Siebel System Monitoring and Diagnostics Guide > Querying System Log Files >

Strategy for Analyzing Log Files

The strategy for analyzing log files depends on the type of issues encountered. Identify whether the issue of interest is related to a particular user or the application system in general. Run the Log File Analyzer (LFA) using the strategy applicable to the identified issue.

• For a strategy to use the LFA to examine user issues, see Analyzing User Issues.
• For a strategy to use the LFA to examine system issues, see Analyzing System Issues.

For information and details on the process of using the LFA, see Process for Analyzing Log Files with LFA.

Analyzing User Issues

For user issues that are not immediately resolvable, log files provide additional information logged by the application regarding a user's time spent accessing and using the application.

The LFA gives the administrator the capability of querying across numerous log files for log events that were pertinent to the user's session. For example, in a situation where a user named Casey Smith reports an issue with her application at approximately 13:00, use the LFA to query events pertinent to Casey that occurred between 12:30 and 14:00. To refine the results, include the condition that the log level must be greater than or equal to one, which represents an error condition.

The LFA output includes information as to which file each log event came from. The administrator can, after finding an error or other log event of interest, check back in the original log file and look for events nearby that might give additional context useful for troubleshooting the issue.

NOTE:  To query log files for users, make sure the environment variable SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS is set to 4. For further information on environment variables, see Common Event Types for Component Diagnostics.

Analyzing System Issues

For general system issues not involving user issues (for example, a problem with a workflow), the LFA assists the administrator in isolating and resolving issues relating to general system usage.

For example, if the workflow processor is known to have failed within a particular time frame, use the LFA to search for log events that occurred during that time frame, and then look at the log files in which the events are contained for more specific detail.

As a preventative measure, the LFA is also useful to periodically check log files for any errors even if no system issue is apparent at that time.