The collector tool gathers information about your WebSphere Application
Server installation and packages it in a Java archive (JAR) file that you
can send to IBM Customer Support to assist in determining and analyzing your
problem. Information in the JAR file includes logs, property files, configuration
files, operating system and Java data, and the presence and level of each
software prerequisite.
Before you begin
The sort of information that you gather is not something that most
people use. In fact, the collector tool packages its output into a JAR file.
IBM includes the collector tool in the product code, along with other tools
that help capture the information that you must provide when reporting a problem.
The collector tool is part of a strategy of making problem reporting as easy
and complete as possible.
There are two phases of using the collector
tool. The first phase runs the collector tool on your WebSphere Application
Server product and produces a Java archive (JAR) file. The IBM Support team
performs the second phase, which is analyzing the Java archive (JAR) file
that the collector program produces. The collector program runs to completion
as it creates the JAR file, despite any errors that it might find like missing
files or invalid commands. The collector tool collects as much data in the
JAR file as possible.
The collector tool is a Java application that
requires a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to run.
About this task
The tool is within the installation root directory for WebSphere
Application Server Network
Deployment. But you run the tool from a working directory that you create
outside of the installation root directory. This procedure describes both
of those steps and all of the other steps for using the tool and reporting
the results from running the tool.
There are two ways to run the collector
tool. Run the collector tool to collect summary data or to traverse the system
to gather relevant files and command results. The collector tool produces
a Java archive (JAR) file of information needed to determine and solve a problem.
The collector summary
option produces a lightweight collection of version and other information
that is useful when first reporting the problem to IBM Support. Run the collector
tool from the root user or from the administrator user to access system files
that contain information about kernel settings, installed packages, and other
vital data.
The tool collects information about the default profile
if you do not use the optional parameter to identify another profile.
Procedure
Run the collector tool.
- Log on to the system as root or a member of the administrator
group on a Windows platform.
- Verify that Java 1.2.2 or higher is available in the path.
The collector program requires Java code to run. It also collects
data about the IBM Developer Kit, Java Technology Edition in which it runs.
If
there are multiple Developer Kits on the system, verify that the one that
the WebSphere Application Server product uses is the one in the path for the
collector program.
If the Developer Kit being used by the WebSphere
Application Server is not available, put another Developer Kit in the path
for the collector program so that you can collect everything except data about
the Developer Kit that WebSphere Application Server Network
Deployment is using.
- Verify that all necessary information is in the path being used
by the collector program and that you are not running the program from within
the WebSphere Application Server product installation root directory.
Verify that the path contains the following
system directories:
- /bin
- /sbin
- /usr/bin
- /usr/sbin
Include regedit in the path.
- Make a working directory where you can start the collector program.
- Make the working directory the current directory.
- Run the collector program by entering the fully qualified command
from the command line of the working directory.
- Run the following command from Qshell:
app_server_root/bin/collector.sh
app_server_root\bin\collector.bat
Use the command with no additional parameter to gather one
copy of the profile data and data from each server in the node, and to store
the data in a single JAR output file.
- Use the following command to gather data from a specific profile that
might not be the default profile.
app_server_root/bin/collector.sh -profileName profile_name
app_server_root\bin\collector.bat -profileName profile_name
- Optional: You can run the collector
tool from a profile's bin directory instead of the app_server_root/bin/ directory.
You
should get the same output if you run the collector tool from the bin directory
of profile_root as
you would running it from app_server_root.
Issuing
the command from the profile also runs the setupCmdLine.bat/sh file in the
profile's bin directory. This file sets an environment
parameter that the collector uses to determine which profile's data to collect.
Run the collector tool.
- Log on to the system as root.
- Make a working directory where you can start the collector program.
- Run the STRQSH command from the CL command line to prepare
to run the collector program.
- Make the working directory the current directory.
- Run the following command from Qshell:
cd workingDirectory
The collector program writes its output JAR file to the current directory.
The program also creates and deletes a number of temporary files in the current
directory. Creating a work directory to run the collector program avoids naming
collisions and makes cleanup easier. You cannot run the collector tool in
a directory under the installation root directory for WebSphere Application
Server Network
Deployment.
- Run the collector program by entering the fully qualified command
from the command line of the working directory.
- Run the following command from Qshell:
app_server_root/bin/collector
- Use the following command to gather data from a specific profile that
might not be the default profile.
- Run the following command from Qshell:
app_server_root/bin/collector -profileName profile_name
- Use the following command from Qshell to gather data from a
specific server that might be giving you problems:
app_server_root/bin/collector -servername server_name
- Optional: You can also run the collector tool from
the profile's root directory instead of the app_server_root/bin/ directory.
Run the following command from Qshell:
profile_root/bin/collector
You should get the same output if you run the collector
tool from the bin directory of profile_root as
you would running it from app_server_root.
Issuing
the command from the profile also runs the setupCmdLine.bat/sh file in the
profile's bin directory. This file sets an environment
parameter that the collector uses to determine which profile's data to collect.
To run this command for the deployment
manager, for example, issue the following at a prompt:
app_server_root/profiles/dmgr/bin/collector
where
dmgr is
the profile name for the deployment manager.
Results
The collector program creates the Collector.log log
file and an output JAR file in the current directory.
The name of the
JAR file is composed of the host name, cell name, node name, and profile name:
host_name-cell_name-node_name-profile_name.JAR
The Collector.log log
file is one of the files collected in the host_name-cell_name-node_name-profile_name.JAR file.
What to do next
Send the host_name-cell_name-node_name-profile_name.JAR file to IBM Support for analysis.