IBM Support Assistant Lite for Rational Build Forge 7.x

Content

ISA Lite for Rational Build Forge v7.x is a customized subset of the IBM Support Assistant Workbench that provides automated data collection capability specific for Rational Build Forge Management Console Versions 7.0.x and 7.1.x. If you do not have IBM Support Assistant Workbench installed and need to provide information for our support team, you can use this to quickly gather information needed for troubleshooting.

This package contains a general data collector option, and is described below.

*NEW* : Collector refreshed to include: additional Linux/Unix system information and directory listing of Build Forge product

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Prerequisites

Downloading and Launching ISA Lite

Using ISA Lite

Details: Rational Buildforge General Collector

Data Collector Completion Options & Uploads

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Prerequisites

• You need an IBM ID and password to download ISA Lite. Register here if you do not already have one.
• Please use the JAVA JRE that is provided with Build Forge to run ISA Lite. This is normally located in the ibmjdk directory of the product install

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Downloading and Launching ISA Lite

1. Download ISA Lite for Rational Build Forge V7.x (IBM Support Assistant Lite for Rational BuildForge 7.x) from: https://www.ibm.com/services/forms/preLogin.do?source=swg-isalite&S_PKG=isarbf
2. Extract the .zip file in a folder.
• If your platform does not have unzip utility, you can use jar to unzip file: jar xf ISALiteforRationalBuildForge_7.x_20110520_134.zip
3. In the same folder, cd ISALite

Windows:

1. If Java is available in your path , simply run: runISALite.bat
2. If Java is not available on your path, ISA Lite will prompt you for the path. You can also set JAVA_HOME first:
• set JAVA_HOME=<your full path to Java> This path should point to the bin directory in your Java installation, containing java.exe.
• Example: set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\IBM\BuildForge\ibmjdk
• Once this is completed, run: runISALite.bat or runISALite.bat -console to run in console mode.

Linux / Unix

1. Execute : chmod a+x *.sh to ensure all the .sh files in ISALite folder can be executed.
2. If Java is not available on your path, ISA Lite will prompt you for the path. You can also set JAVA_HOME first:
• In ksh: export JAVA_HOME=<your full path to Java> This path should point to the bin directory in your Java installation, containing java
• Example: export JAVA_HOME=/opt/buildforge/server/ibmjdk
3. If you are running in a desktop environment: run: ./runISALite.sh
4. If you are running in a console / terminal environment, run: ./runISALite.sh -console

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Using ISA Lite (non-console mode)
Once you've launched ISA Lite:

1. Select "Rational Buildforge General Collector" to run.
2. Fill in the Filename field.
3. Click the Collect Data button to start data collection.
4. (Optional) Click on "Show execution details" to see the collector execution details.
5. When finished, simply close the window.
   

Using ISA Lite (silent mode)
To automate ISA collection and/or to run silently, please review the following two documents that discuss performing a silent recording, and a silent playback via command line:

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27017356
see section : Using ISA Lite for Remote Collection, starting at "To further simplify ..."

Using this technique you can record an ISA execution, and subsequently playback via command line silently.

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Details: Rational Buildforge General Collector

Use this data collector to gather basic Build Forge Management Console information on the system you are troubleshooting. This collector will determine the Build Forge install location (v7.0 or V7.1.x) and gather data relating to the product. Details of data collected as well as the walk thru is provided below.

It is recommended that you run with appropriate administrative permissions, especially on the Linux/Unix systems.

Data Collected

Windows:

