Using SMS Trace

 < Day Day Up > 



As discussed in Chapter 3, log files are simply text files that can be read using any text editor. However, trying to scroll through several long log file entries using Notepad can become tedious, if not frustrating. Fortunately, there is a utility named SMS Trace that provides a nicer interface for viewing log files. Each log entry is easy to read, ordered, and time-stamped. In addition, the view is dynamically updated as components modify the log file. You can even view multiple log files at one time—a great way to learn how various components interact with one another.

Obtaining SMS Trace

SMS Trace is one of several tools that Microsoft has made available to help you manage your SMS site. This set of tools is called the SMS 2003 Toolkit 1, and you can obtain it through the SMS Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/ smserver). You can download these tools as a bundle to your site server or desktop and extract them by running the self-extracting executable and following the instructions given.

After you install SMS Trace, you might want to place a shortcut to it on the desktop of your site server or your SMS Administrator console computer. If you’ve used the version of SMS Trace that came with SMS 2.0, you’ll notice a couple of welcome enhancements with this updated version. For example, all error and warning entries are now highlighted in the SMS Trace viewer to make it easier for you to find. To use SMS Trace to view log files, follow these steps:

  1. Start SMS Trace using either of the methods described above. The SMS Trace window appears, as shown in Figure 5.45.

    click to expand
    Figure 5.45: The SMS Trace window.

  2. Choose Open from the File menu or click the File Open icon on the toolbar to display the Open dialog box. SMS Trace automatically defaults to the SMS\Logs directory.

  3. Select the log file you want to open and click Open or double-click the filename. The contents of the log file are displayed in the SMS Trace window, as shown in Figure 5.46.

    click to expand
    Figure 5.46: The log file contents displayed in the SMS Trace window.

Notice how nicely this utility displays the contents of the log file. Each entry is easy to read, ordered, and time-stamped. In addition, the view is dynamically updated as the component modifies the log file. Compare this window to the same log file opened in Notepad, as shown in Figure 5.47.

click to expand
Figure 5.47: The log file contents displayed using Notepad.

The SMS Trace interface offers several nice features. You can, of course, print the log file and modify how much data appears on the screen. SMS Trace also lets you search for text, highlight text, and filter what’s displayed on screen.

Searching for Text

If you’re looking for a particular text string—perhaps a filename or an extension or a package or advertisement ID—you can ask SMS Trace to find the log entry that contains that text string. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Start SMS Trace and open the log file you want to search. Highlight the first log entry.

  2. Choose Find from the Tools menu to display the Find dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.48.

    click to expand
    Figure 5.48: The Find dialog box.

  3. Enter the text string you want to search for. This can be a partial string. To make this a case-sensitive search, select the Case Sensitive check box.

  4. Click Next. The entry that contains the text string you entered will be highlighted in the log file if it exists.

  5. To view the next entry with this text string, choose Find from the Tools menu, and then click Find Next in the Find dialog box. To view the previous entry, choose Up as the Direction and then click Find Next in the Find dialog box.

Highlighting Text

Perhaps, as you open multiple log files, you would like to highlight any entry that references a particular text string. For example, when a site setting is modified, Hierarchy Manager and Site Control Manager both create and reference files back and forth. While monitoring the flow of this interaction, you might choose to highlight the lines that reference specific files or file extensions to better view how the two components work with each other and hand files back and forth. To use SMS Trace to specify text that should be highlighted as it occurs in the log file, follow these steps:

  1. Start SMS Trace.

  2. Choose Highlight from the Tools menu to display the Highlight dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.49.


    Figure 5.49: The Highlight dialog box.

  3. Enter the text string you want SMS Trace to look for. This can be a partial string. To make this a case-sensitive search, check the Case Sensitive check box.

  4. Click OK.

  5. Open the desired log file or files. As the log files are opened, any entry that contains the referenced string will be highlighted with a box surrounding the entry.

Filtering the SMS Trace View

Log files can get filled up quickly and contain hundreds of entries. Perhaps you’re interested only in certain types of entries—for example, status message entries or entries that contain a reference to a particular package ID. SMS Trace provides a filter tool that can facilitate your view of these kinds of entries. To filter the SMS Trace view, follow these steps:

  1. Start SMS Trace and open the log file or files you want to filter.

  2. Choose Filter from the View menu to display the Filter dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.50.

  3. Notice that you can filter what you see in the log window based on Entry Text, Component, Thread, and Time values. For each filter that you want to apply, select an appropriate operator and then enter the value you’re filtering on. For example, in Figure 5.50 we’re looking only for lines in the log file in which the entry text contains the string value “S0000001”. Make your selections and click OK. SMS Trace will refresh the screen and show only the entries you filtered for.

    click to expand
    Figure 5.50: The Filter dialog box.

    Note 

    Once you have filtered a log in this manner, you can’t turn off the filter without first closing the log file. After you close the log file, you can go back into the Filter Settings dialog box and change your filter options or clear them to turn them all off.



 < Day Day Up > 



Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Administrator's Companion
Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Administrators Companion (Pro-Administrators Companion)
ISBN: 0735618887
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 178

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net