Diagnostic and troubleshooting tools

This section explains the following diagnostic and troubleshooting tools:

The Heartbeat utility is a client-side utility, which you can install on any client machine using the instructions provided below. The Diagnostic Service, Diagnostic Report, and Checker utilities are available within the eRSAdmin Window; to access these utilities, select the eRoom Server folder and right click to bring up a menu containing the utilities.

Heartbeat testing

The eRoom Heartbeat utility is a Windows MMC snap-in that you can install on any computer and use to remotely monitor an eRoom server. The default Heartbeat test attempts to open every facility and every eRoom. If it is successful, the test passes; otherwise, it fails. Using VBScript and eRoom’s Server Access API (SAAPI), you can also create custom Heartbeat tests.

Enabling Heartbeat monitoring on the server

In order to use the Heartbeat utility to monitor a server, you must enable Heartbeat monitoring on the server. To do this, perform the following procedure on the eRoom 7 server you want to monitor.

  1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > eRoom Server > eRoom Server Administration.

The ERSAdmin window opens.

  1. Open the eRoom Folder.

  2. Double click "Site Settings".

The General tab of the eRoom Site Settings page opens.

  1. In the Options section, check "Allow heartbeat monitoring".

  2. Click "Apply".

Installing the Heartbeat utility on a client

The eRoom Heartbeat utility is a separate download that is not installed with the eRoom server. Consequently, you must install the Heartbeat utility separately. Perform the following procedure on the eRoom 7 client machine you want to use for remotely monitoring an eRoom server.

  1. Download the Heartbeat utility from the Documentum site and launch it.

  2. Follow the prompts to install the utility.

Configuring the Heartbeat utility

Perform the following procedure on the eRoom client machine on which you have installed the Heartbeat utility.

  1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > eRoom 7 Heartbeat > eRoom Heartbeat Administration.

The eRoom Heartbeat Console opens.

  1. Select the eRoom Heartbeat folder and right-click.

  2. From the pop-up menu, choose New > Job.

The New Heartbeat Job dialog box opens.

  1. For the default test, specify a “Job Name,” “Interval,” “Protocol,” and “Server Name".

  2. If necessary, specify a non-default “Port Number,” “Test Name,” or “Query String Parameters”.

  3. This step is unnecessary for a default test. It is only necessary if you are using a non-default port or a customized test, or if you need to specify query string parameters.

  4. To test the configuration, click "Test URL".

A message box indicates whether the test passed or failed.

  1. Click "OK".

Remotely checking the server

Once you have installed and configured the Heartbeat utility on a remote client machine, you can easily use it to check a server’s status.

  1. On the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > eRoom 7 Heartbeat > eRoom Heartbeat Administration.

The eRoom Heartbeat Console opens.

  1. In the row for the test job you want to monitor, look at the “Last Run Status” column to see the last recorded results.

  2. Alternatively, to run the test immediately, select the test job and right-click.

  3. From the pop-up menu, choose All Tasks > Test Now.

The test results appear in the “Last Run Status” column.

Enabling Logging

You can record Heartbeat test results to a log file. A new file for the ensuing day’s results is created at Midnight daily.

  1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > eRoom 7 Heartbeat > eRoom Heartbeat Administration.

The eRoom Heartbeat Console opens.

  1. Select the eRoom Heartbeat node and right-click.

  2. From the pop-up menu, choose "Properties".

The eRoom Heartbeat Properties dialog box opens.

  1. Check the “Log Enabled” checkbox.

  2. In the “File Directory” field, specify a writable directory for the log file.

  3. In the File Prefix field, specify a prefix for the log file.

The filename of the generated log will consist of the prefix you specified, the current date, and a .log extension. (For example, hb050802.log). The file is placed in the directory you specified.

Performance counters

The Heartbeat utility can generate performance counter information, which can be used by such monitoring tools as the Windows Performance Monitor. The Heartbeat utility uses a performance object called eRoom Heartbeat. There are four performance counters you can use:

There is one instance of each performance counter for each defined Heartbeat job; the names of the instances are the same as the names of the jobs. In addition, there is an instance called “_Total,” which is an aggregated count for all of the jobs.

Status Codes

The following table lists the possible status codes that could be returned by the Last Status performance counter.

