Troubleshooting
Problem
To enable support to assist with your problem with IBM® Robotic Process Automation with Automation Anywhere, you must collect documentation so that the support team can diagnose your problem. Gathering the required documentation before you contact support will expedite the troubleshooting process and save you time, or you will be directed to collect this data after the case is opened to allow us to proceed with our investigation.
If your issue is caused by a limitation in the current design capabilities of the product, the deficiency must be handled as a feature enhancement through the Request for Enhancement (RFE) facility. The RFE process is customer driven and is used to introduce enhancements into the RPA with Automation Anywhere system.
Resolving The Problem
How to Send Support Diagnostic Data to IBM®
To send data, you must have a current and open support case with IBM®. You can send data through the IBM® Support community or through the ECuRep upload options, which include SFTP, HTTPS, or utility.
Problem description
- What task or use case are you attempting to do?
- What steps were taken toward doing that goal?
- Which symptoms do you see?
- Do you see any error messages?
- What is the time stamp when the problem occurs?
- Did the current scenario work previously? If yes, what was changed?
- Is this issue reproducible? How often does this problem occur? Do you see anything that indicates why this problem happens?
- If applicable, provide screen captures of your issue (such as if an error message is not shown or if specific error is not seen in the log files).
- What troubleshooting steps have you already taken to address those symptoms?
Business Impact
- Supply the specific impact this issue is having on your company, including
- Upcoming deadlines and dates
- Realized or potential effect on customers or your business
- For guidelines on how this impact relates to recommended severity, refer to the
- IBM® Enterprise Support and Preferred Care Severity Definition ( https://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10739151)
Environment description
- Windows version
- What language or regional settings are set in the operating system?
- Database type (Oracle or MS SQL) and version
- Production, Test, or QA environment
- RPA with Automation Anywhere version
- For v11 or v19, provide the following files:
- Client
- C:\ProgramData\IBM\RPA\client-version.txt (Note: C:\ProgramData is a hidden folder in Windows, you can enable it following the steps in Show hidden files)
- C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\RPAClient\Client\ProductReleaseInfo.xml
- Control Room
- C:\ProgramData\IBM\RPA\server-version.txt (Note: C:\ProgramData is a hidden folder in Windows, you can enable it following the steps in Show hidden files)
- C:\Program Files\Automation Anywhere\Enterprise\aae-installsummary.html
- Client
- For v11 or v19, provide the following files:
Troubleshooting Logs (component logs needed will vary based on your issue type)
Control Room Logs (v11 or v19)
1. Log in to the Control Room as an administrator user, such as at https://<hostName>:<port>/controlroom. The default port is 8080.
2. Click Audit Logs.
3. Apply a time filter to select the time when the problem occurred. Note: By default, the time filter Last 24 hours is selected.
4. Click export to CSV. Save the file to local disk and send it to IBM® Support.
The default log file size is set to 10 MB in the log4j2.xml file and logs are written to the WebCR.log file. This can be increased if needed to capture your issue.
Client Request Logs
Version 19.x
ROOT level="ALL" tag in the files to ALL, re-create issue, and send a .zip file of the C:\ProgramData\AutomationAnywhere\BotRunner\Logs directory to IBM® Support. Specify timestamp when issue occurred in trace.Version 11.x
For capture and client bot errors, the logs from the client installation are required.
1. Open the client application.
2. Go to Tools > Options > Advanced Settings.
3. Enable the Debug level logs by selecting Enable Debugging Logging.
To export the services logs and application logs, complete the following steps:
- Open the client application.
- Go to Tools > Options > Advanced Settings.
- Click export Logs.
- Note the path defined for Application Path and use it as <Client_App_Path> in the <Client_App_Path>\LogFiles file path.
- Re-create issue, and send a .zip file of the log files directory to IBM® Support. Specify timestamp when issue occurred in trace.
For errors on startup:
If the client does not start, you must enable the logs for the client. Go to <Client_App_Path>\ConfigFiles\log4net-config.xml and change the level from INFO to DEBUG and appender from "Default" to "RollingFile" at this line in the file:
<root>
<level value="DEBUG" />
<appender-ref ref="RollingFile" />
</root>
Example default path for <Client_App_Path>: C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Automation Anywhere Files
Re-create issue, and send a .zip file of the log files directory to IBM® Support. Specify timestamp when issue occurred in trace.
System Logs:
In addition, RPA logs all events that occur in the application. Major events, such as a task run, task creation, and changes to task properties are logged.
To view this logged data, see the system logs, which show all client activities. These logs are very useful for monitoring and troubleshooting and are accessible from the Tools menu in the program.
1. From the main Automation Anywhere window, click Tools and select System Logs.
2. Select the log type from the list. Support will indicate which component logs are required. The types include:
Task Creation, Task Run, Task Modification, Task Deleted, WorkFlow Creation, Workflow Run, Workflow Modification, Workflow Deleted, Report Creation, Report Run, Report Modification, Report Deleted, Task To Exe, Schedule, Trigger, Task Properties, App Configuration, File, Folder, Script, Other
3. Specify the start and end dates in the format you require.
4. Click Generate Logs.
5. To export the logs to a CSV file, specify the name of the CSV file and click export.
6. To delete an entry, select the check box for the log and click Delete.
Re-create issue, and send the CSV file to support. Specify timestamp when issue occurred in trace.
Installation Logs
If you are having troubles installing or upgrading the product (client or server), provide the following information:
-
C:\ProgramData\IBM\RPA\logs
-
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp
-
Specify timestamp when issue occurred in trace.
Screen Sharing and Capture Tools
Capturing browser side traces:
Some issues might require that you capture the traffic flowing from the browser to the server. When asked to by IBM® Support, provide browser-side traces:
1. Collect a web debugging trace on the browser when the issue occurs by using Fiddler. Download and install Fiddler from http://www.telerik.com/download/fiddler.
2. Clear the browser cache.
3. Capture the Fiddler trace by using the decrypted HTTPS traffic option. Follow these steps to capture the trace while you are working with Fiddler:
- Go to Tools > Fiddler Options > HTTPS.
- Select the following options:
- Capture HTTPS CONNECTs
- Decrypt HTTPS traffic
- Ignore server certificate errors
4. Save the SAZ file and send it to IBM® Support noting any time differences between the server and the clients.
Note: The following options are alternatives to SAZ (Fiddler) network trace:
- HAR captured through Chrome Developer tools (F12) network tab or exported from HTTP watch
- XML network traffic captured via IE (F12) developer tools network tab.
To learn how to collect the debugging trace, watch How do I capture HTTP traffic with different web browsers for analysis by the support team?
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Document Information
Modified date:
01 December 2020
UID
swg22008542