Utilizing log for troubleshootin

The WebSphere Portal Server uses System Event logging facility as logging framework Ex. Portal Server components such as Portal Aggregation engine, Personalization engine,, etc write to the System Event log. This facility is based on top of WebSPhere Application Server Trace facility. If your administrator then the System Event logging can provide you with information on abnormal events such as errors that occured during the operation of portal.

When you open a support request with IBM normally they will ask you to collect trace generated by system event logging from your system and send it to them. Ex. If your facing some problem in say registering new user or in the edit profile of existing user then they will ask you to collect trace for User Registry related PUMA component

The System Event log messages can be divided into two types

  1. Message Logging:WebSphere Portal Server provides the logging of messages that report errors and status information. The messages can be divided into ERROR, WARNING and INFO type

  2. Trace Logging:WebSphere Portal Express provides the logging of debugging messages called traces. These traces are useful for fixing problems. However, to save system resources, they are switched off by default.



The messages logging is enabled by default and it writes messages in the SystemOut.log and SystemErr.log. Ex if you go to enable tracing portlet and add additional trace string then it will write these messages to SystemOut.log

[/WEB-INF/jsp/ManageLogView.jsp]: Initialization successful.
[10/10/08 13:54:13:732 EDT] 0000008e ManagerAdmin I TRAS0018I: The trace state has changed. The new trace state is *=info: com.ibm.websphere.wmm.*=all:com.ibm.ws.wmm.*=all:WSMM=all:com.ibm.wps.services.puma.*=all.
[10/10/08 13:54:30:106 EDT] 0000008d ManagerAdmin I TRAS0018I: The trace state has changed. The new trace state is *=info: com.ibm.websphere.wmm.*=all:com.ibm.ws.wmm.*=all:WSMM=all:com.ibm.wps.services.puma.*=all:com.ibm.wps.puma.*=all.
[10/10/08 13:55:05:402 EDT] 0000007b ServletWrappe A SRVE0242I: [wps] [/wps] [/themes/html/IBM/mainMenu.jsp]: Initialization successful.


Enabling trace logging causes a performance impact so it is disabled by default. You can able the trace logging using the WAS Admin Console or Portla Admin Console. Normally when you enable trace logging you will enable it for particular java package or class. For example you want to debug problems related to User Profile creation and update so you can go to Portal Infocenter and find out name of the authentication related java packages in Portal Server and you will get these trace string.

com.ibm.wps.engine.*=all:   
com.ibm.wps.services.puma.*=all:   
com.ibm.wps.puma.*=all:  
com.ibm.wps.sso.*=all:  
com.ibm.wps.services.authentication.*=all


Once you have the trace string you can enable using one of the two methods

  1. Using WAS Admin Console

  2. Using Enable trace portlet

1 comment:

  1. Personalization Engines SoftwareApril 3, 2024 at 6:18 AM

    Thank you for the comprehensive explanation of the System Event logging facility within WebSphere Portal Server, particularly in the context of personalization engines software. Your detailed insights into message logging and trace logging shed light on how administrators can effectively monitor and troubleshoot system events. The delineation of message types and the guidance on enabling trace logging for specific components are invaluable for optimizing system performance. This elucidation greatly enhances our understanding and troubleshooting capabilities within the WebSphere environment.

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