Gathering Diagnostic Information for Customer Support Services

How to:

Reference:

Diagnostic Service Accelerator (DSA) automates the gathering, packaging, and shipping (using FTP) of trace files and other diagnostic information for Customer Support Services using the edastart -savediag facility. A prompt mode is available for ease-of-use, as well as archiving and FTP posting capabilities. Automatic triggers are available for customer e-mail confirmation. DSA also triggers the logging of the upload to the support case and flags the case as requiring attention, thereby accelerating diagnostics services by automating and closing the communication gap between customer and customer services.

In one step a customer can run a repro, then describe, archive (for example, as a ZIP file), and ship (using FTP) all the required information to Information Builders Customer Support Services.

Automatic triggers are available for customer email confirmation. DSA also triggers the logging of the upload to the support case and flags the case as requiring attention, thereby accelerating diagnostics services by automating and closing the communication gap between customer and customer services.

Note the following platform-specific information:

The physical execution of these batch files varies by platform. For information about location and use of supplied batch/command files, see the chapter for your platform in the Server Installation manual.

Note:



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Procedure: How to Create a Savediag From the Web Console

To run a Savediag, you must be a Server Admin or have administrator privileges.

  1. From the Workspace menu, select Configuration/Monitor.
  2. From the navigation pane, open the Logs and Traces folder.
  3. Right-click Workspace Logs and select Savediag.

    The Savediag page opens, as shown in the following image.

  4. Select from the Diagnostic Options drop-down menu.

    The options are:

    • Save Diagnostics (savediag) and Post. This is the default.
    • Save Diagnostics (savediag).
    • Post existing diagnostics.
    • Delete existing diagnostics.

    The available fields will vary, depending on the Diagnostic Option selected.

  5. Choose whether to save files from the catalog by selecting the corresponding radio button.
  6. For Save options, you can change the part of the Savediag Directory field that follows the underscore, which is the time.
  7. For Post options, you can enter information in the Comments field.
  8. For Save options, enter applications in the List of Applications field.
  9. For Post options, enter the case number you received from Customer Support Services in the Case Number field.
  10. For Post options, enter the information you received from Customer Support Services in the Post ID and Post Password fields. This information in required to access the Customer Support Services FTP site.
  11. Click Submit.

If you selected a Post option, your information is posted on the Customer Support Services FTP site. If not, the information is saved to the Savediag Directory folder.

Note: If you choose the Delete existing Diagnostics option, select a folder from the Delete Savediag Directory drop-down menu and click Submit.

Note: The Help menu also includes an option to create a Savediag, as shown in the following image.


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Procedure: How to Create a Savediag From the Help Menu

The Savediag option is also available from the Help menu.

  1. Click the Help menu and select Savediag - Report a Bug from the drop-down menu, as shown in the following image.

    The Savediag page opens.

    Note: To run a Savediag, you must be a Server Admin or have administrator privileges.

For more information, see How to Create a Savediag From the Web Console


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Procedure: How to Report Server Related Problems From the Command Line

In order to provide Information Builders Customer Support Services with a proper reproduction of your problem, follow these steps:

Note: The use of edastart in this procedure assumes that the directory for the edastart script has been added to the system search path for your platform (or that another method for locating and using edastart has been used). If this is not the case, you must preface edastart with its path when you enter it here.

  1. Turn traces on with the command edastart -traceon. Initially starting the server with traces is strongly recommended.
  2. Reproduce the problem while traces are on.
  3. If the application abends, write the core dump information to the edaprint.log file using one of the following techniques:
    • To create the log from the Web Console menu bar, select Workspace, Diagnostics, Server Log, then click WRITE IBISNAP Information To Current Log.
    • To create the log manually, issue the edastart -ibisnap command.
  4. Use the edastart -savediag command to gather and send files to the support FTP site as an archive (using the archive method required on your platform). The edastart -savediag command includes options for saving and FTPing, saving locally, and FTPing a prior local save. The system prompts as follows:
    Select an option (type Q to quit for most prompts):
       1. Save diagnostic to a directory and FTP post
       2. Save diagnostic to a directory
       3. FTP post prior diagnostic from a directory
    Enter a selection (Default=1) :   1

    For related information, see Files Gathered by the edastart -savediag Command.

