Switching to HPEL mode for logging and tracing on WebSphere Application Server V8.0 or later
There are two modes of logging and tracing for WebSphere® Application Server V8.0 or later, which are basic mode and High Performance Extensible Logging (HPEL) mode. HPEL is designed to provide faster log and trace handling capabilities than the basic mode.
Before you begin
Viewing log and traces in HPEL mode using the workbench is only available for WebSphere Application Server V8.0 or later running on Windows or Linux operating systems.
About this task
The basic mode is the default logging and tracing setting for the server. In basic mode, the log and trace contents are written in plain text format to the log files, such as SystemOut.log, SystemErr.log, trace.log, and activity.log files.
In HPEL mode, the log and trace contents are written to a log data or trace data repository in a proprietary binary format. The use of a binary log format instead of a plain text format is designed to improve performance of the server by providing faster log and trace handling capabilities. To enable HPEL mode, you must use the administrative console or wsadmin scripting that is provided by WebSphere Application Server. You can use the workbench to translate a snapshot of the binary (HPEL) server logs in to readable text that displays in the editor pane. In addition, during the run time of the server you can view HPEL log and traces in the Console view in a readable text format.
Data | Description |
---|---|
Time Stamp | The time when the event was recorded. |
Thread ID | The identity of the thread that recorded the event in hexadecimal notation. |
Logger | The logger that recorded the event. |
Level | The type of event that was recorded. |
Message | The message from the recorded event. If the message has a message ID, the message ID is underlined. In the Console view, you can click the message ID to get an explanation and recommended user action for the message. In the editor pane, the message ID link is not available and display as plain text only. |
[3/3/11 23:01:30:147 EST] 0000000f ApplicationMg Z WSVR0221I: Application started: DefaultApplication
In this example, [3/3/11 23:01:30:147 EST] is the time stamp, 0000000f is the thread ID, ApplicationMg is the logger, Z is the level, and WSVR0221I: Application started: DefaultApplication is the message where WSVR0221I is the message ID.
Procedure
What to do next
- You can use the administrative console to view and filter through the HPEL log and trace content. For more information, see Log viewer settings.
- You can use the administrative console or wsadmin scripting tools to switch back to the basic mode from HPEL mode. For more information, seeChanging from HPEL to basic mode logging and tracing.