Collecting Data for IBM Case Manager Administration Client

Diagnosing The Problem

Collecting Data for Case Manager Administration Client

For every problem, collecting data can aid in problem determination and save time resolving Problem Management Records (PMRs). Gathering this data before calling IBM support will help you understand the problem and save time analyzing the data.

Collecting must gather data early, before opening the PMR, helps IBM® Support quickly determine if:

• Symptoms match known problems (rediscovery).
• There is a non-defect problem that can be identified and resolved.
• There is a defect that identifies a work around to reduce severity.

Locating the root cause of a problem can speed development of a code fix if necessary.

Gathering General Information
For IBM® Case Manager, gather version of software, the operating system versions and settings for the pertinent server(s) and/or client machines.

Then, gather the information specific to Case Manager administration client problem or issue.

This additional information is needed:

• How often does this problem occur?
• Can the problem be reproduced?
• How many users are affected by this problem?
• What is the business impact of this problem?
• Is there a work around?

Gathering Version Information

The administration client version information can be determined by starting the administration client and selecting Help->About. The version and build information should be displayed in the About dialog. If for any reason the administration client cannot be started, the version information can be gathered from the version.txt file in the installation directory, typically /opt/IBM/CaseManagement.

You can also use the Case Manager off-line version tool by changing to the installation directory and running the displayVersion.sh script. This script will provide version information for all installed IBM Case Manager components.

Gathering Issue Information

Gather the following information to assist in resolving issues with the administration client. Because some log files are used by other application components (the WebSphere Application Server log, for example), the sooner after encountering the issue that you can gather the information, the better.

Error Details
Select and copy the contents of the administration client console window that shows task progress and error information. Not all of this information appears in the normal log files.

Logs
The primary administration log file is located at <user's home dir>/acm_configmgr_workspace/.metadata/.log. This file should always be provided.

Additional data gathering
The administration client is used for many aspects of administering your Case Manager installation. Administration client tasks often interact with your application server via scripts (copies of which are saved in <AdminClient_root_dir>/tmp). The administration client can also be used to deploy your solution into your production environment. Rather than attempt to determine exactly which task was being used when the issue arose, please also gather the following:

• When deploying a solution, retrieve and provide
• The solution definition file, the Process Engine configuration file, and any workflow definition files that are part of the solution. These files are found in the design object store under /IBM Case Manager/Solutions/<solution name>.
• If relevant, also provide the contents of the /IBM Case Manager/Solutions/<solution name>/Pages folder.
• The connection definition file for the connection definition used in the deployment. That file can be located under /IBM Case Manager/Connection Definitions.
• The deployment logs stored in the root folder of the deployed solution. These files are found in the target object store under /IBM Case Manager/Solution Deployments/<solution name>.
• The WebSphere Application Server SystemOut.log file and the contents of your <AdminClient_root_dir>/tmp directory..
• In all other cases, retrieve and provide the WebSphere Application Server SystemOut.log file and the contents of your <AdminClient_root_dir>/tmp directory.

If you can tell based on the nature of the problem or visible symptoms in the log files that the issue is Process Engine or Content Engine related, gathering the respective log files can help speed resolution, but these files are not specifically required to start the problem resolution process.

Trace
If IBM Support determines that additional information is required to diagnose the problem (and the problem is reproducible), you may be asked to gather trace information for Case Manager administration client. To do this, start the administration client application adding the "-debug" switch. This will generate files based on the settings in <AdminClient_root_dir>/configuration/cmlogging.properties. Each administration client session starts a new log file. The most recent one is named cmac0.log. Log files from previous sessions are named cmac1.log, cmac2.log, etc. If possible, collect the log file from the administration client session that incurred the issue you are reporting. If it is possible to recreate the issue, do so and provide the cmac0.log. Logging configuration for the administration client-generated log files can be changed by changing settings in the cmlogging.properties file in the <AdminClient_root_dir>/configuration directory. The size of the files, number of past sessions to save and the directory and file name can be changed in the configuration. If the files are not in the default location, check the values in this file to see where they are stored.