Setting the problem determination level for schedules

You can set the level of information that is saved in the problem determination log during a run. By default, only warnings and severe errors are logged. Typically, you change this log level only when requested to do so by the Support person.

About this task

The problem determination logs contain internal information about the playback engine. These logs are particularly useful for debugging problems such as Kerberos authentication, SSL negotiation, and resource constraints on an agent. The log files are named CommonBaseEvents00.log and are located in the deployment directory. For example, if you play back a schedule on an agent and set C:\Agent as the deployment directory, the problem determination log files are in a directory similar to C:\Agent\deployment_root\<UserName>\A1E14699848784C00D2DEB73763646462\CommonBaseEvents00.log. If a large amount of log information is generated, multiple CommonBaseEvents files are created.

Procedure

To set the level of problem-determination logging and the sampling rate:

  1. In the Test Navigator, browse to the schedule and double-click it.
    The schedule opens.
  2. In the Schedule Contents area, click the name of the schedule.
  3. On the Problem Determination page, set Problem determination log level to one of the following options:
    OptionDescription
    All, Finest, Finer, Fine Set these options only if you are requested to do so by technical support.
    Config Logs static configuration messages. Configuration messages, which include hardware specifications or system profiles, require no corrective action.
    Info Logs informational messages. Informational messages, which include system state, require no corrective action.
    Warning Logs warning messages. This is the default setting. Warning messages, which might indicate potential problems, require no corrective action.
    Severe Logs critical and unrecoverable errors. Critical and unrecoverable messages interrupt normal program execution, and require corrective action.
    None Turns logging off.
  4. To set a sampling rate, select Only sample information from a subset of users.
    The number or the percentage that you select is applied to each user group. If you are running user groups from remote locations, the number or percentage that you select is distributed evenly among the remote locations.
    OptionDescription
    Fixed number of users The number is applied to each user group. Assume that a schedule contains two user groups. One group contains four users, and another group contains 1000 users. If you specify 2 for this option, two users are sampled from each group.
    Percentage of users The percentage is applied to each user group, but at least one user will be sampled from each group. Assume that a schedule contains two user groups. One group contains four users, and another group contains 1000 users. If sampling rate is set to 10%, one user is sampled from the first group, and 100 users are sampled from the second group. Similarly, if sampling rate is set to 25%, one user is sampled from the first group, and 250 users are sampled from the second group.

Results

When a user group runs on your local computer, the problem determination logs are in the deployment_root directory in your workspace. When a user group runs at a remote location, which is the typical use case, each remote location has a deployment directory, which you define and which is listed on the Locations page for that user group.
Note: Common Base Event XML logs from remote locations use Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), also called Zulu time, which is likely different from your local time. For example, Eastern Standard Time (EST) is 5 hours behind UTC time.

What to do next

To view the problem determination log, open the log file in an XML editor. Select the log whose timestamp matches that of the problem run. The most recent log has the suffix 00.log.