Creating a debug log for MetaDirectory

This article explains how to create a so-called debug log in MetaDirectory to provide this information for analysis.

Logfiles can only be examined if reasonable anchor points are available. Therefore always provide the following additional information:

• When did an error occur (timestamp with date and time, at least to the minute)?
• Which extensions / telephone numbers or users were involved or affected?
• From which client software was a search query initiated?
• Procedure of the workflow (connection setup, search query, ...), which led to an error.
• Which replicators are in use?
• Which user authentication or user management procedure is used?

Procedure

Log files

In estos MetaDirectory Administrator select the menu item Configuration – General – Events

Example screenshot: MetaDirectory Administrator – Configuration – General Settings – Events

1. Please set the MetaDirectory event log to Log everything (including debug information) and click Apply.

1b. From MetaDirectory 6.3 onwards, an additional option is available to have the MetaDirectory LDAP interface write separate log files. The following log levels can be selected: <none>, Error,  Warning, Information and Debug . If required, you can enable logging at log level Debug here.

1c. Click Apply to enable the selected logging settings.

2. Use this button to delete all old log files via Delete log files...

3a After you have reproduced the problem or the incident to be reported has occurred again, open the log directory (C:\Program Files\estos\MetaDirectory\logs) and create a ZIP file from the Logs folder.

3b. from MetaDirectory version 6.0.3:
After you have reproduced the problem or the incident to be reported has occurred again, click on the Provide log files button:

Example screenshot: MetaDirectory Administrator – Configuration – General Settings – Events – Provide log files

A ZIP archive with the available log files is created at a storage location to be specified. Provide configuration data also offers the option of adding the estos MetaDirectory configuration data to this ZIP archive, which means that the separate export of the configuration data explained in the following section Configuration data can be omitted.

4. Please provide the ZIP file including the specific problem description (see above) to your responsible support instance for analysis.

Procedure to follow if you cannot access MetaDirectory Administration

Even if there is no access to the estos MetaDirectory administration, it is still possible to influence the logging.

The set log level is stored in the MetaDirectory configuration file logging.xml, which is located by default in the directory C:\Program Files\estos\MetaDirectory\config\.

In the <LogFile...> section, you will find the keywords <LogLevel> and <LdapLogLevelF>. Attached is an example logging.xml file with logging enabled at log level Debug and with LDAP events logged in separate files, also at log level Debug:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<LogFile metaversion="6.5.2.15081">
    <LogFilePath>C:\Program Files\estos\MetaDirectory\logs\</LogFilePath>
    <LogLevel>4</LogLevel>
    <DeleteLogs>1</DeleteLogs>
    <ErrorMailToAdmin>0</ErrorMailToAdmin>
    <NoReplicatorLogs>0</NoReplicatorLogs>
    <WindowsEventLogLevel>0</WindowsEventLogLevel>
    <RolloverCount>16</RolloverCount>
    <RolloverSize>10485760</RolloverSize>
    <MaxCountLdapTxt>64</MaxCountLdapTxt>
    <MaxCountLdapZip>64</MaxCountLdapZip>
    <LdapLogLevelE>0</LdapLogLevelE>
    <LdapLogLevelF>4</LdapLogLevelF>
</LogFile>

Der Wert des Schlüsselworts <LogLevel> kann auf die Werte 1 bis 4 eingestellt werden:

The value of the keyword <LdapLogLevelF> can be set to any value between 0 and 4:

To set the desired log level for the

• MetaDirectory Event Log and the
• LDAP event logging in separate files

proceed as follows:

• Stop the estos MetaDirectory Server service
• Open the configuration file logging.xml using a text editor
• set the desired value for the keyword <LogFile metaversion=...><LogLevel> 
• Set the desired value for the keyword <LogFile metaversion=...><LdapLogLevelF>
• Save the change and close the editor
• Start the estos MetaDirectory Server service

In the standard configuration, the log files are stored in the MetaDirectory subprogramme directory logs. There, all log files can be combined into a ZIP archive and made available for further analysis.

Configuration data

To enable efficient analysis, it can often be useful to provide estos MetaDirectory configuration details in addition to the log files.

To do this, select the menu item File – Configuration – Export... in estos MetaDirectory Administrator and export the configuration data to a ZIP file, which you provide together with the ZIP archive containing the log files

Further information

• MetaDirectory log files in detail
• Product documentation for estos MetaDirectory 6 online: Events
• How to create a ticket for estos support