NVBU Logs – An Overview
Viewing NVBU Logs
Customizing the Column Show/Hide Settings
Filtering Logs
Exporting Logs to a Binary or Text File
Viewing Exported Logs
Deleting Logs Manually
Creating User-Defined Events for NVBU Logs
Removing a Custom Log Event
12.1.0 NVBU Logs – An Overview
NVBU processes generate logs to notify the server about various activities occurring within the NVBU system and report any problems or errors encountered during these activities. NVBU uses a log daemon to manage these logs, and write them to log files. The Log Daemon starts along with the NVBU Service, and runs on the NVBU Server. The log files reside in the ...\Logs directory (where ...
represents the NVBU installation directory) on the NVBU Server. This directory can be relocated using the NVBU Configurator. For details, refer to the Quest NetVault Backup Configuration Guide.
NVBU Logs are stored in binary format. The log files are named log-0, log-1, log-2, and so on. The Log Daemon always reserves space on the disk by creating a blank log file. For example, when log-0 becomes full, it creates log-2 before opening log-1 to write log messages. Log-0 and log-1 are created during NVBU installation. By default, the log daemon purges the log entries that are older than 30 days. You can override this behavior with a user-defined purge policy based on the log age or number of log pages. For details, refer to the Quest NetVault Backup Configuration Guide.
NVBU Logs are used to track activities and troubleshoot problems. You can view the logs from the NVBU Logs window. The device logs and job logs can also be viewed from the NVBU Device Management and NVBU Jobs windows, respectively.
12.2.0 Viewing NVBU Logs
To view NVBU Logs
1. Click Logs on the toolbar or Large Buttons panel. Alternatively, on the Operations menu, click Logs.
2. To view logs for a particular job, double-click the job in the Status or Jobs tabs.
Note: To view device-specific logs, click the Device Logs tab on the NVBU Device Management window.
3. These tabs display the following details:
Figure 12-1:
NVBU Logs window
Warning Level – The Warning Level column indicates the severity of the issue. Based on their severity, NVBU Logs are classified as follows:
Indicator Warning Level Description Background General logs
Information Logs related to backup media, scheduler, and system activities.
Job Message Job logs
Warning Problems encountered during execution, which do not cause a job to fail.
Error Problems encountered during execution, which might have caused a job to fail.
Severe Error Critical problems encountered during execution, which might have caused a job to fail.
An exclamation mark in the Warning Level Indicator denotes that the message can be opened further to view the log context.
Date/Time – The time stamp of the log entry. It is displayed in the following format:
Year/Month/Date Hour:Minute:Second
Job ID – The Job ID for a backup, restore, or report job.
Class – The type of operation that generated the log. For example, media activity logs are classified as Media, messages sent by the plug-in are classified as Data Plugin, and job messages are classified as Job.
Client – The name of the client on which the process that generated the log is running.
Log Message – The detailed log message or description.
4. Double-click a message with an exclamation mark to open one of the following windows:
Additional Information Window – This window contains the data transfer details.
View Job Context – The log context typically contains the execution scripts or output generated by the plug-in.
5. To save a log context, click Save to File. In the Save Log Context window, enter the file name, and click OK. The file is saved to ...\Logs directory (where ... represents the NVBU installation directory).
12.3.0 Customizing the Column Show/Hide Settings
To customize the column show/hide settings for the NVBU Logs window 1. In the NVBU Logs window, right-click the header row.
2. To hide a column, clear the check mark for that column.
3. To display a column, right-click the header row, and select the column name.
Note: The NVBU Logs window must contain at least one entry in order to customize the column show/hide settings.
12.4.0 Filtering Logs
To filter the logs displayed in the NVBU Logs window
1. In the NVBU Logs window, click Set Filter on the toolbar. Alternatively, on the View menu, click Set Filter.
2. Set the required filters:
Figure 12-2:
Filter Options window
Date and Time – Under From and To, configure the required parameters:
Start Point – Select the First Event option display records from the event.
Alternatively, select the Specify Time option, and enter or select the date and time to display records from the specified date and time.
End Point – Select the Last Event option to display records up to the last event.
Alternatively, select the Specify Time option, and enter or select the date and time to display records up to the specified date and time.
Clients – Under Clients, select the applicable check box
Select All – To include all listed NVBU Clients, click Select All.
Clear All – To remove all listed NVBU Clients, click Remove All.
This will normally result in no logs being displayed. However, if the log source is a log dump, then the Clear All option behaves differently because the Clients list may or may not contain the NVBU Clients present in the logs. Although the Client list will be cleared, this will be interpreted as “Do not Filter on NVBU Clients” and all the logs will be displayed regardless of the Client list.
Classes – To hide certain classes of messages, clear the check box for it.
Warning Levels – Select the lowest severity level under Warning Levels. When you select a level, all logs belonging to that level and higher levels are displayed in the NVBU Logs window.
By default, all logs belonging as Job Messages and higher levels (that is, Warnings, Errors, and Severe Errors) are displayed in the NVBU Logs window.
Select the All option to display messages of all warning levels.
Jobs – To display logs for a particular job, select the Filter on Job check box, and enter the Job ID.
Text – To set a filter string, select the Filter on Text check box, and enter the filter string.
3. Click Apply to apply the filter conditions. Then, click OK to close the window.
12.5.0 Exporting Logs to a Binary or Text File
NVBU Logs can be exported to external files in binary or text format. This option can be used to create a copy of the logs before purging them from the NVDB. By default, all current logs are exported to the specified file. If you want to export logs generated during a specific period, first set a time-based filter criterion, and then use the dump option. For example, to dump all logs generated during the previous month, set a filter to display only those logs, and then run this option.
To dump logs into a binary or text file 1. Open the NVBU Logs window.
2. Click Dump Logs to File on the toolbar. Alternatively, click Dump Logs to File on the Options menu.
3. In the Dump Log Entries to File window, configure the following parameters:
Figure 12-3:
Dump Log Entries to File window
Dump Log File Name – Enter the export file name. If you do not specify the full path, then the file will be saved in the following directory depending on the selected dump format:
Binary Format – <NVBU Installation Directory>\log\dumps\binary
Text Format – <NVBU Installation Directory>\log\dumps\text
Format – The logs can be exported in the following formats:
Binary – Select this option to export the logs to a binary file (.nlg). This file can be loaded on to NVBU temporarily, if required. Use the binary format when you want to send the logs to the Technical Support.
Text – Select this option to export the logs to a text file.
4. Click OK to save the logs.
12.6.0 Viewing Exported Logs
To view the logs exported to a binary file (.nlg) 1. Open the NVBU Logs window.
2. On the Options menu, click Select Logs Source.
3. In the Select Log Source window, configure the following parameter:
Figure 12-4:
Select Log Source window
Specify Log File – Select this option, and do one of the following:
To load a file available in the <NVBU Installation
Directory>\logs\dumps\binary directory folder, select it in log file list below.
To load a dump file residing in a different location, enter the full path in the box.
4. Click OK to view the dumped logs.
5. To reset the view to current logs, select the Use Default Log source option.
12.7.0 Deleting Logs Manually
NVBU logs are automatically deleted after 30 days. You can change the Log Daemon properties and set a new purge period for the logs from the Configurator.
For details, refer to the Quest NetVault Backup Configuration Guide. To manually delete the logs that are no longer required, use the following steps: