Server logging modes

To turn on any of the logging modes and to configure related logging options, such as the name and location of the log file, use the Logging tab of the AR System Administration: Server Information form. See Configuring-AR-System-servers.

You can activate and deactivate the various logging modes at any time while the program is running.

For more information about logging Mid Tier and DSO servers, see:

• Mid Tier – See Mid-Tier-logging and Configuring-the-Log-Settings-page-by-using-Mid-Tier-Configuration-Tool.
• (For On-premises deployments only) DSO – See DSO logging.

After a log is activated, logging starts immediately. By default, each log file is restarted when you restart the AR System server process or when you reactivate logging after it has been deactivated. When this occurs, the previous log file is renamed with a .bak extension (for example, ARSystemInstallDir\arserver\Db\arsql.log.bak), and a new file is created. After the initial log is created, there are always two versions of the log file (the current one and the previous one).

Appending to an existing log file

To append to an existing log file, change the Log File Creation option in the logging tab to Append To Existing. If you select this option, data will be appended to the same log file each time logging is turned on or off, including when you restart the server. A backup of the log file is not created when the append option is selected. The log file grows to the maximum size configured, at which time the newest entries will overwrite the oldest entries.

Using the same log file for different log types

You can configure different types of logging to report to the same log file, providing a sequence of AR System events. To do so, enter the same path and log file name for the logs you want to combine.

This approach can be useful when tracing a transaction that might generate several types of log output. For example, an API log and SQL log that write to the same file provide a chronological list of SQL events that are triggered by specific API calls.

Each log file entry begins with one of the tags listed in the following table:

When a log file contains output from multiple traces, the tag identifies the action associated with the entry.

Log file tags

Creating per-thread log files

To decrease the impact to AR System performance when logging is enabled, you can create per-thread log files. (Select the Log Per Thread check box on the Log Files tab of the AR System Administration: Server Information form.)

You can create the following types of per-thread logs:

• Alert
• API
• Escalation
• Filter
• Full Text Index
• SQL

• User
  (For on-premises deployments only) The DSO, thread, plug-in server, and server group logs do not support per-thread logs.
  On per-thread logs, the thread ID is inserted into the log file name (for example, arapi-1444.log, arapi-1716.log, and arapi-1720.log for the API log).

  Important

  Thread IDs can be re-used from one running of the server to another, and different thread types can be assigned the same thread ID after the server is restarted.

  For example, during one run of the server, the file arapi-1142.log might contain log output for the Fast thread, but the same file name could be used to log the Admin thread after the server is restarted.

  Make sure you use the correct thread log for the current run of the server. To monitor which thread types are assigned to which thread ID, have thread logging turned on when the server starts.

  AR System uses the following rules to avoid creating log files for thread and log combinations that will never be used:

  Logs that threads use when creating per-thread log files