Poetic Online Help

Page-level help for the Poetic application

Viewing and downloading Poetic log files

About Poetic log files

Log files record Poetic activity. The information in log files can be used to trace activity or troubleshoot problems. Poetic generates several different types of log files for different Poetic functions. Types of Poetic log files include:

Application server log

Records:

  • Starting and ending of processes
  • Background job start and completion
  • Server connections and timeouts
  • Settings imports and configuration changes
SQL logs Records SQL queries from Poetic to the database.
Key generator logs Records calls from Poetic to key generators. The log files include the key generation message for each call.
Profile logs Records the object count, interprocess request calls, and execution time in order to monitor the performance of the application server.
Plugin logs

Records calls from Poetic plugins to external systems. Includes calls for:

  • Address validation
  • Credit card authorization and capture
  • Tax calculation
  • Export compliance
    		•

    Log files are by default created in a logs folder in the webapp or backapp folder on each application server. Log files are created daily – there is a separate log file for each day. The location is configured in log4j.xml. See the Poetic Installation Guide for details on configuring the log files.

    From Poetic, you can search for log files, view log file entries, and download log files.

    Log file names

    Log file names use the following naming convention: logFileType_YYYYMMDD.log Where:

    • logFileType is the type of log file. For example, key generator log file names always start with KeygenLog.
    • YYYYMMDD is the date the log file was created.

    The log file names can be customized in log4j.xml. See the Poetic Installation Guide for details on configuring the log files.

    Entries in log files

    Basic structure

    Each log file entry consists of the following information:

    [#|HH:MM:SS|logEntryLevel|parameters|messageText|#]

    Where:

    • HH:MM:SS is the time the entry was recorded
    • logEntryLevel is the type of entry. For example, ERROR indicates that the entry is for an error. See the list of entry types below.
    • parameters is a list of key-value pairs with additional information such as the session ID and the Poetic user. See the list of possible parameters below. The parameters are separated by semicolons.
    • messageText is the remaining text for the log file entry

    Log entry levels

    Types of entries include:

    INFO Used for entries that provide information about an action that has occurred.
    ERROR Used to record errors.
    CONFIG Used to record changes to configuration.
    CROSS_CALL Used in the profile logs whenever there is an interprocess request (One request calls another request internally).
    REQUEST Used to record a request to Poetic.
    RESPONSE Used to record a response to a request.
    TRACE Used in the SQL logs for a SQL trace.
    WARN Used to record warnings.
    FATAL Used to record a fatal error.
    PROFILE Used in the profile logs.
    SQL Used in the SQL logs to record a SQL query.
    KEYGEN_NOTICE Used in the key generator logs to record a notice.
    KEYGEN_ERROR Used in the key generator logs to record an error.
    POETICREQUEST Used in the profile logs to record a request from Poetic.
    POETICRESPONSE Used in the profile logs to record a response to a request.

    Types of parameters

    The parameter list can include the following values:

    SID= sessionID The session identifier.
    LOGIN=loginName The login name of the Poetic user.
    JOB=backgroundJobName The name of the background job that was running.
    DB_SID=databaseSessionID The session identifier for the connection to the database.
    EXECUTION_TIME=processingTime The length of time in milliseconds it took to process a request.
    METHOD=VALIDATE or GENERATE Used in the key generator logs to indicate whether Poetic was validating a key generation request or actually generating the keys.

    Searching for log files to view or download

    Displaying the Search Log Files page

    You manage log files from the Search Log Files page. To display the Search Log Files page:

    1. On the Administration menu, click Site maintenance.
    • On the Site Maintenance menu, click the System Monitoring tab.
    • On the System Monitoring tab, click Log files.

    The Log files option also is available on the Tools menu.

    Searching by log file properties

    The General Search tab of the Search Log Files page allows you to search for log files using:

    Machine name

    The name of the instance for which to display the server logs. An instance represents a unique combination of the server identifier, IP address, and port number.

    The Machine name dropdown contains the list of available instances. The instance name combines the following values from PoeticAppServer.properties , separated by colons:

    • PoeticAppServer.ClientRefId

    • PoeticAppServer.IPAddress

    • PoeticAppServer.IPPort
    Machine ID The last two digits of the IP address of the server. The Machine ID dropdown contains the list of available addresses.
    Log type The type of log file to include in the results. The Log type dropdown contains the list of available types.
    Update date The date range for which to include log files.
    File size greater than The minimum file size, in MB, for the log files to include in the results.

    Searching by error code

    For some errors, Poetic displays an error page that includes an error code. The format of the error code is:

    errorIdentifier–addressLastTwoDigits–dateTimeStamp–sessionIdentifier

    Where:

    errorIdentifier Identifies the type of error. For example, 500 indicates a
    general server failure.
    addressLastTwoDigits The last two digits of the TCP/IP address for the WebApp server.
    dateTimeStamp

    The date/time stamp for the error. Includes:

    • Year (YYYY)
    • Month (MM)
    • Day (DD)
    • Hour (HH)
    • Minutes (MM)
    • Seconds (SS)

    For example, if the date/time stamp is 20080401093043, then the error occurred on April 1, 2008, at 9:30:43 AM.
    sessionIdentifier The first six characters of the session identifier.

    You can use the error code to find the corresponding log file entries. To do this, click the Session Error Search tab.

    In the Error code field, type the error code to use to find the log file.

    Displaying log file search results

    On the General Search or Session Error Search tab, to display a list of log files, click Search Files. The log file list can include:

    • The log file name
    • The size of the file. The log file size is only available for log files for previous days. The file size for the current day is not updated until midnight, when the day is completed.
    • The name of the instance
    • The date the file was updated

    Downloading a selected log file

    To download a log file from the Search Log Files page, click its Download link.

    Viewing a selected log file

    Displaying the Filter Log Files form

    To view a log file from the search results on the General Search or Session Error Search tab, click its View link. The Filter Log Entries form displays.

    • When you view the log file from the General Search tab, Poetic tries to display the entire file.
    • When you view the log file from the Session Error Search tab, Poetic automatically filters the list using the session ID and time stamp associated with the error code.

    If there are too many entries to display, then a notice displays at the top of the form. You will need to filter the entries.

    Filtering the log file entries

    To filter the file entries, you can use the following criteria:

    Session ID The session identifier for the entry.
    User login ID The login name for the user associated with the entry.
    Entry type The type of entry.
    Time window from The time range for which to include entries.

    To filter the entries based on the criteria, click Filter Entries.

    Downloading the filtered entries

    From the Filter Log Entries form, to download the filtered log file entries, click Download.