QUEUE enters a "Stopped Pending" state

[Chaim Budnick]

OpenVMS V7.1-2

At one of our customer sites, over the last week the sys$batch queue has entered a "Stopped Pending" state, and I am absolutely certain that NOONE has entered any STOP/QUEUE command whatsoever.

The job_limit on the queue is 15, and there are several jobs which run perpetually on this queue, such that once the state is entered the queue basically starts accumulating jobs since it will NEVER get to a stopped state as long as the "perpetual" jobs are still executing.

Chaim

[Ian Miller.]

Is it this queue again?
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=715621

You could try setting an alarm ACE on the queue to see if there is something doing a STOP/QUEUE.

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

Is it possible that you are running out of process slots? (just a guess)

I would check OPERATOR.LOG for any messages.

[Ian Miller.]

I thought Id post the syntax as its a bit odd.

$ set sec/class=queue sys$batch/acl=(audit=security,access=manage+succ+fail)

[Bojan Nemec]

Chaim,

Follow Ians suggestion.

Check the sys$manager:operator.log file for any errors regarding the queue manager. For a fast scan jou can do a search sys$manager:operator.log JBC . Most of queue errors are reported by the Job controller.

Bojan

[Chaim Budnick]

BINGO!

%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 18-OCT-2004 12:45:06.19 %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user JOB_CONTROL on ALFMEN
%JBC-E-FAILCREPRC, job controller could not create a process

%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 18-OCT-2004 12:45:06.19 %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user JOB_CONTROL on ALFMEN
-SYSTEM-F-NOSLOT, no PCB available
***************
-SYSTEM-F-NOSLOT, no PCB available

Increase MAXPROCESSCNT ?

Chaim

[Bojan Nemec]

Chaim,

Yes, increase MAXPROCESSCNT. Be aware MAXPROCESSCNT is not dynamic so you must do a reboot!

Bojan

[Bojan Nemec]

Ups, I hit submit to early.
The same error was probably for this thread http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=715621

Bojan

[Chaim Budnick]

How can I determine how many slots are currently in use?

Chaim

[Bojan Nemec]

Chaim,

Do a SHOW MEMORY command. There is a section named "Slot Usage (slots):"

Bojan

[Chaim Budnick]

OK!

The current maxprocesscnt is 155, with 14 free.

What about the BALSETCNT' should this be increased as well? It is currently set to 180.

Chaim

[Kris Clippeleyr]

Chaim,

Just an advise: never set BALSETCNT higher than MAXPROCESSCNT.
BALSETCNT governs the maximum number of processes resident (= inswapped) on a VMS system, MAXPROCESSCNT governs the maximum number of processes (= inswapped + outswapped) on the system.

Kris

[Chaim Budnick]

OK!

What would be reasonable values then for these two SYSGEN parameters?

Chaim

[Kris Clippeleyr]

Chaim,

Reasonable value for MAXPROCESSCNT depends on your configuration (available memory, etc.)
Enter a line in MODPARAMS.DAT, something like:
MIN_MAXPROCESSCNT = 200
And thereafter run AUTOGEN from GETDATA through TESTFILES, and see what AUTOGEN thinks the value should be.

Success,

Kris

[Bojan Nemec]

Chaim,

From the sysgen help sys_param BALSETCNT:

"Never set BALSETCNT to a value higher than 2 less than MAXPROCESSCNT."

Maybe you should look to this (and the rest of this page)
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/DOC/73final/6491/6491pro_012.html#adjust_balsetcnt

The reasonable value depends on yours environment.

Bojan

[Chaim Budnick]

I ran autogen with min_maxprocesscnt = 200 and nothing out of the ordinary was detected by autogen. I perused the report file and nothing else was modified to a value higher than the current.

So, I will set the value to 200.

Chaim

[Bojan Nemec]

Chaim,

Check if BALSETCNT was computed to 198. If the value is lower you will have outswaped processes when the process count excede BALSETCNT.

BALSETCNT is a dynamic parameter so you can change it without reboot.

Bojan

[Chaim Budnick]

AUTOGEN didn't modify or suggest modifying the BALSETCNT. I was tempted to modify manually, however even the value of 180 is much higher than the maximum ever used.

Thanks for the "warning"

Chaim

[Bradford Hamilton_1]

>BALSETCNT is a dynamic parameter so you can >change it without reboot.

Minor nit - BALSETCNT is not dynamic.

[Bojan Nemec]

Sorry for the dynamic.

Bradford,

Thanks, I look at VMS 7.3-2 where BALSETCNT seems to be dynamic.

Bojan

[David B Sneddon]

Bradford,

BALSETCNT *IS* dynamic, or at least SYSGEN seems
to believe so...

$ sysgen show balsetcnt
Parameter Name Current Default Min. Max. Unit Dynamic
-------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ---- -------
BALSETCNT 422 30 8 16384 Processes D

Regards
Dave

[Antoniov.]

Hi to all,
BALSETCNT is now dynamic but in past didn't it.
On V6.2 you have to reboot.
On V7.3-2 is dynamic.
I don't know the exact version of vms which became dynamic.

Antonio Vigliotti

[David B Sneddon]

Just checked the following
VAX 7.3 -- not dynamic
Alpha 7.1-2 -- not dynamic
Alpha 7.2-1 -- not dynamic
Alpha 7.3 -- not dynamic
Alpha 7.3-1 -- not dynamic

And having just checked the 7.3-2 release notes,
the change to a dynamic parameter was at 7.3-2.

Dave