Configuring a destination for cell trace output

You can use the tracing parameters to configure the cell to output information to a specified destination. The destination for cell trace output is determined by the value of the DESTINATION parameter in the mcell.trace file.

Possible destinations for cell trace output are:

• Console 
• Standard error stream 
• External file or files 
• No trace output

In addition to sending trace output to one of these destinations, you also can send trace output to another cell. For information, see Sending trace output to another cell.

Sending trace output to a console

 To send trace output to a console, open the mcell.trace file and set the DESTINATION parameter to the value console.

Sending trace output to the standard error stream

To send trace output to the standard error stream of the command window where the cell is running, open the mcell.trace file and set the DESTINATION parameter to the value stderr.

If the cell runs as a service or daemon, all trace output that is configured to go to stderr is redirected to the file specified in the TraceDefaultFileName parameter in the mcell.conf file. 

If you specify for the trace output to go to stderr, the trace file is truncated every time the cell restarts, and a new trace file is written.

Sending trace output to an external file

To send trace output to an external file or files, open the mcell.trace file and set the DESTINATION parameter to the path and file name of the destination file.

The cell keeps the trace file open on both UNIX and Windows systems. On UNIX, any attempt to remove the file succeeds. However, all trace output goes to an invisible file that becomes visible when the cell is restarted.

A trace destination file can be located anywhere, but the Infrastructure Management process must have write access to that location.

Disabling trace output

To disable trace output, open the mcell.trace file and set the DESTINATION parameter to the value no.