0.19: What are messages, logs, and traces? (brief description)

Messages, logs, and traces are important diagnostic tools for investigating the behavior of WebSphere Application Server product code, including application servers and administrative servers.

Messages
Provide high-level view of important events, such as successful completions and fatal errors. The performance impact of enabling messages is minimal to none
Logs
Provide information about administrative and application servers as they initialize and run.

After an error or problem condition occurs, logs can be reviewed for clues as to what happened.

The performance impact of enabling logs is low to medium

Traces
Collections of data from trace statements placed throughout the WebSphere product code.

As the code executes, tracing information is sent to a specified file or stream, so that the administrator and IBM support personnel can analyze it.

The performance impact of enabling traces is medium to high.

The trace system can provide the most extensive information. It supports:

Tracing provides the most detail, but it also can drain performance. Typically, the administrator should enable tracing only when directed to so by IBM support personnel.