Troubleshooting overview

 

Troubleshooting is the process of finding and eliminating the cause of a problem. Whenever you have a problem with your IBM software, the troubleshooting process begins as soon as you ask yourself what happened? A basic troubleshooting strategy at a high level involves:

  1. Recording the symptoms.

  2. Recreating the problem.

  3. Eliminating possible causes.

  4. Using diagnostic tools.

Recording the symptoms of the problem

Depending on the type of problem you have whether it be with your application, your server, or your tools, you might receive a message that indicates something is wrong. Always record the error message that you see. As simple as this sounds, error messages sometimes contain cryptic codes that might make more sense as you investigate your problem further. You might also receive multiple error messages that look similar but have subtle differences. By recording the details of each one, we can learn more about where your problem exists.

Sources of error messages:

Recreating the problem

Think back to what steps you were doing that led you to this problem. Try those steps again to see if we can easily recreate this problem. If you have a consistently repeatable test case, you will have an easier time determining what solutions are necessary.

Eliminating possible causes

Narrow the scope of your problem by eliminating components that are not causing the problem. By using a process of elimination, we can simplify your problem and avoid wasting time in areas that are not culprits. Consult the information in this product and other available resources to help you with your elimination process.

Using diagnostic tools

As a more advanced task, there are various tools that we can use to analyze and diagnose problems with your system.