Folder	File	Description
/	environment_set.txt	Output from the "set" command execution
	build_forge_registry_output.txt	Output of all Build Forge registry entries under : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
	BuildForge_Directory_Listing.txt	Output of dir /s starting from Build Forge install location.
/system_info/	*.Evt	System event logs as specified in the windows registry. SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Application\File SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Security\File SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\System\File Sometimes due to variation on the system, these may not be collected. (Win2003 / Win2008)
/<BF_HOME>/	buildforge.conf	Build Forge configuration file.
	engine.id	Build Forge engine identification
	db.log.tail.txt	Last 1000 lines of the db.log file (or the whole db.log file if less than 1000 lines)
	webroot/templates_c/TEMPLATES_DIR_LISTING.txt	Directory listing of the<BF_HOME>\ webroot\templates_c directory.
	manager/*/main.res, upgrade.res, install.log	All instances of main.res , upgrade.res, install.log files under the <BF_HOME>\Manager directory.
	apache/conf/*.*	All apache configuration files under <BF_HOME>\apache
	apache/logs/*.* & *
	apache/php/php.ini
	apache/tomcat/logs/catalina.out.tail.txt	If catalina.out file is found, then - last 1000 lines of catalina.out file
	apache/tomcat/logs/catalina.out.head.txt	If catalina.out file is found, then - first 300 lines of catalina.out file
	apache/tomcat/logs/*.log	Gathers the most recent: admin*.log catalina*.log host-manager*.log localhost*.log manager*.log
	tomcat/webapps/rbf-services/WEB-INF/classes/*.*	All files under the specified directory. Subdirectories not included.
/autopdzip/autopd	*.*	Version and execution output from about the ISA Lite tool. This includes system inventory.

Linux/Unix platforms

Folder	File	Description
/	Linux_UnixSystemInfo.txt	Output of the unix system commands: uname -a umask df ulimit -a free -m or bootinfo -r or prtconf -v - depending on System env | sort mount ps -aef netstat -na cat /proc/meminfo cat /proc/cpuinfo NOTE: Some commands runs within /bin/sh. This shell sometimes does not give enough information on why a command may have failed.
	BuildForge_Directory_Listing.txt	Output of ls -laR starting from Build Forge install location.
/var , /etc , /usr	/var/adm/messages , /var/log/messages, /etc/syslog.conf , /usr/adm/messages	System log and messages.
/<BF_HOME>/	buildforge.conf or Platform/buildforge.conf	Build Forge configuration file.
	engine.id or Platform/engine.id	Build Forge engine identification
	Platform/db.log.tail.txt	Last 1000 lines of the db.log file (or the whole db.log file if less than 1000 lines)
	rc/buildforge
	<LOG file specified by rc/buildforge> or log	If rc/buildforge is found, the script looks for an "LOG" entry and tries to extract the log location. If not it will look for <BF_HOME>/log file. If log file > 5M , only the head 100 lines and tail 3000 lines are gathered.
	webroot/templates_c/TEMPLATES_DIR_LISTING.txt	Output of "ls -la" in the webroot\templates_c directory
	Manager/*/main.res, upgrade.res, install.log	All instances of main.res , upgrade.res, install.log files under the <BF_HOME>/Manager directory.
	server/apache/logs/*.*	All files on the log directory. Does not include content from subdirectories
	server/apache/conf/*	Configuration directory and its subdirectories
	server/apache/*.*	Top level files in server/apache directory
	server/tomcat/logs/catalina.out.tail.txt	If catalina.out file is found, then - last 1000 lines of catalina.out file
	server/tomcat/logs/catalina.out.head.txt	If catalina.out file is found, then - first 300 lines of catalina.out file
	server/tomcat/logs/*.log	Gathers the most recent: admin*.log catalina*.log host-manager*.log localhost*.log manager*.log
	server/tomcat/webapps/rbf-services/WEB-INF/classes/*.*	All files under the specified directory. Subdirectories not included.
/autopdzip/autopd	*.*	Version and execution output from about the ISA Lite tool. This includes system inventory.

Detailed Walk Thru for "Rational Buildforge General Collector"

Introduction

Prompt for BuildForge location:

• The tool will not prompt if you have only one version of Build Forge installed.
• If there are multiple versions of Build Forge on the system, the script will provide you with a list in which you can select the product you need to gather data from.
• If the script cannot determine where Build Forge is installed, you'll be prompted with the following dialog. Please provide the full path to the Build Forge install location.
• Example: Windows: C:\Program Files\IBM\Build Forge
• Example: Linux/Unix : /opt/buildforge or /usr/bin/buildforge

The collector will run to completion and request feedback and ftp options.

Please continue to Data Collector Completion Options & Uploads for additional information.

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Data Collector Completion Options & Uploads

When the collector is completed, it will request feedback about ISA. Select Yes, to provide feedback. Select No to continue.

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.

IBM Service Request Page: https://www.ibm.com/support/servicerequest/

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.

When the collector completes, the .zip file is created at the location specified in Output File name. You can use any unzip tool to extract the files to examine the content of collected data.