Understand Diagnostic Log Files and Log Configuration Files

Diagnostic log files and log configuration files provide a means for troubleshooting and researching system functions.

This section discusses diagnostic log files and diagnostic log configuration files, and contains the following topics:

• What Are Diagnostic Log Files and Where Are They Located?

• What Are Diagnostic Log Configuration Files and Where Are They Located?

• What Are Log File Message Categories and Levels?

• What Is Log File Rotation?

• What Messages Are Included in the System Log?

What Are Diagnostic Log Files and Where Are They Located?

Diagnostic log files store message information that's generated by the Oracle Analytics servers.

These log files are stored in the following location:

BI_DOMAIN/servers/INSTANCE_KEY/logs (for system components)

BI_DOMAIN/servers/WLS_SERVER_NAME/logs (for JEE components).

For example:

oraclehome/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obis1/logs (for BI Server)

oraclehome/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/AdminServer/logs (for JEE Administration server)

The following diagnostic log files are used:

• Presentation Services

  • \CatalogCrawler\sawcatalogcrawlerlogsysn.log — The catalog crawler log file, which isn't searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

  • sawlogn.log — The Presentation Services log file that represents the latest part of diagnostic log output and is searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

  For more information specifically about Presentation Services logging, see Log Information in Oracle Analytics Presentation Services.

• Oracle BI Server

  • obis<n>_query.log — The Oracle BI Server query log, which isn't searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

    For example, where <n> = -1, -2.

    Note: The date and timestamp is in the log file.

  • obis1-diagnostic<n>.log — The Oracle BI Server main diagnostic log, which is searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

    For example, where <n> = 1, 2

    Note: The date and timestamp is in the log file.

  • nqsadmintool.log — The log for Model Administration Tool.

  • Oracle BI Server utilities — For example, biserverxmlexec and equalizerpds, also generate their own logs when they run.

• JavaHost

  • jh.log — The JavaHost Server main diagnostic log, which is searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

    Note: The date and timestamp is in the log file.

• Oracle BI Scheduler

  • nqscheduler.log — The Oracle BI Scheduler log file, which is searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

    Note: The date and timestamp is in the log file.

• Cluster Controller

  • nqcluster.log — The Cluster Controller diagnostic file, which is searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer.

    Note: The date and timestamp is in the log file.

• BI JEE log (Action Services and Security Services), both of the following log files are searchable in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer:

  • AdminServer-diagnostic.log

  • bi_server1-diagnostic.log

Note:

For the following log files, you can't set the time zone in which messages are logged in the files: nqcluster.log, nqscheduler.log, and obis1-diagnostic<n>.log. The messages are logged in the files in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). When you view the messages in the Fusion Middleware Control Log Viewer, you see the messages in the local time zone.

What Are Diagnostic Log Configuration Files and Where Are They Located?

Diagnostic log configuration files control output to diagnostic log files for Oracle Analytics Server.

Note:

Editing a diagnostic log configuration file for a single component isn't advised, because changes might subsequently be overwritten.

Log configuration files are stored in the following locations:

BI_DOMAIN/config/fmwconfig/biconfig/BI_COMPONENT_NAME

For example:

oraclehome/user_projects/domains/bi/config/fmwconfig/biconfig

• ./OBICCS/ccslogconfig.xml

• ./OBIJH/logging-config.xml

• ./OBIPS/instanceconfig.xml

• ./OBSCH/schedulerconfig.xml

• ./OBIS/logconfig.xml

About Formats in Diagnostic Log Configuration Files

Diagnostic log configuration files conform to the Oracle Diagnostic Log (ODL) standard, although they can differ slightly in appearance.

Example 8-1 and Example 8-2 illustrate two of the log configuration files for Oracle Analytics Server.

Example 8-1 BI Server Diagnostic Log Configuration File Format — Example 1

<server>
   <ServerInstance>
      <Log>
         <MaximumFileSizeKb>10000</MaximumFileSizeKb>
         <MaximumLogAgeDay>60</MaximumLogAgeDay>
         <Format>ODL-TEXT</Format>
            <Level>
               <IncidentError>1</IncidentError>
               <Error>1</Error>
               <Warning>16</Warning>
               <Notification>1</Notification>
               <Trace>16</Trace>
            </Level>
      </Log>
      <UserLog>
         <MaximumFileSizeKb>10000</MaximumFileSizeKb>
         <MaximumLogAgeDay>10</MaximumLogAgeDay>
         <Format>ODL-TEXT</Format>
      </UserLog>
   </ServerInstance>
</server>

Example 8-2 JavaHost Server Diagnostic Log Configuration File Format — Example 2

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'utf-8'?>
<logging_configuration>
   <log_handlers>
      <log_handler name='odl-handler' class='oracle.core.ojdl.logging.ODLHandlerFactory'>
      <property name='path' value='C:\oracle_bi_ee_BIFNDNPTPSNT0911060426S-Release\jhlogs\javahost.log'/>
      <property name='maxFileSize' value='1000000'/>
      <property name='maxLogSize' value='5000000'/>
      </log_handler>
   </log_handlers>
   <loggers>
      <logger name='saw' level='NOTIFICATION:1' useParentHandlers='false'>         <handler name='odl-handler'/>
      </logger>
   </loggers>
</logging_configuration>

Oracle Analytics Server components control their diagnostic log files by using server-specific settings in their log configuration files, for example:

• Presentation Services log configuration file:

  - writerClassId settings configure messages that the system writes to the sawlog.log file.

