Service logs are logs written in a binary format. You cannot
view a service log directly using a text editor. You should never
directly edit the service log, as doing so will corrupt the log.
Before you begin
To
move a service log from one machine to another, you must use a mechanism
like FTP, which supports binary file transfer. You can view a service
log in two ways:
- It is recommended that you use the Log and Trace Analyzer tool
to view the service log. This tool provides interactive viewing and
analysis capability that is helpful in identifying problems.
- If you are unable to use the Log and Trace Analyzer tool, use
the Showlog tool to convert the contents of the service log to a text
format that you can then write to a file or dump to the command shell
window.
About this task
Run the showlog script to view the contents of the service
log as described in the following procedure.
Procedure
- Open a shell window on the machine where the service log
resides.
- Change the directory to app_server_root/bin where app_server_root is
the fully qualified path where the WebSphere® Application
Server product is installed.
- Run the showlog script.
showlog
- Run the following showlog script with no parameters to
display usage instructions.
showlog
- Format and write the service log contents to a file.
showlog service_log_filename output_filename
If
the service log is not in the default location, you must fully qualify
the service_log_filename