LiteSpeed for SQL Server 8.8 - Installation Guide

Configure Logging in LiteSpeed

Logging is available for the following areas in LiteSpeed:

• Core Engine
• Installation and Remote Deploy
• Maintenance Plans
• Log Shipping
• Object Level Recovery
• LiteSpeed UI Console Activity

NOTE: Log shipping plans activity is also logged and displayed in the History tab of the Log Shipping pane (CTRL+2). See the Configure Log Shipping guide for more information.

Installer Logging

Installer log files are created in the default output directory. When you use the Remote Deploy Configuration wizard to deploy LiteSpeed on SQL Server instances, this creates a 'RemoteDeploy'-prefixed log file on the machine where you run the remote deploy from and 'SLSInstall'-prefixed log files on all target servers. For more information, see Log File Naming and Location.

Backup/Restore Logging

Using the following instructions you can enable logging for a particular backup or restore activity. To log all backup/restore activity on the server, see Instance-Wide LiteSpeed Logging.

To enable backup/restore logging, do one of the following:

• In wizards, access options or advanced options and set the logging level.
• Supply the @logging parameter if using the extended stored procedures.
• Supply the -L(--LogLevel) parameter from the command line. For more information, see LiteSpeed Command-Line Arguments..

Instance-Wide LiteSpeed Logging

LiteSpeed's advanced tracing facility allows for even more granular control over the major LiteSpeed features at the server level.

To enable/disable advanced logging

1. Right-click an instance in the server tree, select Support and then LiteSpeed Logging.

2. Select one or more of the following options:

   • Core Engine—To log all backup/restore activity on the server, including log shipping and Fast Compression backups, but not Maintenance Plans backup tasks. For more information, see Reporting and Logging in Maintenance Plans. about logging options in Maintenance Plans.
   • Object Level Recovery (OLR)—To log read operations and object-level recovery.
   • Log Ship—To log backup/copy/restore Log Shipping jobs, but not transaction log backups and restores.
   • Fast Compression—To log Fast Compression jobs and Fast Compression backups.
   • SmartCleanup—To log SmartCleanup activity.
   • SLSMedia—To log SLSMedia activity.

   Clear one or more checkboxes to disable advanced logging for those options.

3. Complete the dialog. Review the following for additional information:

   Option	Description
   Log file path	This parameter specifies a path to a default output directory into which the log files are written. For more information, see Log File Naming and Location.
   Flush output to log file after every write (slower)	LiteSpeed will perform a disk flush after each record. Select this parameter if you experience program exceptions resulting in a process abort.
   Delete log file on success	A log file is only saved if an error has occurred during execution.
   Log rollover size	This will limit the size of the log file, so that only the last records that fit within the specified size will be kept. Use this option in the case of a long running application, when the log file becomes overly large, or when an error happens near the end of execution. Otherwise, set the rollover size value to zero.

NOTES:

• Enabling Core Engine advanced logging will not override the logging level specified in wizards and procedures.
• Be sure to disable advanced logging after it is no longer needed.

Log File Naming and Location

By default, log files are written to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Quest Software\LiteSpeed\SQL Server\Logs (or C:\ProgramData\Quest Software\LiteSpeed\SQL Server\Logs). This location is specified by the logpath value in the LiteSpeedSettings.ini file. (Usually, C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Quest Software\LiteSpeed\SQL Server\LiteSpeedSettings.ini.)

To change the default output directory

1. Right-click an instance in the server tree, select Support and then LiteSpeed Logging.

2. Enter a new location in the Log file path field.

Log files will have one of the following formats:

• Source YYYY-MM-DD hh-mm-ss PPPP.Log
• Source YYYY-MM-DD hh-mm-ss PPPP TTTT.Log
• SLSInstaller - YYYYMMDD hh-mm-ss-xxx.txt

Where source components are the following:

• SLS (Backup or restore operations)
• OLR
• LogShip
• FastComp
• SCleanup

Other components of the log file name are as follows:

• YYYY—4-digit year
• MM—2-digit month
• DD— 2-digit day of the month
• hh— 2-digit hour using the local 24-hour clock
• mm—2-digit minute
• ss— 2-digit second
• xxx—3-digit millisecond
• PPPP—4-digit process id
• TTTT— 4-digit thread id

When you use the Remote Deploy Configuration wizard to deploy LiteSpeed on SQL Server instances, this creates a 'RemoteDeploy'-prefixed log file on the machine where you run the remote deploy from and 'SLSInstall'-prefixed log files on all target servers.

LiteSpeed UI Console Activity Logging

The LiteSpeed UI Console activity is logged in the Windows Application event log.

To set the LiteSpeed UI Console logging level

1. Select Application button | Options.
2. On the General tab, select logging level.

Related Topic

Reporting and Logging in Maintenance Plans