Use the administrative console to enable tracing at a server's startup. You can use trace
to assist you in monitoring system performance and diagnosing problems.
The diagnostic trace configuration settings for a server process determines the initial trace
state for a server process. The configuration settings are read at server startup and used to
configure the trace service. You can also change many of the trace service properties or settings
while the server process is running.
Note: This topic references one or more of the application server log files. As a
recommended alternative, you can configure the server to use the High Performance Extensible Logging
(HPEL) log and trace infrastructure instead of using
SystemOut.log ,
SystemErr.log,
trace.log, and
activity.log files on distributed and IBM®
i systems. You can also use HPEL in conjunction with your native z/OS® logging facilities. If you are using HPEL, you can access all of your log and trace
information using the LogViewer command-line tool from your server profile bin directory. See the
information about using HPEL to troubleshoot applications for more
information on using HPEL.
- Start the administrative console.
- Click Troubleshooting > Logs and trace in the console
navigation tree, then click Server > Diagnostic Trace.
- Click Configuration.
- Do not select the None check box.
If this
option is selected, the trace data is not logged or recorded anywhere. All other handlers (including
handlers registered by applications) still have an opportunity to process these
traces.
- Select whether to direct trace output to either a file or an in-memory circular
buffer.
Note: Different components can produce different amounts of trace output per entry. Naming and
security tracing, for example, produces a much higher trace output than web container tracing.
Consider the type of data being collected when you configure your memory allocation and output
settings.
- If the in-memory circular buffer is selected for the trace output set the size of the
buffer, specified in thousands of entries.
This is the maximum number of entries that will be retained in the buffer at any given
time.
- If a file is selected for trace output, set the maximum size in megabytes to which the
file should be allowed to grow.
When the file reaches this size, the existing file will be closed, renamed, and a new file
with the original name reopened. The new name of the file will be based upon the original name with
a timestamp qualifier added to the name. In addition, specify the number of history files to
keep.
- Select the desired format for the generated trace.
- Save the changed configuration.
- To enter a trace string to set the trace specification to the desired state:
Avoid trouble: The clauses included in a trace specification are read
in the order they appear in the string. Therefore, if multiple variations of the *=info clause are
included in a trace specification, the last value specified is the value that determines the trace
level that the system logs. If you specify
*=info as the last clause, tracing
occurs at the info level regardless of other clauses that are specified in the trace string. For
example, if you specified the following trace
string:
*=info:PMGR=all:*=info:com.ibm.ws.sm.*=all
is
equivalent to simply specifying:
*=all
Because the final clause overrides all
clauses that were specified ahead of it in the string.
- Click Troubleshooting > Logs and trace in the console navigation
tree.
- Select a server name.
- Click Change Log Level Details.
- If All Components has been enabled, you might want to turn it
off, and then enable specific components.
- Click a component or group name. For more information see the page on log level
settings.
If the selected server is not running, you will not be able to see individual
component in graphic mode.
- Enter a trace string in the trace string box.
- Select Apply, then OK.
- Allow enough time for the nodes to synchronize, and then start the server.