T1) and the time the client receives the response (T2), as this happens outside the IBM environment.

    Business Flow Map

    This provides a logical representation of the business flow, showing the path taken by the transaction through the various cloud components. It also displays the processing time for the transaction within each component.

    A legend is available to identify the transaction status. An example of a Business flow map is as follows:

    Full-screen view automatically adjusts to fit your entire transaction on the screen, making it easier to view larger transactions.

    Viewing the Component Details for a Transaction

    To view the component details for a transaction

    1. On the Application dashboard, select the transaction group for which you want to view the details.

    2. On the Business Transaction Details page, click the component from the business flow map for which you want to view the details. The details open in a separate pane and includes the following information:

      Field Description
      Tenant name Provides the tenant of the transaction.
      Status Provides the status of the transaction. Status can be:

      • Success

      • Failed
      Transaction ID Transaction identifier set by you.
      Cause of failure Provides the reason for the error to occur. If a transaction is successful, then this parameter is not visible.
      Processing time Time spent by the transaction within this component.
      Stage Phase at which the failure has occurred during the execution of a transaction. Stage represents an activity in the life cycle of the transaction.
      Environment group The mapped environment group where the failure has occured during the execution of the transaction.
      More details Click this URL to open the details of the component highlighted in the Business Flow Map. Currently, this link is available for B2B and WebMethods Integration Cloud nodes only. Clicking this link redirects you to an instance of the respective component in a new tab. For example, if you click on an Integration Cloud component, you are redirected to the instance of webMethods Integration Cloud in a new tab.

    This is an example of component details pane:

    This is an example of the More details page of a workflow:

    Alerts

    The Alert page lists all the Rule violations and the Rule list. From the Alert page, you can create rules. These rules are a set of conditions. When these conditions are met by a group of transactions, the rule violation occurs. You can configure a rule such that it triggers an alert in the form of an on-screen notification or email or both. The rules that you create are applicable to all the transactions of a group with which it is associated. For information on creating a rule, see Creating a Rule.

    Viewing Alerts

    To view the alerts

    1. Click at the top of the screen to open the Rule violations pane. Here, you will see a list of all the new rule violations along with the older ones. If there are new rule violations, you will see a number with . For example, two new rule violations are indicated by at the top of the screen.

    2. In the Rule violations pane, click View all to go to the Rule violations section of the Alert page.

    3. In the Rule violations tab, you will see all the rules violations listed in a table format.

    Creating a Rule

    Note
    The rules are evaluated by the system for every 10 minutes interval.

    The application triggers alerts when a group of transactions violates the conditions defined in a rule associated with it.

    To create a rule

    1. On the Alert page, click Rule list.

    2. Select Create rule.

      Note
      The application provides you a set of default rules. For more information, see Default Rules.
    3. In the Create rule dialog box, provide the following details:

      • In the General information section, provide the details for the following and click Next.

        Value Description
        Name Provide a name for the rule.

        Note
        You cannot change the rule name once you save the rule.
        Description Provide a meaningful description for the rule.
        Environment Select the environment that the rule is applicable to, from the drop-down list. You can select only one environment at a time.
        Stage Provide the stage to which this rule is applicable.

        For webMethods Integration Cloud tenants this can be either of the following options:

        • Development

        • Test

        • Pre-Live

        • Live

        However, in case of IBM webMethods iPaaS tenants, the stage is automatically mapped to the environment. Hence, the stage option is not available during rule creation in IBM webMethods iPaaS tenants.
        Group Select the group from the drop-down list. This group list will only contain the groups associated with the tenant selected in the Environment drop-down.

        Note
        Currently, you can associate a rule only to a single group. However, a group can be associated with multiple rules.

      This is an example of the General information section:

      • In the Rule & Action section, provide the details for the following and click Next.

        Value Description
        KPI This is the key performance index. Select from the following options:

        • Error count

        • Error rate

        • Average response time
        Time range The time range on the basis of which this rule should trigger an alert when violated. Select from the following options:

        • In last 30 mins

        • In last 1 hour

        • In last 12 hours

        • In last 24 hours
        Operator Select the operator on the basis of which this rule should trigger an alert when violated. Select from the following options:

        • Less than (<) – lesser than the value specified in the Value field.

        • Greater than (>) – greater than the value specified in the Value field.

        • Equals to (=) – equal to the value specified in the Value field.

        Note
        Value could be a number, percentage, or time and changes on the basis of the KPI you select.
        Value This field varies on the basis of your selection in the KPI field. The value field changes on the basis of the KPI you select:

        • For Error count, it is set to Value(number).

        • For Error rate, it is set to Value(%).

        • For Average response time, it is set to Value(ms).
        Severity This is the severity of the rule violation. Select from the following options:

        • None

        • High

        • Medium

        • Low
      • In the Action section, select your notification preference and click Next. You can select either or both of the following options:

      • Value Description
        Show app notification Select this option to get on-screen app notifications.
        Send email Select this option to subscribe for email alerts whenever a group violates a rule. Provide the recipient email address. You can enter more than one email address separated by a comma.

      This is an example of the Rule & Action section:

      • In the Summary section, verify all the details provided by you and click Save.

    Default Rules

    The application provides you with a set of pre-defined rules. By default, these rules are disabled. These pre-defined rules are as follows:

    Note
    Other than the Name, you can modify all the other values as per your requirements.
    Name Description Group KPI Time Range Operator Value Show app notification Send email
    Average response time is out of compliance The average response time for all transactions in last 1 hour is greater than 1000 ms. All Transactions Average response time In last 1 hour > 100 (ms) True False
    Error count is out of compliance The error count for all transactions in last 1 hour is more than 100. All Transactions Error count In last 1 hour > 10 True False
    Error rate is out of compliance The error rate for all transactions in last 1 hour exceeds 10%. All Transactions Error rate In last 1 hour > 10% True False
    Note

    Each of these default rules will be available for every environment in your tenant. For instance, if you have four environments then the Rule list will show 12 default rules.

