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6.6.19: Administering the product messages, logs, and traces (overview) >
6.6.19.0: Properties for tracing, logging, and messages >
6.6.19.0.3: Server trace properties

6.6.19.0.3: Server trace properties

These are settings for tracing the internal components of the application server.

Key:
Property name in the Java-based administrative console Applies to Java administrative console of Advanced Edition Version 4.0
Property name in the Web-based administrative console Applies to Web administrative console of Advanced Single Server Edition Version 4.0
Property name in the application client resource configuration tool Applies to Application Client Resource Configuration Tool

Application Server  Property name in the Java-based administrative console
The application server whose internal components you are tracing
Dynamic Properties  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
Name-value pairs for configuring additional properties beyond those available in the administrative interface
Enable Trace File Overwrite  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
When a named file is specified for trace output, and overwrite is enabled, the named trace file will be truncated each time the application server starts. When overwrite is not enabled, trace data is appended instead to the trace file.

Click "View..." to view the contents of the trace file. If the server is not running, then "View" will display the trace file from the last time the server ran.

Enable Trace String  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
Whether the specified trace string should be put into use
Node  Property name in the Java-based administrative console
The administrative node on which you are performing tracing
Trace File  Property name in the Java-based administrative console  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
The file to which to log trace events. Note that serious events are always logged to the standard output stream and to the specified trace file.

For Advanced Edition: On an administrative server, the property is called traceOutput.

Specify one of these values:

  • stderr
  • stdout
  • filename (or Specify)

where filename is a file of your choice. If you do not specify the full path to the file (drive letter and directories), the file will be created in the working directory of the application server, as specified by the properties of the application server.

  For an application server, the literals stderr and stdout refer files named stderr.txt and stdout.txt (respectively). For an administrative server (as in the case of Advanced Edition), they actually refer to the standard error and standard out streams, such as an error file or the screen.

It is recommended you trace to stderr or stdout instead of to a file. Tracing to stderr or stdout is more efficient than tracing to a specified file.

Trace Host Name  Property name in the Web-based administrative console

The host name to be used for trace access. It is the host name of the machine on which the application server is running.

Trace Output File  Property name in the Java-based administrative console
See Trace File
Trace Port  Property name in the Web-based administrative console

The port provided by the application server for trace access.

For Advanced Single Server Edition: You might need to change the default value if the port is already in use by another application. Specify -1 to use automatic port selection. However, a value of -1 prevents you from performing the runtime tracing tasks, such as sending trace strings to a running server.

Trace Specification  Property name in the Java-based administrative console or Trace String  Property name in the Java-based administrative console  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
Specifies the application server components to trace. On an administrative server (in the case of Advanced Edition), the property is called traceString.

For Advanced Edition (non-Single Server), when the application server is running, you can click the ellipses button ("...") located next to the Trace Specification text field to open a graphical tree interface for specifying trace.

For Advanced Single Server Edition, when the application server is running, you can use a graphical tree viewer to select components to trace. If the server is not running, then you will need to type a trace specification string into a text field, using the correct format.

The valid format is:

<comp1>=<type>=[enabled|disabled],...:<comp2>=<type>=[enabled|disabled],...

where:

comp
Specifies the component name. The component can be a class, package, or group of classes or packages.

Specify the full name of the component, or use a wildcard ("*") character. When you terminate a component name with a wild card character, the enable|disable action applies to all components whose names begin with the specified prefix.

For example, if components named "a.b.c.d" and "a.b.c.e" are registered, then specify "a.b.c.d" to trace only the "a.b.c.d" component. Specify "a.b.c.*" to trace both components.

type
Specifies the type of tracing to perform:
  • debug - Provides information for debugging purposes.

  • entry/exit - Indicates that a process has entered or exited a method.

  • event - Indicates that a significant event took place, such as a state change.

  • all - Conducts all three types of tracing.

enabled|disabled
Specifies whether tracing is enabled or disabled for the component. Type either "enabled" or "disabled."

Here is an example of a valid trace specification or traceString. The statement:

com.ibm.ejs.container.*=all=enabled:com.ibm.ejs.jts.*=entry=enabled
enables all tracing on the container and entry/exit tracing on the JTS.
Trace String  Property name in the Java-based administrative console  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
See Trace Specification
View Log File  Property name in the Web-based administrative console
To view a log file, select the log file, determine which region of the file to view, and click "Refresh." The names of particular log files are as configured elsewhere in the server configuration. Note that it might be extremely slow, or impossible, to load the entire contents of a very large log file.

See also the other application server properties.

Go to previous article: Properties for tracing, logging, and messages Go to next article: Administering server traces with the Web console

 

 
Go to previous article: Properties for tracing, logging, and messages Go to next article: Administering server traces with the Web console