QMGTOOLS: Continuous HTTP Trace

Troubleshooting

Problem

An HTTP trace for a busy web server will wrap quickly and fail to capture needed data for debug.

Diagnosing The Problem

QMGTOOLS provides a way to collect continuous HTTP trace to span over a period of time.

Resolving The Problem

For a busy web server, starting a trace to trace the HTTP server via trace TCP app will wrap quickly. QMGTOOLS provides a way collect and dump HTTP traces over several members to span over a period of time.

Step 1
UPDATE QMGTOOLS
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/qmgtools-how-check-and-update-qmgtools

Step 2
Once installed, add QMGTOOLS to your library list via ADDLIBLE command. Run command GO MG to bring up the QMGTOOLS main menu. In the example, option 7 is the EBIZ menu. Take that option.

Step 3
Once in the CTA/EWS menu, go to 7 HTTP menu. From there, select 8 Continuous HTTP App Trace.

Step 4
The parameters are

Function	START - start the trace STOP - stop the trace
Instance name	Name of the HTTP instance
HTTP job name	Name of the HTTP job (normally it has the same name as the instance)
HTTP job user	Name of the HTTP job user (normally it is QHMHHTTP)
Dump threads too - Thread job name - Thread job user	When dumping the HTTP trace for the main thread, do you want to dump thread too.
Dump interval	How long to run the traces before dumping. Default is 120 seconds.
Number of HTTP traces to keep	How many trace members to keep. QMGTOOLS dumps the traces to members in a file. The default is 5. If keeping the defaults for parameters Dump Interval and Number Of HTTP Traces To Keep, the continuous HTTP trace program will dump HTTP traces every 120 seconds and keep up to 5 traces. *STOP to stop the trace program.
File to store trace	The name of the file to store the traces (default is HTTPTRC)
Library to store file	The library to store the file (default is QTILIB)
Clear trace file first	Clear the trace file first before storing the traces.

Step 5
Once the trace is started, a batch job called HTTPTRC is submitted.
<allow failure to recreate>
Call the HTTPTRC command, and issue *STOP for the function will stop the tracing of the job.

Collecting the data
CRTSAVF FILE(QGPL/HTTPTRC) TEXT(httptrc_savf)
SAVOBJ OBJ(HTTPTRC) LIB(QTILIB) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/HTTPTRC)
Verify the contents of the savf. DSPSAVF FILE(QGPL/HTTPTRC)

Gather a HTTPCollector of the HTTP server instance.
QMGTOOLS: HTTP Collector for IBM i https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/645551

Uploading data to IBM
HTTPCollector referenced above, does include the option to ftp to IBM.
The HTTPTRC savf will need to be sent with the FTP2IBMCMD within the below note.
QMGTOOLS: FTP Data to IBM

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/683501

*Cross-reference information*
Product	Component	Platform	Version
IBM i	IBM i HTTP Server	IBM i	All Versions
IBM i		Platform Independent	All Versions

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Document Information

More support for:
IBM i

Component:
IBM i HTTP Server

Software version:
All Versions

Operating system(s):
IBM i

Document number:
706789

Modified date:
23 April 2025

UID

nas8N1020592

IBM Support

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