View Instance History

Every instance generated has extensive instance history. This can be helpful for informational and trouble shooting purposes. To view instance history, access an instance view (e.g. Instances, Daily Activity, Operations, etc.), select an instance, right-click, then select Properties - as depicted in the image below.

 

 

After selecting properties for the job depicted in the image above, the properties for the instance will be tabbed in the Main view, as depicted in the image below. The History tab is active by default.

 

 

Note: The Instance Details Pane also provides instance properties that include the job log file and variables.

 

Expand the desired topic below to learn about a specific Instance Properties category.

 

The History tab provides most of the information you would need concerning the running or completed job. Information is broken down into categories that can be collapsed or expanded as necessary.

 

General Properties: This list displays current state information.

  • Instance ID: The unique, system-assigned Instance ID.

  • State Details: Additional information concerning the state of the job (if applicable).

  • State: The current state of the instance. The state line is color coded to also visually indicate the state of the instance.

  • Creation Time: The time the instance was created.

Queue:

  • Execution Queue: The name of the execution queue the job ran on.

  • Original Submission Queue: The name of the original submission queue (for example, a Generic Queue).

Start Properties: This list displays various startup information about the instance.

  • Creation/Execution Time: The date and time the job began execution.

  • Execution Reason: Why the job began execution. For example, Date/Time would mean it was a scheduled trigger.

  • Execution User: The user under whose security context the job is run.

  • Batch Run ID: This is the ID associated with a related stream of plans/jobs. For example, if a Plan is triggered for execution, that plan and all nested jobs/plans will have the same Batch Run ID. See View Batch Run for more details.

Runtime Properties:

  • Actual Run Time: Actual elapsed time of the job.

  • Actual CPU Time: Actual CPU time of the job.

Checkpoint Properties:

  • Checkpoint Restart Enabled: This property indicates whether a checkpoint was taken. If one was, the date and time of the last checkpoint and thirty (30) characters of the checkpoint would be displayed.

Restarts:

  • Restarted: This property indicates whether a restart was ever performed. If one was, the date and time of the last restart and total number of restarts would also be displayed.

Completion Properties:

  • End Execution Time: The date and time the job completed execution.

  • Completion Machine: The name of the last machine that ran the job.

  • Completion Status: SUCCESS, FAILURE or ABORTED indication for the job.

  • Exit Code: This field contains the actual job exit code (decimal).

  • Exit Code Description: Unless the property “Interpret Exit Code” is disabled, ActiveBatch attempts to interpret the “job return code” as an NT Message Code (so you may need to ignore this field). 

The Variables tab displays all the variables and values assigned to each variable for any selected job or plan instance. This avoids guesswork or special tracing to determine what a particular variable was set to. If a variable fails to resolve, it may cause the job to fail. Checking how the variables resolved may offer a clue when troubleshooting failed jobs.

 

When a variable is displayed with an expand/collapse icon to the left of its name, that means that the variable represents a structure. You can expand or collapse the structure by clicking on the icon.

 

The Audits tab displays all the ActiveBatch audits that the instance generated. Audits are generated by the Job Scheduler as it steps through the process of creating an instance and dispatching it an Execution Agent. Audits should be examined when you have a question concerning why a Plan or Job ran (or didn’t run).

 

The Audit's toolbar (from left to right) allows you to refresh the view, set a limit to the number of audits displayed, and set a date range.

 

The job log file produced is the traditional log file that contains text output of the job. The Log tab lets you see the output log of the Job (if logging is enabled). The log file captures output and errors, if any. It also includes ActiveBatch statistics (this can be disabled).  It is typically common to check the job log file first, if a job fails, because that is where errors are recorded. In addition, you may see a reason for job failure described in the Exit Code Description column of the various Instances views.

 

 

Above is an image of a sample job log file. Logging can be disabled on a per job basis or via a Default Job PolicyClosed A default policy allows you to preset a new object's properties to override factory default property values, and/or preset properties that are blank by default. See Default Policy for more details.  . This is mentioned in the event there is no job log file created for a failed instance. Other reasons for lack of a job log file include: the log file was purged, or a log file was not created because the job did not get far enough into the executing phase to generate one.  For example, if the user credentials associated with a job does not authenticate on the Execution Agent system, the job will fail with a Logon error, and no job log file will be generated. If logging is disabled, it is done on the Execution tab of a job's property sheets. The Logging checkbox must be enabled for a log file to be generated. By default, the logging feature is enabled for all new jobs. It is recommended that logging remains enabled, as it is a key source of information when troubleshooting a failed job.

 

The log file is accessed using the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol. This type of access requires that the Instance Control permission is set (allowed) on the job for the user(s) accessing the log file. However, there is a way to disable this security check (not allow it), but still provide access to the job log file. This is described in the following knowledgebase article: Log file access via RPC

The Properties tab allows provides you with a way to pull up the property sheets of the object associated with the instance. When you click on the Properties button, the object properties are opened and tabbed in the Main view. Keep in mind you are viewing the current object definition - what the definition looks like right now, which could be different than when the instance was created.

 

If you have modify rights to the job and you access the current definition properties, you could potentially make property change(s) and save them.  It would be similar to accessing the object properties using the Navigation pane.