| IBM Support Assistant (ISA) is a cross-product extensible client application that increases your capacity for self-help by making it easier to access support resources. Additionally, provides capability for automated data collection for you to gather the necessary data for the support team for initial diagnosis of your problem.
You can now automate data collection steps for your Rational Developer for System z (RDz) issues on/from the Windows platform.
There are 4 data collectors that are now available as part of this delivery.
*NEW* Rational Developer for System z v.7.6 data collectors now available for IBM Support Assistant. Data collectors that tailors to Rational Developer for System z v7.6 has been made available for IBM Support Assistant. These set of collectors will collect similar data specific to Rational Developer for System z v7.6
Details & walk thru for each data collectors are documented below.
Prerequisites Rational Developer for System z 7.1, 7.5: IBM Support Assistant Workbench V4.0 or higher Rational Developer for System z 7.6: IBM Support Assistant Workbench V4.1 or higher
http://www.ibm.com/software/support/isa/
Installation Instructions You'll need to install the Rational Developer for System z add-on for IBM Support Assistant Workbench.
- Start IBM Support Assistant
- Select Update > Find new > Product Add-ons from the menu.
- Expand Rational
- Select IBM Rational Developer for System z 7.1, v7.5 or v7.6 depending on which version of the product you have installed and click Next.
- Click Next again.
- Select I accept the terms in the license agreements and click Next.
- Click Finish.
- Click Finish again and click Yes to restart ISA.
If you previously had installed IBM Rational Developer for System z 7.1 , 7.5 add-on installed, you can pick up the updates:
- Start IBM Support Assistant
- Select Update > Find Updates to Add-ons from the menu.
- Select IBM Rational Developer for System z 7.1 or 7.5 and click Next.
- Select I accept the terms in the license agreements and click Next.
- Click Finish.
- Click Finish again and click Yes to restart ISA.
Using ISA collector Once ISA is started with IBM Rational Developer for System z add-on installed. Click on Analyze Problem. Expand the IBM Rational Developer for System z 7.1 or 7.5 , and you should see the 4 collectors listed. Select the collector you need to run, and click on Add. This will add the collector to the Collector Queue to be run..
Click on Collect All to start the collection.
Clicking on Cancel anytime will exit the data collection for the currently running data collector.
If you have multiple products added, each of these collectors will run in sequence per the Collector Queue. You can click on View Details to get more information on the progress of each of these collectors collector. More information can be found in ISA product help system at Help > Help Contents.
For a more in-depth understanding of the various methods on deploying the IBM Support Assistant collectors see: Collecting diagnostic information using the IBM Support Assistant.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0809_supauth/0809_supauth.html
Client Log Collector - for Problem Recreation
Collector that will enable debug / trace settings - and prompts the user to re-create the problem with these settings on. This automates trace enablement and data collection base on : Troubleshooting Remote Server Explorer (RSE) on WebSphere Developer for System z V7.0.x
This collector will require that you close and restart your application for problem recreation.
What are the information being collected? - All top level files from <workspace>\ .metadata . Does not include the nested folder contents.
- Optionally - server logs. See below for more details: Remote System Log Collector
Walk thru This collector will first inform you what this data collector does. Note, this is the same for Rational Developer for System z 7.5 & 7.6. Click OK, to proceed .
You can click on the "Current Status" tab on ISA to view the detailed collector execution.
Select Workspace
You'll need to select the workspace that you are having problems with. This will enable the script to enable trace settings and collect the data available for that workspace.
Two ways of selecting a workspace is available.
- Select the workspace via the pull down menu. The listing in the pull down menu are base on workspaces that you had use with the product. Note, if for some reason the scripts cannot find this information, you'll only have a browse button available.
- Select your workspace via the Browse... option. Keep in mind that your workspace should contain a .metadata directory.
Once you specify a directory via Browse option, this value is used instead of the value selected in pull-down menu. You'll need to clear the Browse result in order for the script to use the value selected in the pull-down menu.
Click OK to select the workspace.
Once you click OK, the code automatically enables your Log and Trace settings against the workspace that you have selected.
Trace Enabled.
This is to let you know that Log and Trace settings has been enabled for the selected workspace. You'll need to follow the steps specified below to re-create the problem you had, using the same workspace.
