Understanding the GroupWise WebAccess Log Files

This section explains how to access and understand the different log files generated by the components that make up the WebAccess gateway. Generated log files can be invaluable in troubleshooting and resolving problems with any GroupWise component, not just WebAccess. The log files are generated by the following pieces of the GroupWise WebAccess gateway:

• WebAccess Agent

• WebAccess Application

• WebAccess speller application

• WebPublisher application

To begin with, here's a definition of some of the standard logging settings that most of the components in WebAccess share:

• Log File Path: This defines the path where the log files will be located for a particular Agent or Application. For the WebAccess Agent it is important that you specify a location for the log file in ConsoleOne. If you do not do so, the WebAccess Agent will write to a log file.

• Logging Level: This setting defines the logging level for the Agent or Application. The valid settings are generally normal (default), verbose, diagnostic, and off. The higher the level of logging, the more detailed the log files will be. Diagnostic logging should be used only when you're troubleshooting a problem and you need very detailed information as to what is happening at the particular agent or application level. You should not run diagnostic logging as a standard practice. Normal or verbose will suffice. We prefer verbose logging on the WebAccess Agent.

• Max Log File Age: This setting allows you to set the number of days that log files will be kept. If, say, this is set to seven days (the default), when a log file reaches an age of seven days, the Agent or Application will automatically delete this log file. We like to increase this setting to around 30 days if possible, because you never know when you might need to dig back through a few weeks' worth of log files to help track down and troubleshoot problems.

• Max Log Disk Space: This setting determines how much disk space all the log files for a particular Agent or Application can consume. It is not how large a single log file can be. All the individual log files will be 256KB in size, and then the Agent or Application will cycle into another log file. As mentioned, this setting allows you to control how much disk space the log files use. We like to increase this setting. It depends on your environment as to how large you set this value. We have seen systems on which 10MB worth of logs would keep only a couple of days' worth of data because of the volume of information being generated. You will want to take a baseline of your system to see which value works best for your environment.

Therefore, whatever setting is reached firstbe it the max log file age or the max log disk space settingwill take precedence over the other. Having these two settings together allows you to completely control how many and how long the log files stick around for your WebAccess processes. Now that you understand some of the shared characteristics of logging on the WebAccess processes, the following discussion points out the differences between the different processes.

WebAccess Agent Log Settings

By default, the WebAccess Agent does not generate a log file to disk. You must enable this option by adding the /logdiskon switch to the STRTWEB.NCF file, or by defining a path to the log files on the WebAccess Agent object. This will enable disk logging for the WebAccess Agent. Without this switch or a defined path to the log files, the WebAccess Agent will not log any events to disk. The default location of the WebAccess Agent log files is the DOMAIN\WPGATE\WEBACCESS\000.PRC directory, but you can change this with the log file path setting on the agent.

There are also startup switches that allow you to set all the logging options from the command line when the agent is loaded. These switches are contained in the Agent startup file. You can modify the following switches:

• /log=: Indicates the path to the log files.

• /logdiskon: Enables disk logging.

• /loglevel=: Sets the log level. Values are normal, verbose, and diagnostic.

• /logdays=: Sets the number of days to keep logs. Enter a number that represents days.

• /logmax=: Sets the size of log files. Enter a size in kilobytes.

Even with all the possibilities, we still recommend that you configure these settings from ConsoleOne, and not from the startup file of the WebAccess Agent.

GroupWise WebAccess Object Log Settings

The GroupWise WebAccess object log settings, or in other words the WebAccess Application settings, are configured by going to the properties of the GroupWise WebAccess object and selecting Application/Log Settings.

Notice that here you have a few additional options besides the standard settings:

• Log Language: This allows you to define the language that the log files are written in.

• Log Time Format: This allows you to change the format of the time value displayed in the log file. The default is H:mm:ss for Hour:Minute:Second. If desired, you can change this order. You have the option of adding MM/dd or dd/MM for Month/Day or Day/Month to the logging, which might be useful.

Tip

The name of each WebAccess Application log file will be in the format of MMDDWAS.XXX, in which XXX is an incremented number throughout a 24-hour period. The agent always cycles to a new log at 24:00 hours.

WebAccess Speller Application

Configuring the speller log settings is similar to configuring the agent and application log settings. This can be done by going to the properties of the NovellSpeller object in eDirectory. For this agent, you do not have the options of setting the max log disk space and max log file age, however.

WebAccess WebPublisher Application

The WebAccess WebPublisher log settings are exactly the same as the GroupWise WebAccess object settings.