Logging and tracing for a server environment

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To troubleshoot a problem with your environment, you can use the logging and tracing capabilities in the System operations view. By investigating the logging and tracing output, you can observe performance, diagnose problems, and gain a general understanding of how your environment works.

Attention: This information does not apply to decisions capabilities.
Log files typically contain information about the operation of the environment. Generally, you should look at these files periodically to ensure there are no unexpected error or warning situations. Trace files typically contain information that is useful for debugging application or server problems and can help identify specific problems with individual components.

Log and trace settings

Use the System operations > Log and Trace Settings option to configure and manage logging. The format of a log setting is:
component=log level
Separate multiple settings with a colon (:).
Component
Components correspond to Java™ packages and classes, or to collections of Java packages. You can use an asterisk (*) in a component specification to include all the classes in all the packages. For example, com.ibm.ws.* specifies all classes with the package name beginning with com.ibm.ws.
Log level

Log levels control which events are logged and what you see when you retrieve a log file or view log data in real time. When you enable a log level, you're also enabling all levels with a higher severity. For example, if you set the logging level to warning, then warning, severe and fatal events are logged. The default level is info.

To include trace information, use the fine, finer, or finest level. Be aware that tracing can affect system performance so set it only for problem determination.
Table 1. Log levels
Log level Description
fatal A task cannot continue and component, application, and server cannot function.
severe A task cannot continue but component, application, and server can still function. This level can also indicate an impending unrecoverable error.
warning A potential or impending error. This level can also indicate a progressive failure, for example, the potential leaking of resources.
audit A significant event affecting server state or resources.
info General information outlining the overall task progress.
config Configuration change or status.
detail General information detailing subtask progress.
fine Trace information. General trace, method entry, exit, and return values.
finer Trace information. Includes the same information as the fine log level and the intermediate results or progress information for Java methods.
finest Trace information. A more detailed trace that includes all the detail that is needed to debug problems.
all All events are logged, including those from custom levels. This level can provide more detailed trace information than the finest level.
off Logging is turned off.

Retrieving logs

Various types of logs are available to help you troubleshoot issues with your environments. Use the System operations > Log Retrieval option to request and download log files.

The log data returned, depends on the type of log you request. For example:
Business automations logs
The log files contain all the available logged data. You can filter the data by specifying a duration, such as the last 15 minutes.
Case management logs
The log files contain all the available logged data; filter options are not available.
Workflow logs
The log file contains data for each of the servers in the cluster. You can filter log data by specifying a duration and a time period. You can also filter the events in the log by using the advanced options settings.
Limitations:

The format of the date and time values depends on the language setting of your browser.

Date format
The format of the date value might not comply with the International Components for Unicode (ICU) format. For example, if your language is set to Chinese (China) [zh-CN], the format of the date value is YYYY-MM-DD instead of YYYY/MM/DD.
Time format
If your language is set to English (United States) [en-US], use the following format for the time value: hh:mm AM | PM (12-hour system). For all other languages, use the following format: hh:mm (24-hour system).