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Using Log Analyzer to diagnose problems in IBM products
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| | | Abstract | | The Log Analyzer problem analysis tool is now available as an IBM Support Assistant tool add-on. It simplifies and reduces the need to diagnose problems encountered with IBM products. | | | | | | Content |
Log Analyzer is a problem analysis tool that reduces the time needed to discover the root cause of problems encountered with IBM Tivoli and other IBM products by determining what steps and system changes are needed to prevent the problem from re-occurring. It is a free download provided for all IBM customers.
Log Analyzer extends the incident and problem management capabilities of IBM Tivoli management systems to enable you to:
- Use the system automation features of IBM Tivoli Systems Automation and the built-in high availability features of the IBM Tivoli offerings to detect key availability incidents and automate recovery actions.
- Use the system monitoring capabilities of IBM Tivoli Monitoring, and the event management capabilities of IBM NetCool Omnibus to monitor key system metrics and events of your data center, including the installed IBM Tivoli products, and take proactive recovery actions when needed.
- Use the problem management features of IBM Tivoli Service Request Manager and the other IBM Service Management offerings to manage incidents and problems and coordinate the analysis and response, including any required system changes.
You can use the problem analysis features of Log Analyzer to extend these IBM Tivoli features, or use them independently of these offerings. They provide post-mortem problem analysis capabilities that allow you to quickly determine why a problem occurred by analyzing the diagnostic data captured by IBM Tivoli products.
Log Analyzer provides the following features:
- It simplifies the analysis of log data captured by IBM Tivoli products and their associated middleware and operating systems by enabling you to:
- Gather and aggregate log data from multiple product log files, from multiple products, and from multiple servers into a single set of views and data model.
- Quickly triage the gathered data to identify those events related to the problem, eliminating extraneous events and highlighting symptomatic events.
- Visualize the events to help organize, sort, and search the data.
- It automates the recognition of problems by enabling you to:
- Easily search trusted knowledge sources for information about the events, using a set of knowledge sources provided by IBM (which includes support information, forums, product information centers), and aggregating those results into a single view.
- Automate the recognition of known problems by scanning the gathered log data for known problem signatures (patterns of logged events) using knowledge databases provided and maintained by IBM.
- Create and manage your own knowledge databases, allowing you to customize the problem resolution information provided by IBM to fit the specifics of your environment.
- It improves the ability to collaborate and share these problem analysis techniques and capabilities, reducing problem re-discovery and training requirements.
Log Analyzer is provided as one of the diagnostic tools available in IBM Support Assistant, a diagnostic workbench provided to IBM clients to help diagnose problems with IBM software products, including a large list of IBM Tivoli products.
To download Log Analyzer:
- Learn about IBM Support Assistant using the IBM Support Assistant overview at http://www.ibm.com/software/support/isa or http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/isa/support/index.html. It contains descriptions of the features available in IBM Support Assistant, platform and support information, and information about the diagnostic tools available from IBM Support Assistant.
- Download the IBM Support Assistant Workbench.
- Download the Log Analyzer tool add-on, using the instructions at How to install and run tools through the IBM Support Assistant.
- After downloading the Log Analyzer tool add-on, restart IBM Support Assistant to activate the new add-on.
You start Log Analyzer from IBM Support Assistant when you want to diagnose a problem. Before starting Log Analyzer, you can optionally use IBM Support Assistant to:
- Gather product log data using the data collection features provided by the product add-on, data collection feature (Analyze Problem > Collect Data).
- More information is available in the IBM Support Assistant help (search for the “Using the Data Collector” topic).
- A tutorial is also available via the Tutorials link on the home page.
- Manage the problem (including organizing all gathered diagnostic data, performed tasks, etc.) by using the IBM Support Assistant case management feature (Administration > Manage Cases).
- More information is available in the IBM Support Assistant help (search for the “Using the Case Manager” topic).
- A tutorial is also available via the Tutorials link on the home page.
- Guide you through the steps needed to gather product data, manage cases, and ultimately use the appropriate tools to identify the root cause and resolve the problem by using the Guided Troubleshooter (Analyze Problem > Guided Troubleshooter).
- More information is available in the IBM Support Assistant help (search for the “Using the Guided Troubleshooter” topic).
- A tutorial is also available via the Tutorials link on the home page.
To start and use Log Analyzer:
- Start Log Analyzer, using the Analyze Problem->Tools feature. Select the Log Analyzer tool and click Launch. Log Analyzer is started in a new window.