Code

Value

0

Success

1

Timeout

2

Authentication failure

3

Test failed

4

Test disabled

5

Invalid URL

6

Name not resolved

7

Incorrect username

8

Incorrect password

9

Login failure

10

Cannot connect to server

11

Client certificate needed

12

Invalid CA

13

Client authentication not set up

14

Asynchronous thread failed

15

TCP/IP not installed

16

Internet disconnected

17

Server unreachable

18

Proxy server unreachable

19

Bad auto proxy script

20

Invalid certificate

21

Certificate revoked

22

Connection timeout

23

Invalid server response

24

Denied

25

Server error

26

Not found

27

Not supported

28

Bad request

29

Forbidden

30

Bad method

31

None acceptable

32

Proxy Authentication request

33

Request timeout

34

Conflict

35

Gone

36

Length required

37

Request too large

38

Pre-condition failed

39

Version not supplied

40

Gateway timeout

41

Unknown error

eRoom Tracing

Available from the Server Tuning dialog box, eRoom tracing enables you to retrieve several levels of detail on numerous aspects of eRoom 7 performance. For information on configuring eRoom tracing, refer to eRoom Server Tuning.

Diagnostic report

The eRoom Diagnostic Report collects several types of diagnostic information and places it in a .zip file that you can specify. You can specify for inclusion as many types of diagnostic information from the following list:

Note:  The eTrace log and the eRoom performance log are only collected if you have previously configured and enabled these utilities separately via the Server Tuning dialog box.

Running the Diagnostic Report

In the event of a server failure, you can run the eRoom Diagnostic Report to collect all the information eRoom Support might request surrounding the incident. Note that the collection of all diagnostics (especially Userdumps) may take several minutes (0-40 minutes). However, all information is necessary in the event of a server outage.

  1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > eRoom Server > eRoom Server Administration.

The ERSAdmin window opens.

  1. Open the eRoom folder.

  2. Right click on the eRoom Server machine.

  3. Choose "Diagnostic Report".

The eRoom Diagnostic Report dialog box opens.

  1. The date and time are filled in automatically. Enter a description of the incident. Provide as much detail as possible.

  2. Select the types of data files you want included.

  3. For outages, leave all checkboxes checked.

  4. Click "OK".

  5. Specify a filename and directory for the output .zip file.

  6. If the web server is not responding, you will need to reboot after running the report.

When the server is rebooted, the diagnostic service will be restarted upon reboot.

Each time the report runs in a given day, it will capture all Performance Monitor logs for that day. After running the report, we recommend that you delete the eTrace and Performance Monitor logs (after confirming they were zipped and captured). This way, each time the report is run it will capture only the eTrace and Performance Monitor logs that were captured since the last time the service was restarted.

eRoom Checker

The eRoom Checker tool is installed with the eRoom Application and checks the following:

Use the following procedure to configure and run eRoom Checker.

  1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > eRoom Server > eRoom Server Administration.

The ERSAdmin window opens.

  1. Open the eRoom folder and right click on the eRoom server you would like to check.

  2. Choose “eRoom Checker”.

The eRoom Checker dialog box opens.

  1. Specify what you would like to check and a policy for handling any errors that are found.

  2. Click the “Start” button.

The Checker process runs. When it is completed, Errors and a Full Report appear in the dialog box.

The Checker executable resides in the …\Program Files\eRoom\eRoom Server directory. In most cases, it is unnecessary to run the eRoom Checker from a command line. However, if you have SQL Anywhere, running the erchecker/r all command from an operating system window in the eRoom Server directory can repair SQL Anywhere log files for facilities and databases. To see a listing of all available command line arguments, use the erchecker/? command.

eRoom Checker and Site Database Recovery

eRoom 7 contains a site database backup and recovery feature. This feature is not intended to replace normal backup procedures, but it can provide a means of easily restoring a lost eRoom 7 site. The backup and recovery feature makes regular, automated backups of the site database. By default, this feature is enabled.

Use the following steps to disable or enable Site Recovery.

  1. On the Scheduler page of the Site Settings, clear or check the "Enable site recovery" Nightly task. (If there is more than one eRoom server, the site recovery checkbox appears only in the row for the primary eRoom server.)

  2. Click "Apply".

When site recovery task is enabled, a nightly job creates (or replaces) a file called "SiteBackup.bak" containing the Members, Groups & Communities tables in the site database. This file is placed on the eRoom file server that stores facility templates and extensions. Failed backup attempts are listed in the Event Viewer.

Use the following steps to recover a site database from a site backup file.

  1. Run the Checker from a command line with the recover switch. Use the following syntax:

erchecker -recover

The Checker dialog appears with a "Restore Site" button.

  1. Click the "Restore Site" button.

A file browser dialog appears, so that you can browse for the SiteBackup.bak file.

  1. Browse for the SiteBackup.bak file and click "OK".

  2. Confirm the site restoration.

eRoomerrors.log file

Automatically created by eRoom, the eRoomerrors.log file records any errors generated by the eRoom 7 server. When this file is created, it is placed in the eRoom Data directory location you specified when installing eRoom 7. This file can be sent to eRoom Support when you encounter problems that need troubleshooting.