Gathering Sametime Community Server general diagnostic data

The Sametime® Community Server includes a utility that automatically collects configuration and log files for problem determination. You can then provide this information to IBM® Support to investigate Sametime awareness problems and related issues.

About this task

The recommended trace level for gathering general diagnostic information is VP_TRACE_ALL=1. However, this trace level is very verbose and should be used only on servers that have available disk space and CPU utilization to spare. If you need to enable trace on a production server that is running near capacity, contact IBM Support to get specific diagnostic settings that have a lower impact on system resources.

In addition to setting the trace level, you can set the maximum file size of each trace file, and the maximum number of trace files used until the files are recycled.

Follow these instructions to set the trace level, and then to reproduce the problem so that you can gather information.

Procedure

  1. Stop both the Domino® server and the Community Server.
  2. Remove old log files from the Sametime trace directory.
  3. Edit the sametime.ini file, which is located in the Community Server installation directory (for example: C:\Program Files\ibm\domino). Add or modify one or more of the following lines to the Debug section:

    VP_TRACE_ALL=1 - to set the trace level

    ST_TRACEFILE_SIZE=file_size - to set the maximum file size of each trace file. The default value is 20.

    ST_TRACEFILE_CNT=number_of_files - to set the number of trace files generated per Sametime service application. The default value is 25.

    ST_TRACEFILE_SIZE multiplied by ST_TRACEFILE_CNT equals the maximum size of the trace files on the operating system hard disk per Sametime service application.

    For example, if the sametime.ini file contains the following settings:
    ST_TRACEFILE_SIZE=20
ST_TRACEFILE_CNT=25
    Then 10 X 25 equals 250, so 250 MB is the maximum disk space each Sametime service application consumes for the trace files.
  4. Restart the Domino server and the Community Server.
  5. Reproduce the problem that you want to troubleshoot, so you can collect diagnostic information.
  6. Run the stdiagzip collector utility, as shown in the following sample paths:

    Windows™

    C:\Program Files\ibm\Domino\stdiagzip.bat

    AIX®/Linux™

    /local/notesdata> sh stdiagzip.sh
    The output file is a compressed file in the Trace directory in the following format: 
    \Trace\stdiags_hostname_MM_DD@hh_mm.zip
    Note: Use a tool such as WinZip or 7Zip to extract the file content instead of using the Windows Explorer unzip tool. See TN 1652342 for details about known third-party limitations.
  7. Collect the following data:
    • The sametime.log file - Preserve as much history as possible. Do not remove data from this log.
    • The sametime.ini file.
    • The communityConfig.txt file.
    • The Stlog.nsf file - Keep this file small, not more then 1M.
    • The STConfig.nsf file.
    • Details of user IDs that were used to reproduce the problem.
    • The exact time and date of the reproduced failure.
    • Client Application type and version that was used to reproduce the problem.
    • If you are troubleshooting a server crash, send all of the core dump (NSD log) files that were created at the time of the crash.
    • Any additional details about the deployment, configuration, abnormal behavior, or any other general details that might help IBM Support investigate the problem.

What to do next

After collecting the diagnostic information, any trace which was enabled on the Community Server should be disabled or reverted back to the default level. Use the STRuntimeDebug tool to enable and disable traces without having to restart the server.