- Optionally import any predefined filter and highlighter definitions, which are stored in Log Analyzer context files. You may have previously created these filters and highlighters using Log Analyzer and saved them in a context file. Import the context files containing the needed highlighters and filters using the File->Import Context File task.
- More information is available in the Log Analyzer help (search for the “Working with context files” or “Analyzing log files” topics).
- Import the needed log files, from either an IBM Support Assistant case (using the File->Import Log File from IBM Support Assistant task) or directly from the local file system or a remote file system (using the File->Advanced Log Import Wizard task).
- Use the appropriate import filters to eliminate extraneous data.
- More information is available in the Log Analyzer help (search for the “Importing log files”, “Importing logs from a remote host”, “Importing proprietary logs”, or “Analyzing log files” topics).
- View the aggregated data of all the imported log files. Right-click any log file (or the Logs navigation item) and click View All Logs).
- Scan for any known problems:
- Import the symptom catalogs available for your product. Use the File->Import Symptom Catalog task and then select From Remote Host to display the list of symptom catalogs available from IBM. Select the symptom catalogs for your product from the drop down list and click Finish.
- Scan for known problems by right-clicking any event in the Log View and clicking Analyze All.
- The symptom analysis will run (it may take a few minutes, depending on the size of the log data and the symptom catalogs). When finished (a progress bar is shown in the lower right corner), the results are shown in the Symptoms Analysis Result view.
- More information is available in the Log Analyzer help (search for the “Sharing solutions to known problems”, “Importing symptom catalogs”, or “Analyzing log files” topics).
- Manually search for problem information by:
- Using filters and highlighters to identify the key events that should be investigated. Search for the following topics in the Log Analyzer on-line help for information on using highlighters and filters: “Filtering log records in Log View”, “Highlighting log records in Log View”, or “Analyzing log files”.
- Search for information about any event by right-clicking on the event and clicking either “Search Message Text in IBM Support Assistant” or “Search Message ID in IBM Support Assistant”. Expand the IBM Support Assistant Search view, edit the search arguments (for example, eliminating irrelevant message text), and click Go!.
- More information on using IBM Support Assistant search is available in the IBM Support Assistant help (search for the “Using Search Information” topic).
- A tutorial is also available via the Tutorials item on the home page.
- Information on other advanced features of Log Analyzer, such as how to sort your data, search for events, adjusting time stamps for time zones or differences between server clocks is available in the Log Analyzer help (search for the “Analyzing log files” topic).
The Log Analyzer on-line help provides a list of all supported log files (including common middleware, operating systems, other IBM products, and supported non-IBM products). For more information, search for the “Supported log file types” topic.
| | | | | | | | Cross Reference information | | Segment | Product | Component | Platform | Version | Edition | | Storage Management | IBM Tivoli Storage Manager | Server | | 5.5, 6.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Maximo Asset Management | Not Applicable | | 7.1, 7.1.1, 7.1.2 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Monitoring | | | 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.2, 6.2.1, 6.2.2 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler | | | 8.4, 8.5 | | | Security | IBM Tivoli Identity Manager | | | 4.6, 5.0, 5.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON XE on z/OS | Not Applicable | | 4.1, 4.2 | | | Security | IBM Tivoli Access Manager for e-business | | | 6.0, 6.1 | | | Security | IBM Tivoli Directory Server | | | 6.0, 6.1, 6.2 | | | Storage Management | IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center Standard Edition | | | 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.1.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus | | | 7.1, 7.2, 7.2.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager | | | 5.1, 5.1.1, 5.1.1.1, 7.1, 7.1.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager for WebSphere | | | 6.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli NetView | | | 7.1.5 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler for z/OS | | | 8.3, 8.5 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager | | | 7.1, 7.1.1, 7.1.2 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager for Response Time | | | 6.1, 6.2, 7.1 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager for Web Resources | | | 6.2 | | | Systems and Asset Management | IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager for Web Resources | | | 6.2, 7.1 | |
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| Product categories: |
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| | Software | |
| | Security | |
| | Access | |
| | IBM Tivoli Access Manager for e-business | |
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| Operating system(s): |
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Linux, Windows
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| Software version: |
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4.0.2, 4.1
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| Reference #: |
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1330148
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| IBM Group: |
| | Software Group |
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| Modified date: |
| | 2009-11-05 |
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