What Are Diagnostic Log Files and Where Are They Located?

Diagnosing and Resolving Issues in Oracle Business Intelligence 8-9 In the following log configuration file example, in the Notification message category, only level 1 messages are logged. If the log level is set to 0, then nothing is logged for that message category. Level IncidentError1IncidentError Error1Error Warning1Warning Notification1Notification Trace1Trace Level Avoid manually changing the default settings in the log file. Use Fusion Middleware Control to make changes. For more information, see Section 8.2.2.1, Using Fusion Middleware Control to Configure Log File Rotation Policy and Specify Log Levels. 8.3.4 What is Log File Rotation? Log file rotation is the creation of new log files, when the file exceeds a specified threshold or date. Take the MaximumFileSizeKb setting for the component log configuration file for the Oracle BI Scheduler as an example. Whenever a log file exceeds the size that is specified by this setting, then the existing Scheduler log file is renamed, and a new log file is created. Additionally, a log file date that is older than the MaximumLogAgeDay setting is deleted. The file naming convention for the Scheduler is as follows: ■ nqscheduler.log — The latest log file. ■ nqscheduler-n.log — The renamed previous log file. where n = date and timestamp, for example nqscheduler-20100909-2135.log Trace:1 A trace or debug message that is used for debugging or performance monitoring has been written. Typically this message contains detailed event data that is clear enough to be understood by someone who does not know internal implementation details. Small performance impact. This level might be enabled broadly occasionally on a production environment to debug issues with the software. Enabling logging at this level might have a small performance impact, but not to the point of making the software unusable. Trace:16 A fairly detailed trace or debug message has been written. The message is clear enough to be understood by Oracle Support Services engineers who have a deep knowledge of the product but might not know full details of the internal implementation. High performance impact. This level should not be enabled on a production environment, except on special situations to debug issues with the software. Trace:32 A highly detailed trace or debug message has been written. The message is intended for an Oracle developer working on the software who knows enough details about the implementation of the subsystem that generates the message. Very high performance impact. This level is not expected to be enabled in a production environment and developers use it only to debug the software on a test or development environment. Table 8–1 Cont. Log File Message Category Levels Category:Level Description 8-10 System Administrators Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition The naming convention that is used for settings in log configuration files differs slightly across components. For more information, see Section 8.2.2.1, Using Fusion Middleware Control to Configure Log File Rotation Policy and Specify Log Levels. 8.3.5 What Messages Are Included in the System Log? The Oracle BI Server writes messages to the nqserver.log file, based on configuration settings. In addition to writing messages to this log file, the BI Server writes certain severe messages to the system log file for UNIX systems. The following list includes the kinds of messages that the BI Server writes to the system log file: ■ When the BI Server cannot start for example, because another server has previously started, then the system log file includes a message such as the following one: Another server is already running on : 1ls and port: 2ls. ■ When memory problems occur, the system log file includes a message such as the following one: Could not enable the Low-Fragmentation Heap. ■ When the hard disk on the computer is full, the system log file includes a message such as the following one: Out of disk space.

8.4 Managing the Query Log

The Oracle BI Server provides a facility for logging query activity at the individual user level. Use logging for quality assurance testing, debugging, and troubleshooting by Oracle Support Services. In production mode, query logging is typically disabled. The query log file is named nqquery.log, and is located in: ORACLE_INSTANCE\diagnostics\logs\component_type\bi_component_name Oracle BI Server query logging is tracked at a user level. It is a resource-intensive process if you track the entire user community. It is recommended that you only test users when the user name clearly indicates it is a test user and have verified that query logging is enabled. If logging is enabled for such users, then it is recommended that they be given names such as sales_admin_with_ logging, sales_dev_with_logging, or sales_test_with_logging, so that you can readily identify them. Even production administrator logins should not have query logging enabled, because it could strain the available resources. You should also disable query logging for the following: ■ The SQL statement in the initialization string. The Initialization string field is in the Initialization Block dialog, in the General tab. Note: For production systems, it is recommended that query logging be enabled only for a very targeted user community. In production systems, you can use usage tracking as the production-level logging facility. See Chapter 9, Managing Usage Tracking for more information.