Click OK to continue. Please DO NOT click on "Cancel", this will cause data collection to end without disabling trace settings.
You will be prompted once again to ensure you did recreated the problem you like to report.
Clicking OK will disabled the log and trace settings, as well as collect the logs.
Again, please DO NOT click on "Cancel", this will cause data collection to end without disabling trace settings.
Workspace and trace logs are now collected.
Remote System Data Collection (Optional)
You can optionally collect the remote system logs as part of this data collection. This is the same data collector as the remote system data collector that is available. You'll have the option to skip this data collector. Click on "OK" to continue, or "Skip" if you would like to skip this data collection
See below for more details: Remote System Log Collector
Feedback & Sending Files to IBM (Optional)
You can optionally provide feedback and send the collected files to IBM (or other locations) as part of this data collection. The walk through is documented here: Collection Completion Steps & Submitting Problem Reports
Collector Completion When the collector is completed, a link will be provided to you for quick access to the .zip file containing the collected data. You can use any unzip tool to extract the files. Alternatively, you can use the case manager capabilities within ISA to extract and examine the files collected.
Client Log Collector - Without Problem Recreation.
Similar data collector as above. This collector will also collect workspace logs , but does not require that the user restart the application for problem recreation. This automates data collection base on: Troubleshooting Remote Server Explorer (RSE) on WebSphere Developer for System z V7.0.x
What are the information being collected? - All top level files from <workspace>\ .metadata . Does not include the nested folder contents.
- Optionally - server logs. See below for more details: Remote System Log Collector
Walk thru This collector will first inform you what this data collector does. Note, this is the same for Rational Developer for System z 7.5 & 7.6. Click OK, to proceed .
You can click on the "Current Status" tab on ISA to view the detailed collector execution.
Select Workspace
You'll need to select the workspace that you are having problems with. This will enable the script to collect the data available for that workspace.
Two ways of selecting a workspace is available.
- Select the workspace via the pull down menu. The listing in the pull down menu are base on workspaces that you had use with the product. Note, if for some reason the scripts cannot find this information, you'll only have a browse button available.
- Select your workspace via the Browse... option. Keep in mind that your workspace should contain a .metadata directory.
Once you specify a directory via Browse option, this value is used instead of the value selected in pull-down menu. You'll need to clear the Browse result in order for the script to use the value selected in the pull-down menu.
Click OK to select the workspace.
Once you click OK, the code will start gathering log files in your workspace that you have selected.
Remote System Data Collection (Optional)
You can optionally collect the remote systemlogs as part of this data collection. This is the same data collector as the remote system data collector that is available. You'll have the option to skip this data collector. Click on "OK" to continue, or "Skip" if you would like to skip this data collection
See below for more details: Remote System Log Collector
Feedback & Sending Files to IBM (Optional)
You can optionally provide feedback and send the collected files to IBM (or other locations) as part of this data collection. The walk through is documented here: Collection Completion Steps & Submitting Problem Reports
Collector Completion When the collector is completed, a link will be provided to you for quick access to the .zip file containing the collected data. You can use any unzip tool to extract the files. Alternatively, you can use the case manager capabilities within ISA to extract and examine the files collected.
Client Workspace Collector
Collects all the contents of a selected workspace. If the application is using the target workspace being collected, you should exit the application. This will ensure that all data in the workspace can be collected without potential resource conflict issues.
What are the information being collected? - All the files in a selected workspace. Excluding:
Walk Thru This collector will first inform you what this data collector does. Note, this is the same for Rational Developer for System z 7.5 & 7.6. Click OK, to proceed.
You can click on the "Current Status" tab on ISA to view the detailed collector execution.
Select Workspace
You'll need to select the workspace that you are having problems with. This will enable the script to collect all the data from the workspace.
Two ways of selecting a workspace is available.
- Select the workspace via the pull down menu. The listing in the pull down menu are base on workspaces that you had use with the product. Note, if for some reason the scripts cannot find this information, you'll only have a browse button available.
- Select your workspace via the Browse... option. Keep in mind that your workspace should contain a .metadata directory.
