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Background documentationMonitoring and Displaying Log Files Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

Log and trace file contain information about the system execution.

  • Logs are mainly used by administrators to monitor the system operation and to perform error analysis. Logs are typically written to categories.

  • Traces are usually used by developers or support specialists to record and analyze the occurrence of certain events in programs during runtime. Traces are typically written to locations.

For more information, see General Rules for Using Logs and Traces.

Configuration

The table below contains configuration settings you can perform if the default setting are not suitable:

Configuration Task

Description

Configure logs and traces severities.

You use the Log Configuration in the Visual Administrator or Logs and Traces in the SAP NetWeaver Administrator.

The default severity value is INFO for logs and ERROR for traces.

Recommendation Recommendation

If there are too many log entries in the system, we recommend that you set the logs severity level to WARNING.

End of the recommendation.

Configure size and storage of traces.

You can configure the size and the storage location for trace files, using the Log Manager.

Note Note

By default, logs are written to five files, each file with a maximum size of 10 MB. If archiving is enabled, when the fifth file is completed, the set of five files is backed up into a ZIP file. Then, the new logs start overwriting the old log files.

End of the note.

Switch archiving on and off or specify archive storage location.

Logs and traces are archived by default. You can configure the archive storage location or switch off archiving. For more information, see Log Configurator Service.

Save system critical logs.

You can save system critical logs in the database. By default, the severity level, above or equal to which the logs are written in the database is FATAL and the logs are kept in the database for seven days. To change these values, use the Log Manager.
Tasks

The table below contains tasks you can perform, when required:

Task

Description

Filter and display logs when the J2EE Engine is running.

In any predefined view or custom view, you can filter and display log and trace records on the J2EE Engine that meet a specified filter criterion.

Filter and display logs when the J2EE Engine is not running.

If a J2EE Engine is not running on the system to be monitored, you can filter and display log and trace records that meet a specified filter criterion in the Standalone Log Viewer predefined view.

Search logs.

You can search for a string in a log record. For more information, see Searching Log and Trace Records.

Display log records with severity ERROR or FATAL.

To monitor the SAP NetWeaver system landscape for critical issues, in any predefined view or custom view, you can filter and display only log and trace records with severity ERROR or FATAL.

Deleting log files.

  • You can manually delete part of the archives that you do not need, for example, you may not need the default traces.

    Caution Caution

    In several countries the backup of security logs is enforced by the law. Therefore, you must perform regular backups and keep all of your security log files

    End of the caution.

  • You can delete log and trace files that are extracted from archives to the operating system's temporary directory.

    When you open archives of logs and traces, the log and trace files of each archive are extracted to a subdirectory of the operating system's temporary directory.

    Afterwards, the log and trace files are not deleted from the temporary directory. The next time you want to view the same archives, they will be displayed faster.

    Recommendation Recommendation

    We recommend that you delete these log and trace files periodically to save disk space. For more information, see Filtering and Viewing Logs and Traces in Archives View.

    End of the recommendation.

Monitor log and trace file size

There are two types of monitors for logs and traces - for files size and for achieve size.

For more information, see Log Configuration.

You can also change the settings of the monitor's traffic light, for example, the value when the monitor's traffic light changes from yellow to green. To perform this, use the Monitor Browser in the SAP NetWeaver Administrator.
Tools

  • The Logs and Traces plug-in in the SAP NetWeaver Administrator allows you to view all list and text formatted logs and traces that are generated from the whole SAP NetWeaver system landscape.

    You can also use the following tools to monitor and display logs:

  • If you have a double-stack architecture, you can use the CCMS (transaction code RZ20) to monitor log files and have a notification sent to you if an error occurs.

    The SAPCCMSR agent with the -J2EE option monitors all log files that are registered with the Logging API for particular specified search patterns and triggers alerts in the CCMS if they occur. The Log Monitors are displayed in the CCMS Alert Monitor and should be checked regularly.

    Note Note

    If you are administrator, it is possible to be informed automatically by the CCMS if alerts occur.

    For more information, see Monitoring J2EE Log Files in the CCMS.

    End of the note.
Additional Information

You can display log file from the following directory path: <Drive>:\usr\sap\<SID>\<Instance name>\j2ee\cluster\<Server name>\log, where the following files are located:

\system\database.log

\system\security.log

\system\server.log

\application.log