Problem Resolution and Debugging
In many Production MCP environments, print files are quickly dispatched. Because of this, the MCP LSAM debug print files may no longer be unavailable when you attempt to collect the information SMA Technologies requires to identify the cause of an issue quickly and accurately. Timely submission of the debug information, discussed in this topic, will result in more immediate attention to the issue. In some cases, it is not possible for SMA Technologies to address your concern without this information, and work on the issue will be suspended until the requisite information has been provided.
Start at the Beginning
Analyze an Issue
This section identifies the resources and support available to you when an issue occurs.
Resource One
If an issue occurs, first check Machine Messages and Troubleshooting. Most issues that have occurred at other customer sites are documented in these sections. It may be possible to take the prescribed action and be up and running again in a very short time.
Resource Two
Another source of information is the OpCon User Community hosted through Salesforce. Under the Solutions tab in the Portal, you can search SMA Technologies' knowledge base to help resolve questions, issues, or errors. To learn more about how to access and use the Portal, refer to OpCon User Community in the Support online help.
Resource Three
If the particular issue has been addressed neither in the Troubleshooting section nor in the SMArt User Community, then all pertinent information needs to be gathered and provided to the SMA Technologies support representative.
Some questions to consider
Does this issue occur only on a particular job? If so, does it happen every time this job runs? If so, first check the Operations Related Information on the Enterprise Manager for this job. If there are still some questions as to the cause, enable the LSAM debug, then resubmit the job via OpCon if possible, and then disable the LSAM debug. This will cause additional information to be captured for this job. If the job summary is available, retrieve it and forward it to the SMA Technologies support individual when the LSAM debug print files are submitted.
Did this issue occur immediately following an MCP LSAM upgrade? Note the previous and current MCP LSAM version.
Did this issue occur immediately following a change to the LSAM configuration?
Did this issue occur immediately after performing an MCP O/S upgrade? Note the previous and current MCP O/S versions.
What additional information can be provided that may be helpful in identifying the cause of the issue?
What day and time did the issue occur? Was anything unusual also going on at that time?
Supply the schedule name, job name, and specific details about the unexpected behavior of the OpCon job affected. Run the DataCollector to collect the OpCon logs that include the time during which the issue occurred.
About Debugging
SMA Technologies strongly recommends that sites do NOT run continuously with debug set. The debug switches cause a very large volume of data to be written to the LSAM debug print files and this can result in excessive disk space usage and a decrease in LSAM throughput due to the additional I/O.
Also, be advised that if running an OpCon job whose processing path is altered via the use of program switches, the expected results with that program may not be achieved. Programs inherit the switch settings of the processes that initiated them, and the LSAM initiates OpCon jobs.
If the issue affects all jobs (or the LSAM itself), SMA Technologies recommends that debug switches for all LSAM components be activated. This may be accomplished in several ways.
Enable Debug
Simply select INITDEBUG form the SMAMAINMENU, and follow the screen prompts. The optional timer is the number of minutes for which to capture debug information. If the timer is omitted, debugging will remain active until a) debugging is disabled via the SMA/MANAGER screen selection, STOPDEBUG, or b) the LSAM is brought down. This method sets debug switches for all the LSAM components, excluding the Resource and File Monitors. To enable debugging for the Resource and File Monitors, deliver an AX DEBUG <optional timer> to the *SMA/RESOURCE/MONITOR/xxx module.
To view the previous information, refer to Enable Debug in the Legacy Information topic.
Collect Debug Information
The MCP LSAM includes a utility, *SMASUP, which will gather the LSAM debug information. The SMASUP utility requires information about the LSAM environment in order to retrieve the information SMA Technologies requires.
If the debug switches were set using the AX DEBUG <optional timer> command and the timer was used, when the timer expires, the *SMA/COMM/xxx and/or *SMA/RESOURCE/MONITOR/xxx module(s) will automatically cause the *SMASUP program to run using the environmental information supplied by *SMA/COMM/xxx or *SMA/RESOURCE/MONITOR/xxx.
If the <optional timer> was not used with the INITDEBUG command, you must stop debugging by selecting the STOPDEBUG option on the Main Menu if SMA/MANAGER. This will cause the *SMASUP program to run automatically.
SMASUP Output
The SMASUP utility creates three files: SMASUPTXT, SMASUPFILCON, and SMASUPPRTCON. Each of these files should be treated separately from each other and from any additional files that are being sent to SMA Technologies (such as job summaries). Each of these files need to be retrieved from the MCP to a Windows machine. Attach each of the files to the Support case created through the SMArt User Community, email the files to the first-line OpCon support individual, or place them on the SMA Technologies FTP site.
SMASUPTXT
The SMASUPTXT file is an ASCII text file. It should be FTPed using ASCII (or text) transfer type. This file may be viewed on any machine that supports ASCII text files (such as a Windows machine). It contains environmental information, flat data files, the LSAM configuration audit log, copies of SMA WFLs, and etc., and is crucial to SMA Technologies support staff.
SMASUPFILCON
The SMASUPFILCON file is a container file and has LSAM data files. It should be FTPed using binary transfer type. The contents of this file can only be utilized after the container has been unwrapped to an MCP machine. The data files are sometimes used by SMA Technologies development staff to attempt to duplicate the customer's LSAM state. If SMASUP is run while the LSAM is running, some LSAM data files will not be included in this container.
SMASUPPRTCON
The SMASUPPRTCON file is a container file and has LSAM debug print files. It should be FTPed using binary transfer type. The contents of this file can only be utilized after the container has been unwrapped to an MCP machine. These files contain debug information captured by the LSAM and are crucial to SMA Technologies development staff in analyzing an issue. If SMASUP is run while the LSAM is running, not all debug print files may be captured within this container. If there are no print files to capture, this container file will not be created.
Please avoid sending an entire sumlog to SMA Technologies when at all possible. The sumlog should NOT be viewed as an alternative to the LSAM debug print files. The LSAM debug print files contain data that is relative to the internal behavior of the LSAM – information that would not be present in the sumlog.