CA Service Management

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  • 1.  Contact 00 is holding lock for cr:??? used by animator ANI:??? (auto_close_ticket) for cr:??

    Posted Mar 27, 2019 06:34 PM

    Intermittently we get messages like the following in the stdlog file of our Primary server:

     

    ... 6772 SIGNIFICANT  top_ob.c              4390 Contact 00 is holding lock for cr:??? used by animator ANI:??? (auto_close_ticket) for cr:???; retrying in ?? seconds

     

    We are running r12.6.

     

    Does anyone know what this is trying to tell us? What process is "Contact 00"?

     

     

    Thanks,

     

    Alan



  • 2.  Re: Contact 00 is holding lock for cr:??? used by animator ANI:??? (auto_close_ticket) for cr:??

    Posted Mar 27, 2019 07:04 PM

    Hello Alan,

     

    Most likely this is the Animator process, and it is overloaded. This is one of the general reasons why Auto-close may not work, alluded to in the troubleshooting section of this document:

    Understanding, Configuring and Troubleshooting Auto-close 

     

    SUGGESTIONS

     

    1) Create a dedicated domsrvr for the Animator process.

    This document is for SDM 12.9, but the process should be similar on your version of SDM 12.6, as well as 14.1 and 17.1/2 here:

    Creating a dedicated Domsrvr to the Animator Process 

     

     

    2) Upgrade your system to ITSM 17.2.

    This is not just to get to a supported release of CA ITSM (SDM), but because you are long overdue for a refresh of your environment. Hardware, software and most likely your business use case have entirely moved on for the system as first deployed. I can guess fairly safely that this system needs a good tune-up and refresh.

     

    Some points that you may want to look at:

     

    * Hardware refresh - more CPU and memory, and possibly extra boxes.

    * Additional domsrvr/webengine pairs. Roughly one per 150 users or per CPU on a server.

    * Dedicated domsrvr for Animator, and any other process that needs it.

    * Add on secondary servers if in Conventional Configuration, or expand to Advanced Availability.

    * Use new access points that bypass web clients, such as the mobile interface and Service Point.

    * Tune Tomcat memory setting, add extra database agents (MAX_DBAGENT), turn off MONITOR_JOINS.

     

    3) Perform a rough performance review of the current system.

    I wouldn't go overboard on this, as a solid plan to upgrade and refresh the system should be the priority goal, but it would not hurt to review the stdlogs and performance tune the system "as is." (Briefly).

    Tell-tale signs of stress can be seen by searching for "milliseconds" in the stdlogs and looking for common issues. A well running system won't have many of these messages. An overloaded system will have a lot. And it is best to address the root cause of the overload. However there *may* be something specific that is causing the Animator to overload. In practice though, you're unlikely to be able to troubleshoot to that level of detail on your own, and there is limited advice that can be given that does not boil down to "upgrade and tune."

     

     

    Thanks, Kyle_R.



  • 3.  Re: Contact 00 is holding lock for cr:??? used by animator ANI:??? (auto_close_ticket) for cr:??

    Posted Mar 28, 2019 05:56 AM

    Regarding to pt.1, SDM 12.9 was first that implemented user friendly server configuration, in SDM 12.6 (and in 12.7 as well) we need to use pdm_perl pdm_edit cmd, instuctions could be found in $NX_ROOT/samples/pdmconf/pdm_edit_usage_notes.htm.

     

    my 2 cents.



  • 4.  Re: Contact 00 is holding lock for cr:??? used by animator ANI:??? (auto_close_ticket) for cr:??

    Posted Mar 28, 2019 06:44 PM

    Aye, that's true. Good point.

     

    A good reason to upgrade to the current release then! 

     

    Kyle_R.