Gathering trace and log files for IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for Windows

Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager uses several components. Each component is in its own directory along with its respective troubleshooting files. By using the Trace and Log Files view, you can easily view these files in a central location.

About this task

You can collect trace and log files in the Diagnostics property page for a workload.

These diagnostics property pages can control the tracing settings for all related components such as the workload, the Tivoli Storage Manager API, the Client Agent service, and Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

The following diagnostic modes are available:
Normal
Use for SQL legacy backup operations. Using this mode results in a small sized trace file.
Complete (default)
Using this mode results in a large sized trace file.
Custom
Use when full control over trace flags must be set

Procedure

  1. When you encounter a problem in MMC, create trace files by using the Diagnostics property page.
    1. Click Properties > Diagnostics, and click Begin. You can set the following items:
      • You can click Screen shot to open the Diagnostics screen shot tool window. When you want to create a screen capture of any open windows, click Add New Screenshot. The name of the screen capture is added to the list of items on the Diagnostics property page. Close the Diagnostics screen shot when you finish taking screen captures.
      • For SQL workload instances, enter a database name in the SQL Database field, and click Add Database Information. Repeat this step as needed. This step is useful if one database can be backed up and another cannot. By providing the details for both databases, it helps identify differences in database properties.
    2. Close the property page and reproduce the problem.
    3. Open the Diagnostics property page and click Stop. Clicking the Diagnostics button is the preferred method for gathering information to send to your service representative. This method gathers all the information that is needed. Even if a problem occurs only on the command-line interface, command, you can always gather information by using the Automate tab. The log files are displayed in the Trace and Log Files view.
  2. Click the trace or log file that you want to view. The contents of the file are displayed in the results pane. The following files are examples of the files that you can view, including default log and trace files:
    Examples of Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager default log and trace files:
    • Installation directory: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\FlashCopyManager
    • dsierror.log
    • Log file for custom applications and file systems workloads: fcm.log
    • TraceFm.trc
    • TraceUx.trc
    • TraceManagedCapacityHistory.trc
    • TraceSchedLaunch.trc
    • VssProvisioning.log
    • TraceFileFS.trc
    • TraceFileExc.trc
    • TraceFileSql.trc
    If the fcm.log is defined in a path other than the default C:\Program Files\Tivoli\FlashCopyManager\fcm.log, the reports do not include the following information for scheduled backup and restore operations:
    • Task completion
    • Type of data protection activity
    • Amount of data protection activity
    The charts and reports display only information that is present in the default log file fcm.log.
    Examples of trace logs and scripts to quiesce custom applications:
    • Default directory: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Tivoli\FlashCopyManager\custom-application

      where custom-application can be various applications. For example, an IBM® Domino® mail server, or MySQL or Oracle server.

    Examples of VSS Requestor default log and trace files:
    • Installation directory: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient
    • dsmerror.log
    Examples of IBM VSS provider for SAN Volume Controller, Storwize® V7000, and DS8000® log files
    • IBMVDS.log
    • IBMVss.log