Web Agent Guides › Web Agent Configuration Guide › Configure Logs › Error Logs and Trace Logs

Error Logs and Trace Logs

You can use the Web Agent logging function to monitor the performance of the Web Agent and its communication with the Policy Server. The logging feature provides accurate and comprehensive information about the operation of SiteMinder processes to analyze performance and troubleshoot issues.

A log is a record of events that occur during program execution. A log consists of a series of log messages, each one describing some event that occurred during program execution. Log messages are written to log files.

Note: IIS 6.0 Web Agents create log files only after the first user request is submitted. Apache 2.0 Web Agents create log files when the Apache server starts.

The Web Agent uses the following log files:

• Error log

  Contains program and operational-level errors. One example is when the Web Agent cannot communicate with Policy Server. The level of detail output in this log cannot be customized. Error logs contain the following types of messages:

  • Error messages

    Contain program-level errors, which indicate incorrect or abnormal program behavior, or an inability to function as expected due to some external problem, such as a network failure. There are also operational-level errors. This type of error is a failure that prevents the operation from succeeding, such as opening a file or authenticating a user.

  • Informational messages

    Contain messages for the user or administrator that some event has occurred; that is, that a server has started or stopped, or that some action has been taken.

  • Warning messages

    Contain warnings for the user or administrator of some condition or event that is unusual or indicative of a potential problem. This does not necessarily mean there is anything wrong.

• Trace log

  Contains detailed warning and informational messages, which you can configure. Examples include trace messages and flow state messages. This file also includes data such as header details and cookie variables. Trace logs contain the following messages:

  • Trace messages

    Provide detailed information about program operation for tracing and/or debugging purposes. Trace messages are ordinarily turned off during normal operation. In contrast to informational, warning, and error messages, trace messages are embedded in the source code and can not easily be localized. Moreover, trace messages may include significant data in addition to the message itself; for example, the name of the current user or realm.

You specify the location of both the error and trace log files when you configure the Web Agent. Use the error and trace logs to help solve any issues that may prevent the Web Agent from operating properly.

Note: For Agents on Windows platforms, set the EnableWebAgent parameter to yes to ensure that the Web Agent log gets created. If you leave EnableWebAgent set to no (the default) and set the logging parameters, the Agent log gets created only for Agents on UNIX platforms.