NetVault 13.0 - Administration Guide

About diagnostic tracing

Diagnostic tracing is used to capture detailed information about error conditions. Quest Technical Support personnel use this information for debugging and troubleshooting purposes.

Tracing is disabled by default. To capture diagnostic information, you must enable tracing on the relevant NetVault machines. You can configure NetVault to start tracing immediately or when the service restarts. You can also specify a time window to automatically start and stop tracing at the specified time.


	IMPORTANT: Diagnostic trace settings should only be configured under the direction of Quest Technical Support.

Diagnostic information is written to trace files. You can generate trace files for all processes or a subset of processes. These files are generated on the machine where the selected processes are running. NetVault uses a Trace Container directory to store all trace files generated during various sessions. By default, the trace container directory is created under the NetVault installation directory. You can modify the default settings to specify a new location for the container directory. When tracing is enabled, a session directory is created under the container directory; all trace files generated during the session reside in this directory. You can use the WebUI to download trace files from various machines to the local machine where the WebUI is running.

Managing trace filters

NetVault 11.2 or later allows you to manage trace filters to NetVault processes (core and plug-in) from the NetVault WebUI. You can change/ assign trace settings for these processes using the option Manage Trace Filters.

To manage trace filters:

In the Navigation pane, click Change Settings.

To manage trace filters:

•

For the NetVault Server: On the NetVault Server Settings page, under System and Security, click Diagnostic Tracing.

•

For the NetVault Client: On the NetVault Server Settings page, click Clients. In the NetVault Clients table, select the client, and click Next. Under System and Security, click Diagnostic Tracing.

In the Diagnostic Trace Settings page, click Manage Trace Filters.

In the list of NetVault (core and plug-in) processes, select the process to edit. Click Edit.

In the Edit Trace Filter Mapping dialog box, configure the following settings:

Table 146. Edit Trace Filter Mapping

Setting

Description

Selected Process

Selected NetVault process (core and plug-in) is displayed.

Filter

Click the down arrow and select any of the following filter options:

•

KillAll: When this filter is assigned to a process, the process will not generate any traces.

•

MessageOnly: If this filter is assigned to a process that process will only produce trace messages from MESSAGE module. All other trace messages will be filtered out.

Specify the following trace filter mapping options for the selected process:

•

Enable Filter: Select this option to enable the selected filter option for the selected process.

•

Force Disk Tracing: Select this option to allow the selected process to trace the disk (even when disk tracing is disabled).

•

Circular: Select this option to enable circular tracing and type or select the values in the following fields:

•

Lines per trace file: Number of lines per trace file when circular is enabled. When lines in a trace file exceed this threshold, traces are written to next trace file.

•

Number of trace files to keep: Number of trace files to keep when circular is enabled. When number of trace files exceed this threshold, oldest trace file will be overwritten.

Click Update to apply the new settings and close the dialog box.

Enabling tracing

Diagnostic tracing is disabled by default. When investigating a problem, Quest Technical Support might ask you to enable tracing on the relevant NetVault machines to capture diagnostic information about the error condition. This information helps in determining the source of error condition. Once the traces are enabled for the server, warning is displayed as Diagnostics in the Header Pane of NetVault.


	IMPORTANT: Tracing can affect performance of the application and generate large amounts of data on the server and client machines. You should only enable tracing when requested by Quest Technical Support, and disable this option after the issue is resolved.

To enable diagnostic tracing:

In the Navigation pane, click Change Settings.

—or—

In the Navigation pane, click Manage Clients.

To enable diagnostic tracing:

•

fFor the NetVault Server from Change Settings: On the NetVault Server Settings page, under System and Security, click Diagnostic Tracing. On the Diagnostic Trace Settings page, click Enable Tracing.

•

For the NetVault Client from Change Settings: On the NetVault Server Settings page, click Clients. In the NetVault Clients table, select the client, and click Next. Under System and Security, click Diagnostic Tracing. On the Diagnostic Trace Settings page, click Enable Tracing.

•

For the NetVault Client from Manage Clients:

•

On the Manage Clients page, select the Trace Status check box or click Enable Tracing

—or—

•

On the Manage Clients page, select the client, and click Enable Tracing.

In the Trace Enable Options drawer, configure the following settings.

Figure 35. Trace Enable Options drawer


	IMPORTANT: When you select multiple clients, the Trace Enable Options drawer does not show the list of process names. You can either use the All current and future processes option, or provide the process ID list in the associated box.

Table 147. Trace Enable Options

Setting

Description

Enable Tracing

Select one of the following options:

•

Immediately: This option is selected by default. To start tracing immediately, use this option.

•

At service startup: To enable tracing at service startup, select this option.

NOTE: You can also enable tracing at service startup by clicking Trace Configuration on the Diagnostic Trace Settings page, and selecting the Enable trace on service startup check box in the Trace Configuration Options dialog box.

When you select this option, tracing is enabled on all processes.

•

At a certain time: To automatically start and stop tracing at specified times, select this option, and specify the time window:

- Starting at: Select this check box, and type or select the date and time when tracing should be started on the machine.

- Stopping at: Select this check box, and type or select the date and time when tracing should be stopped on the machine.

Create Trace for

Specify the processes for which trace files are required:

•

All current and future processes: This option is selected by default. To generate trace files for all current and new processes, use this option.

•

Specific processes: To generate trace files for specific processes, select this option.

In the list of process names, select the processes, and click the Add button (

). To select consecutive items, hold down the Shift key while clicking with the mouse button; to select non-consecutive items, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking with the mouse button.

To remove a process that was previously included, select the process name in the list, and click the Remove button (

Alternatively, edit the Process ID list in the associated box to add or remove any process ID numbers.


	IMPORTANT: Trace settings do not persist across restarts of NetVault Service unless you have selected the At service startup or Enable trace on service startup options. In such cases, tracing is enabled on all processes.

To view the page size setting, sorting order in the table, export the records, or edit table settings, click the icons at the lower- right corner of the table. For more information, see Customizing tables in NetVault WebUI.

Click Apply to apply the settings and close the drawer.

Downloading trace files

Trace files are generated on the machines where the selected processes are running. You can use the WebUI to download trace files from various machines to the local machine where the WebUI is running.

To download trace files:

In the Navigation pane, click Change Settings.

To download trace files:

•

From the NetVault Server: On the NetVault Server Settings page, under System and Security, click Diagnostic Tracing.

•

From the NetVault Client: On the NetVault Server Settings page, click Clients. In the NetVault Clients table, select the client, and click Next. Under System and Security, click Diagnostic Tracing.

In the list of trace sessions, select the session that you want to download.

Click Download, and in the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

In the File Download dialog box, select the Save option, and specify the location, if necessary. Make sure that you do not navigate away from the page until the browser starts downloading the files.


	NOTE: When you send trace files to Quest Technical Support, make sure that you include files from all relevant NetVault machines.

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NetVault 13.0 - Administration Guide

About diagnostic tracing

Managing trace filters

Enabling tracing

Downloading trace files