Once you specify a directory via Browse option, this value is used instead of the value selected in pull-down menu. You'll need to clear the Browse result in order for the script to use the value selected in the pull-down menu.
Click OK to select the workspace.
Workspace in Use?
If you happen to be using the same workspace that you've selected for data collection, this is to request that you exit the application and not use the workspace till the data collection is completed. This is to ensure that files in workspace are in a state where it can be collected. Click OK to continue.
Once you click OK, the collector will zip up all the contents in the workspace.
Feedback & Sending Files to IBM (Optional)
You can optionally provide feedback and send the collected files to IBM (or other locations) as part of this data collection. The walk through is documented here: Collection Completion Steps & Submitting Problem Reports
Collector Completion
When the collector is completed, a link will be provided to you for quick access to the .zip file containing the collected data. You can use any unzip tool to extract the files. Alternatively, you can use the case manager capabilities within ISA to extract and examine the files collected.
Remote System Log Collector (Windows only)
This data collector leverages ftp to gather remote system logs residing in user's /u/<userid>/.eclipse/RSE/<USERID> directory.
Some restrictions applies due to collector leveraging ftp:
- User needs to ensure that remote system can be accessed via ftp.
- If necessary, firewalls to remote system needs to be pre-authenticated.
- Other HOME settings for user such as /home is not supported.
What are the information being collected? - All files in /u/<userid>/.eclipse/RSE/<USERID> . These will be collected under server_logs directory.
- If user has appropriate access, this will also collect:
- /etc/services
- /etc/inetd.conf
- For diagnostics of data collection session , there two folders are created:
- ftp_scripts: Containing ftp scripts that were executed as well as the output it provided. Password has been removed.
- autopdzip: Containing execution output.
Walk Thru This collector will first inform you what this data collector does. Note, this is the same for Rational Developer for System z 7.5 & 7.6. Click OK, to proceed.
System Prompt
Please fill in access information to the remote system. Click OK to continue. Note, this panel is reused for server data collection in other data collectors.
 The script will test to ensure remote system can be accessed via ftp and that /u/<userid> path is available before proceeding to collect remote data. FTP script and its outputs are stored as part of collection and can be viewed for troubleshooting purposes.
Feedback & Sending Files to IBM (Optional)
You can optionally provide feedback and send the collected files to IBM (or other locations) as part of this data collection. The walk through is documented here: Collection Completion Steps & Submitting Problem Reports
Collector Completion
When the collector is completed, a link will be provided to you for quick access to the .zip file containing the collected data. You can use any unzip tool to extract the files. Alternatively, you can use the case manager capabilities within ISA to extract and examine the files collected.
Collection Completion Steps & Submitting Problem Reports These are steps outside of product data collection , that will enable you to provide feedback as well as submit the data to IBM.
Providing Feedback (Optional) After the collectors collect the diagnostic data for RDz, it will request for your feedback.
 Select Yes, if you have feedback to provide, Select No to continue.
Sending collected diagnostic data to IBM or other locations (Optional) You'll also be provided with data upload options. This will allow you to send the collected data to IBM or another location via FTP or HTTPS.
IMPORTANT: To upload information to IBM, you'll need to have a PMR number. This is obtained when you work with our support team. If you do not have a PMR number, but do have support contract, you can leverage the Software Support page to open a service request and included the collected data with the service request.
This is linked from ISA via : Manage Service Request > Service Requests > Open a New Service Request You can attach the collected data to the problem ticket that you are creating or updating. Additionally, if you already have a problem ticket, you can leverage the ftp functionality described above to send your collected data.
The upload options are:
- Send the Logs to IBM using secure transfer (HTTPS). You'll need an PMR number to transfer the data to IBM. This sends the collected data to IBM Support team through the HTTPS protocol.
- FTP the Logs to IBM Support (unencrypted). You'll need an PMR number to transfer the data to IBM. This sends the collected data to IBM Support team through the FTP protocol. This is a less secure option.
- FTP the Logs to a Different Location (unencrypted) This allows you to send the collected data to another location via FTP. You'll need to provide the target FTP location and appropriate authentication to access it.
- Do Not FTP the Logs. Do nothing.
Click OK to continue. If you choose options other than 4 above, you will need to fill in additional information required to complete the upload.
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