Known issues with Java method server

Known issues with Java method server(DCTM5.3)

Some time some custom application can cause Method Server to put heavy load on the content server. On further investigation we have found that if the application uses asynchronous server method invocations, then execution agent can potentially launch hundred or more external method processes. This causes a very high load on the content server and Oracle.

The Tomcat server used for the method server can be configured to reduce the number of simultaneous threads active. This could theoretically provide some flow control by limiting the number of methods that can simultaneously be executed. Unfortunately it appears error handling in the Content Server for asynchronous methods is rather weak. If the Java Method Server is already processing all the simultaneous methods that it is capable of, all new requests get discarded. The application never knows that its method requests were discarded.

Please note asynchronous method execution can overload the server and may cause substantial delay in execution of the method.

When switching to synchronous method execution there are still problems. Under heavy load the
"DO_METHOD" calls will fail with a rather vague error message. It is up to the application to decide that the server is under heavy load and therefore should just keep retrying the method submission until the erver has bandwidth to service it. As it stands now the user requests simply fail when the server gets busy.