    Working with Rule Violations

    The Rule violations page provides details of all the violations. Use this page to search for specific violations and to view all the violations within the various groups for a specified duration. The following table provides you details of all the actions possible in the Rule violations page:

    Action Description
    Show all Use this drop-down list to filter all the violations on the basis of duration or status. The values include:

    • All open

    • All resolved

    • Last 1 hour

    • Last 12 hours

    • Today

    • Yesterday

    • Last 7 days
    This is the refresh button. Click this to refresh the list of rule violations. It shows the time when the list was last refreshed.
    This is the column view settings button. Click this to customize the columns you want to view for the rule violations.
    Select this drop-down list to filter the rule violations on the basis of group name. You also get a search box when you click this drop-down list. Use this search box to type a group name that you want to search. To search the rule violations across all the available groups, click Select All.

    Note
    You can select more than one group.
    Search by name Type a rule name in this search box to filter all the rule violations on the basis of rule name.

    To sort the rule violations, click on the header row of any column. You can sort in both ascending and descending order.

    Working with Rule List

    The application lists all the rules that you create in the Rule list page. The following table provides you details of all the actions possible in the Rule list page:

    Action Description
    This is the column view settings button. Click this to customize the columns you want to view for the listed rules. In the Show Columns dialog, select the columns you want to view and click Save.
    Create rule Use this action button to create a new rule. For more information, see Creating a Rule.
    Select this drop-down list to filter the rule on the basis of severity.

    Note
    You can select more than one severity.
    Select this drop-down list to filter the rules on the basis of group name. You also get a search box when you click this drop-down list. Use this search box to type a group name that you want to search.

    Note
    You can select more than one group.
    Search by name Type a rule name in this search box to filter the rules on the basis of rule name.
    To clone a rule, click this action button on the row of the corresponding rule.

    Note
    You can modify the rule name.
    To edit a rule, click this action button on the row of the corresponding rule.

    Note
    You cannot modify the rule name.
    To delete a rule, click this action button on the row of the corresponding rule.
    Select this toggle button in the Status column to enable or disable a rule. indicates that a rule is enabled and indicates that a rule is disabled.

    Note
    When you use this button, you will see corresponding system messages on screen to indicate if a rule is enabled or disabled successfully.

    To sort the rules, click on the header row of any column. You can sort in both ascending and descending order.

    Working with Email Notifications

    End-to-End Monitoring now provides enhanced rule violation notification emails. The notification email provides details pertaining to the group associated with the rule violated. Rules can now be set with severity levels as well.

    The subject of this rule violation email contains information that helps you act quickly based on the severity of the rule violation. For example, an open rule violation with high severity is sent to you with High Importance.

    The rule violation email subject line starts with the status of the rule violation. The status is either of two options:

    A rule violation email provides you with the following details:

    If you need to open the End-to-End Monitoring application to act on the information you have received, the email contains an embedded link to the application. In some instances, this is a deep link that takes you directly to the records that were violated in the specific time frames.

    Detailed Step-by-Step Tutorial

    For a detailed tutorial, see Step-by-Step Tutorial.

    Connectors

    IBM webMethods Integration Connectors

    Numerous IBM webMethods Integration Flow services and Workflows use predefined and configurable connectors to invoke third-party SaaS applications. Connectors are a set of actions and triggers for a particular service, application, utility, or IoT device. Connectors not only connect to external third-party SaaS products but also to other webMethods.io products.

    End-to-End Monitoring can monitor the connectors’ tracing with additional granularity. The End-to-End Monitoring user interface displays an expand button on a connector node invoked by IBM webMethods Integration Flow services or Workflows. Expanding this node lets you view the connector’s actual details, along with its icon.

    By clicking on the connector node, the lower panel is enabled that displays information about the connector, such as Provider Name, Version, and Account Name. The duration displayed on the connector reflects the time taken for the transaction to be processed by the SaaS application.

    Note
    • End-to-End Monitoring currently does not support viewing of connectors that are invoked within nested loops.
    • End-to-End Monitoring only displays the first 300 iterations, if the transaction contains complex loops with numerous iterations.
    • End-to-End Monitoring traces the exact flow in which the Workflow is executed, for Workflows with connectors.
    • Support for connector tracing of Flow services functionality is subject to IBM webMethods Integration release v10.16.5.
    • Support for connector tracing of Workflows functionality is subject to IBM webMethods Integration release v11.0.3.

    Example 1

    Consider a Workflow named NewCustomerWorkflow that invokes a Flow service called OnboardCustomerService. This Flow service connects to Salesforce to fetch data and then performs additional validation by invoking services using the OData and HTTP connectors. Finally, the Flow service invokes a JDBC adapter to persist data into MySQL.

    The business flow map for this transaction provides additional granularity in tracing connectors, as shown in the following image. This feature can significantly enhance your ability to locate and resolve issues with failed or long-duration transactions.

    Example 2

    Consider a Workflow named Process New Customer with numerous connectors and loops invoking connectors, triggering a large number of iterations. This Workflow is designed to create a new customer in the system. The transaction flows through various processes to extract customer data, fetch customer address, process each customer address within a loop, save it and then send a notification email after persisting each of the addresses. The design time Workflow view in IBM webMethods Integration is shown in the following image.

    The corresponding End-to-End Monitoring runtime view in the order of execution is shown in the following images.

    The business flow map for this transaction provides additional granularity in tracing Workflow connectors. This can significantly enhance your ability to locate and resolve issues with failed transactions or long running transactions.