Automation Plan Engine shutdown and recovery

The Automation Plan Engine detects particular conditions under which it can no longer function correctly. For example, if credentials become invalid, the Automation Plan Engine cannot function as normal. In these situations, the Automation Plan Engine automatically shuts itself down. The BigFix server plugin service is responsible for restarting the Automation Plan Engine after the period of time pre-configured in the PlanEngine.xml file in the \BigFix Enterprise\BES Server\Applications\Config directory for Windows® or /var/opt/BESServer/Applications/Config/PlanEngine.xml for Linux®. The default is 30 seconds, but you can change this by modifying the PlanEngine.xml file. On restart, the Automation Plan Engine resumes from the processing point at which it shut down. The Automation Plan Engine automatically recognizes any Automation Plans that have already started, the stage of processing at which the shutdown occurred, and then continues running these Automation Plans.

The Automation Plan Engine shutdown and recovery occurs in the following situations.

Table 1. Error conditions and recovery

Error conditions and recovery for Automation Plan Engine

Error condition Recovery
The Automation Plan Engine fails to communicate with Web Reports. Verify that the BigFix Web Reports service is running. Verify also that the URL to the Web Reports Service is valid by opening a browser and pasting the URL and checking that you can log in using a valid user name and password combination.
The Web Reports Service might be disabled. An error is displayed if the Disable relevance evaluation option has been set on the datasource in Web Reports. To correct this, re-enable the Web Reports service by navigating to Administration -> Datasources -> DataSource Options and clear the Disable relevance evaluation check box.
Web Reports user credentials fail or become invalid. An attempt is made to contact the Web Reports server using the Reports Username and Password set at the time the Automation Plan Engine was started. If these credentials have since changed, an error is displayed to indicate that the credentials for Web Reports are invalid. To change the credentials for the Web Reports Service, log on to Web Reports, go to Administration and select User Management. You can change the credentials from this panel.
BigFix console user credentials fail or become invalid. The Automation Plan Engine attempts to run a simple function to contact the BigFix API Fixlet Message function using the Platform user name and password that were set at the time when the Automation Plan Engine was started. An error is displayed if the wrong credentials are used. To correct this, ensure that the user name and password credentials are correct.