Reading Logs
- 07 May 2020
- 2 Minutes to read
- Print
- DarkLight
This documentation version is deprecated, please click here for the latest version.
Reading Logs
- Updated on 07 May 2020
- 2 Minutes to read
- Print
- DarkLight
Article summary
Did you find this summary helpful?
Thank you for your feedback
Overview
Logs are important to help identify issues within the environment or elsewhere that could be effecting end-user or administrator performance. Trying to identify an error within an extensive log can be cumbersome, this article serves to help in diagnosing these log recordings.
The Logs
Logs are produced by issues with the Service Host Manager. These logs can be configured in the Studio and customized with Log steps in the Flow Designer. The types of back-end logs are Primary, DecisionsServiceHost.exe, Usage, UsageDetail, Installer, and SHMcc.
Reading Logs
There are several different aspects that make up a recorded log in any of the Decisions log files. This screenshot shows an example of a log recording with each component of the log highlighted. Refer to the descriptions of the highlighted components below to get a better understanding of how these logs are comprised.
Log Components
| Log Number | The unique GUID assigned to a log. It allows you to quickly reference a particular log message. |
| Log Category | By default, Decisions generate logs with five distinct categories; Warn, Info, Debug, Error, and Fatal. These categories help to indicate the severity of an issue. The table below explores these categories further. |
| Log Date Stamp | This shows the time and date when the error occurred. |
| Thread Log Generated On | This shows which thread the log occurred on. Threads are used to trace the execution of a series of log events, although it cannot be inferred that previous log messages in the file occur in the same execution context. |
| Part of Platform Producing Log | This identifies which tool or part of the Decisions product is generating the issue. This is extremely helpful if the administrator is unsure of where the issue is occurring. The category in the screenshot is Flow Engine, but these categories can also include Server, System, Security, AbstractDebugEntity, API Profiling, FlowStep, Database, and more. |
| Session ID For Log | This shows the Session ID for the user session where this issue occurred. |
| Log Message | This shows the message for the error that occurred, stating what would appear for the error message in the Decisions environment if the problem were encountered there. |
| Exception Details | This shows the exception message for the error that occurred, providing precise details of what happened when the occurrence triggered. |
Log Categories
| Info | This provides information to the user on an occurrence and is typically used outside of error tracking. |
| Debug | This catches most exceptions that do not fall under the other categories. |
| Warn | This tracks potential issues that do not impede the process from running. These are typically less critical issues. |
| Error | This tracks when a process cannot complete properly, this is critically higher than a Warn. |
| Fatal | This is an environment breaking level warning that stops a process (or multiple processes) from running. |
Enabling Info/Debug Categories
The Info and Debug Log Categories are not enabled by default, please visit our Logging Settings article for more information.
Was this article helpful?