    Note: Typically, users save and post in one operation (the default), however, you may wish to consider the following reasons for saving and posting as separate steps:

    • If you have multiple repro variations, you may wish to confirm them all first, then ship them to Customer Support Services.
    • If you wish to repro multiple separate problems, the two-part option enables you to save each one separately, then ship.
    • If the server cannot be shut down (and edastart -cleardir cannot be used), the two part option may enable you to delete unneeded items before shipping.
    • For security/privacy reasons, items need to be reviewed and possibly cleansed before shipping.

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Procedure: How to Report edastart -t, -x, or -f Problems Outside the Server Environment

If a problem occurs on the Server environment, attempting to reproduce it in a free-standing environment may facilitate troubleshooting. If you wish to try this strategy, follow these steps.

  1. Create a repro application directory (preferably called repro or repro_case#).
  2. Place the required files (*.fex, *.mas, and so on) that are not already in APP PATH in the repro application directory.
  3. Physically switch to the repro application directory so that traces and other files go to this known location.
  4. Run the desired request with the command:
    edastart -traceon {-t|-x|-f}

    where:

    -t, -x, -f

    Are three separate trace modes.

  5. If the server edatemp directory is not needed to reproduce the problem, shut the server down and issue the edastart -cleardir command so that edatemp is not captured during -savediag processing.

    Note: If the server must be kept running 24x7, skip this shutdown step and proceed to step 6.

  6. Issue the edastart -savediag command, specifying the repro application directory (and any other needed directories) in order to gather and send files to the support FTP site as an archive (using the archive method required on your platform). The edastart -savediag command includes options for saving locally, saving and FTPing, and FTPing a prior local save. Choose:
    1. Save diagnostic in a new directory and post
    2. Save diagnostic in a new directory
    3. Post diagnostic from an existing directory
     
    Enter a selection (Default=1) :   2

    For related information, see Files Gathered by the edastart -savediag Command.

  7. Restart the server to resume normal operation.

In the case of an abend (core dump), Information Builders may ask that debuggables be installed (as described in the software installation manual) and that the repro/savediag steps be repeated with IBI_DBGLIB=ON to gather more detailed information. Do not install debuggables or perform these steps unless requested by Information Builders.


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Reference: Files Gathered by the edastart -savediag Command


Example: Sample edastart -savediag Processing With Variations

The following sample includes annotations that indicate what is happening as the process runs.

$ bin/edastart -savediag

Note: A log of environment information is displayed.

.
.
.
Select an option (type Q to quit for most prompts):
     1. Save diagnostic to a directory and FTP post
     2. Save diagnostic to a directory
     3. FTP post prior diagnostic from a directory
Enter a selection (Default=1) :   1 
 
Enter directory path for diagnostic information
 
(Default=/u1/prod/iadmin/ibi/srv71/ffs/sd122905_110820)
Please supply location or <Enter>:
/u1/prod/iadmin/ibi/srv71/ffs/myrepro 
 
Enter space separated non mapped application names to save in
the diagnostic or ALL for all non mapped application names
Default= baseapp):   repro 
 
12/29/2005 11:08:49
 
12/29/2005 11:08:49 Creating savedir = 
/u1/prod/iadmin/ibi/srv71/ffs/myrepro

Note:

12/29/2005 11:08:50 Diagnostic Information has been saved in 
/u1/prod/iadmin/ibi/srv71/ffs/myrepro

Note:

Enter existing directory path with diagnostic information
to post (Default=/u1/prod/iadmin/ibi/srv71/ffs/sd122905_111616)
Please supply location or <Enter>:  /u1/prod/iadmin/ibi/srv71/ffs/myrepro

Note: It then continues as option 1 would have.

Please enter Hottrack Case number to post (8 digits or more):  999999999
 
Please enter user id on cssftp.ibi.com (Default=incmgr):
 
Please enter comments for the Hottrack Case 999999999.
 
Enter as many lines as needed, blank line indicates end of comments.
 
My reproduction for error
 
12/29/2005 11:09:37 Creating myrepro.tar to post savediag information
 
Please supply confirmation to proceed with posting (Y/N/Q Default=Y):  Y

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