This documentation supports the 23.3 version of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Troubleshooting Smart Recorder issues

When you use Smart Recorder, you might face issues such as Smart Recorder not retrieving correct templates, knowledge articles, or service requests. Use this information to understand and resolve the problem or to create a BMC Support case.

Symptoms

  • Smart Recorder does not retrieve suggested data.
  • Smart Recorder search retrieves incorrect results.
  • Smart Recorder takes a long time to retrieve search results.
  • Smart Recorder displays error messages when performing a Full Text Search (FTS) or Global search.

Scope

  • One or more users experience these problems.
  • In a server group environment, these problems might impact one or more servers.

Resolution

Perform the following steps to troubleshoot the Smart Recorder issues:

Step

Task

Description

1

Try to replicate the issue.

Enter several different terms in Smart Recorder. 

If Smart Recorder does not suggest any templates, ensure that the templateSearchByAuthoringGroup property is set to False. If this property is set to True, template suggestion in Smart Recorder is limited to only those templates that match the support group to which the user belongs.

2

Open Chrome Developer Tools and check the response.

  1. Enter a search string in the Global search field or in Smart Recorder.
  2. Use the F12 key to enable the browsers developer tools.
  3. Check the /ux/rest/globalsearch response.

3

Check the search results by running the search directly on the MFS:MultiFormSearch form.

Open the MFS:MultiFormSearch form in Mid Tier and search for the same keyword used in Global search and check the results.

4

Log in to BMC Helix ITSM and check whether you are able to perform Global search.

Check if the application retrieves any search results.

5

Change the log level of the UX or Smart IT log to DEBUG.

For information about enabling the debug log, see the log.level configuration parameter description in the Setting configuration parameters in BMC Helix ITSM topic. 

6

Check the response from the Global search in the UX or Smart IT log.

Check for the word ERROR in the ux.log or smartit.log and verify the response.

The response must be /smartit/rest/globalsearch/suggest/search.

7

Smart Recorder searches take a long time.

If searches in Smart Recorder take a long time to retrieve results, you can improve the search performance by modifying parameters in Server Group Configuration.

  1. Select Remedy Management Console > AR System Server Group Console > Server Group Configuration.
  2. Set the value of the isExclude_TAG_and_CI_ID parameter as True.

8

Review the Action Request System configuration. Determine if the search is performed from indexer server or searcher (user-facing) server.


Verify the FTS configuration. For information on FTS configuration, see Troubleshooting FTS configuration issues.

9

In the server where the search is being executed, enable API and SQL logging. 

You can enable logs across servers and server groups. For more information, see Managing logs for server groups.

10

Reproduce the issue in both BMC Helix ITSM and Mid Tier and note search-related information.

Enable logs and reproduce the problem.
If you are unable to reproduce the problem, wait until the problem occurs on its own.

When you replicate the issue in both BMC Helix ITSM and Mid Tier, provide the following information to BMC Support:

  • Name of the user who executed the search
  • The search criteria used
  • Time period that the problem occurred

Important:

Analyze Java heap stack if you encounter any of the following problems:

  • Increase in Java heap size
  • AR System Server stops responding
  • FTS plug-in server stops responding

Use a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or other appropriate tools to obtain a heap dump or thread dump as necessary. Collect the dump files when you observe any issue. 

See the following knowledge articles for more information about collecting a heap or thread dump:

11

Disable logging.

Allow three to five minutes for log buffering before running Log Zipper. Use the steps listed in Enabling server-side AR System logsto disable logging.

12

Collect the logs.


Copy logs to another location where you can view them. Ensure that the logs are not overwritten.

Review the symptoms and error messages. Use the information in this table to troubleshoot the issue.

13

Create a BMC Support case.

Collect and send logs and detailed information when creating a case with BMC Support:

  1. Provide the following information as part of your case:
    • Name of the user who performed the search
    • The search criteria used
    • Time when the problem occurred
    • Any error messages received
    • Include the pluginsvr_config.xml file from the ..\pluginsvr\fts\secondary directory.
    • If there is more than one indexer, include all indexers
  2. Perform the following steps:
    1. Run the Log Zipper utility on each affected indexer server and select Zip Logs.
    2. For more information on how to run the Log Zipper utility using the maintenance tool, see  AR System Maintenance tool.

  3. Attach the ZIP file to your case. You can attach zip file up to 2 GB.
    For more information, see SFT - Steps to send logs, files, screenshots to BMC Support for a Remedy Product related case.

14

Analyze the logs.

You can review the logs to try to identify error messages or behaviors. Use the information in the following table to help identify possible symptoms and solutions.

 After you determine a specific symptom or error message, use the following table to identify the solution:

Symptom

Location

Action

Reference

Service request templates are not displayed properly.

Smart Recorder

If you cannot see a service request template for a customer, check the following items:

People search through Smart Recorder has delayed response.

Smart Recorder

You can configure the allowPersonSearchByNameOnly parameter.

This configuration parameter is used to set the name-based query. You can configure this parameter to true to enable search by firstname%lastname.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*