Investigating issues with reports

You can access log and trace files to investigate the issues that you might have when reports are generated and sent by email or saved to the file system.

In IBM Spectrum Control, you can create, schedule, and send chargeback and storage consumption reports by email, and you can create, schedule, and save custom reports to your file system or send them by email.

To create reports, the following IBM Spectrum Control components and services are used. (The Export server service is used only for custom reports.)
Table 1. Components used in reporting
Actions Web server component Data server component Device server component Export server service SMTP transmission service
Create, update, and delete reports Yes Yes Yes No No
Generate and deliver reports Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Export server is a new service that converts the data for the report that it gets from the Web server into HTML.

The SMTP transmission service handles all communications, such as the delivery of alert notifications by email, and the sending of chargeback, storage consumption, and custom reports from IBM Spectrum Control to the customers’ external SMTP servers.

Setting the trace level for investigating reporting issues

Go to the folder where you installed IBM Spectrum Control and complete these steps:
Tip: For Windows operating systems the default installation directory is C:\Program Files\IBM\TPC. For AIX® and Linux® operating systems the default installation directory is opt/IBM/TPC.
  1. On Windows OS, go to installation_dir\IBM\TPC\web\conf. On AIX or Linux OS, go to installation_dir/IBM/TPC/web/conf.
  2. In a text editor, open the logging.properties file.
  3. Set the value of the trace.reportdata.level property to trace.reportdata.level=debug.
  4. Save the logging.properties file.

You have set the trace level for the traceReportData_<number>.log to debug.

Access log, trace, and other information about reports

Table 2. Location of log, trace, and other files
File name Description and location
ReportData.log High-level information about the creation and distribution of reports.

Windows: installation_dir\web\log

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/web/log
traceReportData_<number>.log Detailed information about the creation and distribution of custom reports, and SMTP transmission of custom reports. For example, you can check why a custom report isn't saved to the file system, or sent, or received by email.

Windows: installation_dir\web\log

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/web/log
traceWebServer_<number>.log Information relating to creating, editing, and scheduling custom reports.

Windows: installation_dir\web\log

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/web/log
Console.log Information about whether the report data service, which runs on the Web server, was started or stopped, errors generated when creating and retrieving custom reports, handshake errors that were generated when custom reports are sent by email.

Windows: installation_dir\wlp\usr\servers\webServer\logs

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/wlp/usr/servers/webServer/logs
Messages.log See the description for the Console.log. Both log files report the same types of errors.

Windows: installation_dir\wlp\usr\servers\webServer\logs

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/wlp/usr/servers/webServer/logs
traceDeviceServer_<number>.log Detailed information about the SMTP transmission of the chargeback and storage consumption reports sent by email. For example, you can check why a chargeback or storage consumption report wasn't sent.

Windows: installation_dir\device\log

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/device/log
Messages.log Information about whether the Device server was started or stopped, handshake errors that are generated when alert notifications, chargeback, or storage consumption reports are sent.

Windows: installation_dir\device\log

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/device/log
traceScheduler_<number>.log Information about when the report creation process began and completed for each report.

Windows: installation_dir\data\log

AIX and Linux: installation_dir/data/log

Stopping and starting the Export server service

On Windows, the Export server runs as a service called IBM Spectrum Control - Export Server, which can be stopped and restarted.
  1. Click the Start menu, type services.msc, and then press Enter.
  2. Click IBM Spectrum Control - Export Server, and stop or start it.

Alternatively, you can run the following batch files or scripts to stop or start the Export server service on Windows or AIX and Linux operating systems:

Operating system Location File
Windows By default, it's C:\Program Files\IBM\TPC\scripts

Start: startTPCExport.bat

Stop: stopTPCExport.bat
AIX and Linux By default it's/Opt/IBM/TPC/scripts

Start: startTPCExport.sh

Stop: stopTPCExport.sh