• Oracle BI Server log configuration file:

  - Log settings configure messages that the system writes to the obis1-diagnostic.log file.

  See What Messages Are Included in the System Log?

  - UserLog settings configure messages that the system writes to the nqquery.log file.

  See Manage the Query Log.

• Oracle BI Scheduler log configuration file:

  - Log settings configure messages that the system writes to the nqscheduler.log file.

• JavaHost Server log configuration file:

  - log_handlers elements and subelements enable configuration of the log file rotation policy and the specification of the log file name and its location.

  - loggers elements and subelements enable appropriate handling of Java component (JavaHost Server) log levels, by mapping the JavaHost Server log levels to the standard Oracle Diagnostic Log (ODL) log levels.

What Are Log File Message Categories and Levels?

Categories and levels for log file messages define the detail and level of importance with which the system writes messages to a log file.

Fusion Middleware Control enables you to control these settings in the logconfig.xml file.

Each message category in a log file is set to a specific default value between 1 and 32, and only messages with a level less than or equal to the log level is logged.

Log file message categories are described in the table.

Category:Level	Description
IncidentError:1	A serious problem caused by unknown reasons has occurred. You can fix the problem only by contacting Oracle Support Services. No performance impact.
Error:1	A problem that requires attention from the system administrator has occurred. No performance impact.
Warning:1	An action occurred or a condition was discovered that must be reviewed and might require action before an error occurs. No performance impact.
Notification:1	A report of a normal action or event has occurred. This could be a user operation, such as "login completed" or an automatic operation such as a log file rotation. No performance impact.
Notification:16	A configuration-related message or problem has occurred. Low performance impact. You can enable this level broadly in a production environment without having a significant performance impact in the software.
Trace:1	A trace or debug message that is used for debugging or performance monitoring has been written. Typically this message contains detailed event data that is clear enough to be understood by someone who does not know internal implementation details. Small performance impact. This level might be enabled broadly occasionally on a production environment to debug issues with the software. Enabling logging at this level might have a small performance impact, but not to the point of making the software unusable.
Trace:16	A fairly detailed trace or debug message has been written. The message is clear enough to be understood by Oracle Support Services engineers who have a deep knowledge of the product but might not know full details of the internal implementation. High performance impact. This level mustn't be enabled on a production environment, except on special situations to debug issues with the software.
Trace:32	A highly detailed trace or debug message has been written. The message is intended for an Oracle developer working on the software who knows enough details about the implementation of the subsystem that generates the message. Very high performance impact. This level isn't expected to be enabled in a production environment and developers use it only to debug the software on a test or development environment.

In the following log configuration file example, in the Notification message category, only level 1 messages are logged. If the log level is set to 0, then nothing is logged for that message category.

   <Level>
      <IncidentError>1</IncidentError>
      <Error>1</Error>
      <Warning>1</Warning>
      <Notification>1</Notification>
      <Trace>1</Trace>
    </Level>

Avoid manually changing the default settings in the log file. Use Fusion Middleware Control to make changes. See Use Fusion Middleware Control to Configure Log File Rotation Policy and Specify Log Levels.

What Is Log File Rotation?

Log file rotation is the creation of new log files, when the file exceeds a specified threshold or date.

Take the MaximumFileSizeKb setting for the component log configuration file for the Oracle BI Scheduler as an example. Whenever a log file exceeds the size that's specified by this setting, then the existing Scheduler log file is renamed, and a new log file is created. Additionally, a log file date that's older than the MaximumLogAgeDay setting is deleted.

Different components have different log file names and different settings within their log configuration files. For example, the file naming convention for the Scheduler is as follows:

• nqscheduler.log — The latest log file.

• nqscheduler-<n>.log — The renamed previous log file.

  where <n> = date and timestamp, for example nqscheduler-20100909-2135.log

See Use Fusion Middleware Control to Configure Log File Rotation Policy and Specify Log Levels.

What Messages Are Included in the System Log?

The Oracle BI Server writes messages to the obis1-diagnostic.log file, based on configuration settings.

In addition to writing messages to this log file, the Oracle BI Server writes certain severe messages to the system log file for Linux systems. The following list includes the kinds of messages that the Oracle BI Server writes to the system log file:

• When the Oracle BI Server can't start (for example, because another server has previously started), then the system log file includes a message such as the following one:

  Another server is already running on : @1%ls and port: @2%ls.

• When memory problems occur, the system log file includes a message such as the following one:

  Could not enable the Low-Fragmentation Heap.

• When the hard disk on the computer is full, the system log file includes a message such as the following one:

  Out of disk space.