Using trace

MQAX includes a trace facility to help the service organization identify what is happening when you have a problem. It shows the paths taken when you run your MQAX script. Unless you have a problem, you are recommended to run with tracing set off to avoid any unnecessary overheads on your system resources.

There are three environment variables that you set to control trace:

• OMQ_TRACE

• OMQ_TRACE_PATH

• OMQ_TRACE_LEVEL

You should be aware that specifying any value for OMQ_TRACE switches the trace facilty on. Even if you set OMQ_TRACE to OFF, trace is still active.

To switch trace off, do not specify a value for OMQ_TRACE.

1. Click the Start button

2. Choose Settings

3. Choose Control Panel

4. Open the System object

5. Click on the Environment tab

6. In the section titled "User Variables for (username)" enter the variable name and a valid value in the correct boxes

7. Click the Set button

8. Close the System object

9. Close the Control Panel window

When deciding where you want the trace files written, ensure that you have sufficient authority to write to, not just read from, the disk.

With tracing switched on, it slows down the running of the MQAX, but it does not affect the performance of your ActiveX or WebSphere MQ environments. When you no longer need a trace file, we can delete it.

You must stop MQAX running to change the status of the OMQ_TRACE variable.