IBM® Support Assistant Data Collector Help


Introduction

The IBM® Support Assistant Data Collector tool is provided as an aid for troubleshooting problems with IBM software products. The tool focuses on automatic collection of problem data. It also provides symptom analysis support for the various categories of problems encountered by IBM software products. Information pertinent to a type of problem is collected and analyzed to help identify the origin of the problem under investigation. The tool assists customers by reducing the amount of time it takes to reproduce a problem with the proper tracing levels set, as well as by reducing the effort required to send the appropriate log information into IBM Support. In this help guide, we tell you how to get up and running with the IBM Support Assistant Data Collector tool.


Accessibility

IBM® strives to provide products with usable access for everyone, regardless of age or ability. The IBM ISA Data Collector Console interface supports keyboard-only operation and may also be used with screen reading applications.


Step-by-Step

In most cases, the following sequence of steps will get you up and running with the tool. If you run into problems, or if you would like more information on any of these steps, you can refer to the sections below that follow this one.

  1. Install the tool by extracting the files from the archive file that you downloaded.
  2. Run the tool in either the GUI mode or the command-line console mode.

Tool Installation

Installing the Tool

In all cases, installation of the IBM Support Assistant Data Collector tool is simply a matter of extracting the files from the archive that you downloaded. The files can be extracted to any file system location you choose on the system where you will be running the tool. This will create a sub-directory \isadc in this target directory.

Tool Usage

Setting the JAVA_HOME Environment Variable

If running the tool in command-line console mode, invoke the appropriate launch script from a command line. In the case of a Windows system, these launch scripts are batch files. For the other environments, they are shell scripts.

Since the tool is implemented as a Java application, it is necessary to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable before the tool can start. If Java is not available on the PATH, you will have to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable manually. The IBM Support Assistant Data Collector tool requires a JRE at the level 1.5 or higher, so you must first make sure that a suitable JRE is installed on the system where the tool will be running. If it is, then you will need to issue an operating-system-specific command to set the JAVA_HOME variable to point to this JRE. The Microsoft JVM/JDK and gij (GNU libgcj) are not supported. For example, if you have jdk1.5 installed at c:\jre1.5 on a Windows platform, you would set JAVA_HOME using the following command:

SET JAVA_HOME=c:\jre1.5

On a Linux, AIX, HP-UX, or Solaris platform, the exact command syntax to set JAVA_HOME varies depending on which shell you are using. For example, if you are using bash shell and you have the JDK installed in /opt/jre15, you would set JAVA_HOME using the following command:

export JAVA_HOME=/opt/jre15

Starting the Tool in GUI Mode

You will need to open the index.html file located in the isadc installation directory into a web browser.

Starting the Tool in Command-Line Console Mode

If a GUI is not available, the tool should be started in command line mode. Simply execute the launch script from the command line.

  1. In a Windows environment, run isadc.bat from the \isadc directory.
  2. In a Linux, AIX, HP-UX, or Solaris environment, run isadc.sh from the /isadc directory.

Location of files created during execution

By default, the isadc installation directory is used for storing files created during execution. On some systems, the isadc installation directory will be read only. In this instance, use the -useHome parameter (console mode only). This parameter will cause temporary files to be written to the systems temporary directory and persistent files written to the user home directory.

Interacting with the Tool in GUI Mode

Once the IBM Support Assistant Data Collector tool has been started in a web browser, the graphical interface will be displayed.

Before the tool can be used to perform data collection and analysis, you must first select a problem type from the main page.

With the problem type selected the next step is to press the Start button. As it proceeds, the collection script will ask you for any additional information it needs to complete its collection activities. A script may also ask you for configuration information, for information about the sequence of events leading up to the problem you are dealing with, or for your preferences regarding how it should complete the collection. Once it has all the information it needs, the script will proceed with the remainder of the collection.

When the tool completes the data collection, you can send the results to IBM Support. You can choose between FTP, which is unencrypted and HTTPS, which is encrypted, for the file transfer. The name of the zip file the tool sends to IBM Support will be displayed in the collection status area.

Interacting with the Tool in Command-Line Console Mode

When IBM Support Assistant Data Collector runs in command-line console mode, there are no selection lists or entry fields for user input. Instead, available choices are presented as numbered lists and you enter the number of your selection followed by the Enter key. Input fields are transformed into prompts, at which you enter your response and press Enter.

To stop the collector tool, type the quit option in console mode.

The tool will prompt for file names. On Unix platforms, using "~" as a designation of the user's HOME directory is not supported. If a "~" is used, a subdirectory under the present working directory by the name of "~" will be referenced.

Determining version information

By default, the version of the tool (and its various sub-components) is printed to the console from which it was launched. When running in GUI mode, version information can also be found using the Help -> About menu option. If Java is not available, or the Java application is unable to start, you can also get the version of the tool by running the launch scripts with the "-version" option.

When using the "-version" option, the launch scripts will print out the version information without actually invoking the tool.

Proxy support for HTTPS uploads

By default, uploads will use a system defined proxy. On windows, the JRE uses the proxy configuration of Internet Explorer. On Unix, the JRE uses the the proxy configuration of GNOME 2. To override this and input a different proxy, use the "-promptForProxy" option (console mode only).

Trademarks

IBM, the IBM logo and AIX are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corportation in the United States or other countries or both:

Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.

HP-UX is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.