Troubleshooting is the process of finding and eliminating
the cause of a problem. Whenever you have a problem with your IBM® software, the troubleshooting
process begins as soon as you ask yourself what happened?
A
basic troubleshooting strategy at a high level involves these steps:
- Recording the symptoms of the problem
- Re-creating the problem
- Eliminating possible causes
Recording the symptoms of the problem
Depending
on the type of problem you have, whether it is with your application,
your server, or your tools, you might receive a message that indicates
that something is wrong. Always record the error message that you
see. As simple as this sounds, error messages often contain codes
that make more sense as you investigate your problem further. You
might also receive multiple error messages that look similar, but
have subtle differences. By recording the details of each message,
you can learn more about the problem.
The sources of error
messages are:
- Problems view in the Workbench
- Console in the Workbench
- Log files in your workspace
- Error dialog boxes
Re-creating the problem
Think
back to what steps led you to this problem. Try those steps again
to see if you can easily re-create this problem. If you have a consistently
repeatable test case, you can have an easier time determining what
solutions are necessary.
Consider the following
questions:
- How did you notice the problem?
- Was anything being done differently that made you notice the problem?
- Is the process that is causing the problem a new procedure, or
has it worked successfully before?
- If this process worked before, what has changed?
- The change can refer to any type of change made to the system,
ranging from adding new hardware or software, to configuration changes
you might have made to existing software.
- When you noticed the first symptom of this problem, were there
other symptoms occurring around that time?
- Does the same problem occur elsewhere? Is only one machine experiencing
the problem or are multiple machines experiencing the same problem?
- What messages are generated that can indicate what the problem
is? What else do you see that tells you there is a problem?
- How often does the problem occur?
Eliminating possible causes
Narrow
the scope of your problem by eliminating components that are not causing
the problem. By using a process of elimination, you can simplify your
problem and avoid wasting time in other areas. Consult the release
information that comes with the product and other available resources
to help you with your elimination process.
Start with these
questions:
- Has anyone else experienced this problem?
- Is there a fix that you can apply?
- Have any fixes been applied or any changes made to the system
that could be causing the problem? Does rolling back the fix or the
changes solve the problem?