Collecting a standalone database logger trace dynamically using USS

The fteSetLoggerTraceLevel command allows trace to be collected from a running logger. This can be very useful if IBM Support need to see a trace from a logger that cannot be stopped.

About this task

To collect a trace from a Managed File Transfer for z/OS logger using the fteSetLoggerTraceLevel command, complete the following steps.

Procedure

1. Turn on trace for the loger by running the following command:

   fteSetLoggerTraceLevel -traceLogger classes=level logger_name 

   The -traceLogger parameter determines the internal classes and packages that are to be traced. Unless otherwise specified by the IBM Support representative, set this property to the value com.ibm.wmqfte=all.

2. Reproduce the issue.
3. Turn trace off, using the command:

   fteSetLoggerTraceLevel -traceLogger =off logger_name

4. If a logger is busy, then it is possible that the trace files will wrap quickly and overwrite the information needed to investigate the issue. In this situation there are two options:
   1. The first option is to:
      1. Schedule some time to stop the logger.
      2. Locate the logger.properties file for the logger that needs to be traced. The logger.properties file can be found in the BFG_DATA/mqft/config/coordination_qmgr_name/loggers/logger_name directory.
      3. Edit the file and add entries for the following properties:
         • traceFiles=number of trace files to use
         • traceSize=size of each trace file, in MB

           The traceFiles and traceSize properties are used to control the amount of trace data that is collected.

           The default value of the traceFiles property is 5, and the traceSize property has the default value of 20MB. This means that if you turn on trace dynamically, and you have not set the properties, the logger writes trace information to 5 wrapping trace files, each with a maximum size of 20MB.

           We should set these properties to large values, to collect as much trace data as possible.

           For example, to collect 1GB of wrapping trace, add the following lines to the logger.properties file:

           traceFiles=5
           traceSize=200
           

           This results in the logger writing trace data to a maximum of 5 files, where each file has a size of 200MB.

           For more information on these logger properties, see The MFT logger.properties file.

      4. Stop the logger, using the fteStopLogger command.
      5. Start the logger, by running the fteStartLogger command.
      6. Run the command:

         fteSetLoggerTraceLevel -traceLogger trace_specification logger_name

         to enable trace for the logger.
      7. Reproduce the issue.
      8. Turn trace off on the logger by running the command:

         fteSetLoggerTraceLevel -traceLogger =off logger_name

   2. The second option is to contact the IBM Support representative, if it is not possible to stop the logger for a short period of time. We can then discuss alternative trace specifications to use, in order to reduce the amount of trace data that is being generated.

Results

The resultant trace files are written to the BFG_DATA/mqft/logs/coordination_qmgr_name/loggers/logger_name/logs/trace%PID% directory, where %PID% is the process identifier for the logger. Parent topic: Collecting a Managed File Transfer for z/OS standalone database logger trace dynamically