Microsoft KB Archive/122055

= Systems Management Server Tracing and Log Capabilities =

Article ID: 122055

Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q122055



SUMMARY
Because Microsoft Systems Management Server is based on a sophisticated set of transactions that are processed throughout the site hierarchy, it is often difficult to predict the time in which a command will complete. These commands can range from a package distribution to a logon server configuration update. Systems Management Server builds in to each Windows NT service component the ability to write status and diagnostic information to log files for historical or interactive review. There are also several client-side log files created by Program Group Control, AppStart, and so on.

It is strongly recommended that tracing remain active; however, for performance tuning, you may disable trace logging with Systems Management Server Service Manager, and activate tracing during diagnostics and setup/upgrade. This feature is on by default so that any recent problems will be recorded.



MORE INFORMATION
Along with the ability to write log information to a file, Systems Management Server includes the Server Service Manager (SMSVCMGR.EXE) and Trace (SMSTRACE.EXE) that you can use to control and display and review these diagnostic log files.

By default, tracing (the process of writing to the log files) will be enabled for the Windows NT service components of Systems Management Server but can easily be deactivated (for performance improvements) with the SMS Service Manager. Once activated for a particular component, you can use SMS Trace (run from SITE.SRV\.BIN\SMSTRACE.EXE) to open the log file and monitor it in real time.

Log files are located in the SMS\LOGS directory by default. You can use Systems Management Server Service Manager to set log file locations and maximum sizes. Following is a list of Systems Management Server components and the relevant log files: Site Configuration Manager:  SCMAN.LOG Hierarchy Manager:           HMAN.LOG Inventory Agent NT:          INVAGENT.LOG PCM Service:                 PACMAN.LOG SMS_Executive:               SMSEXEC.LOG Alerter:                     ALERTER.LOG Applications Manager:        APPMAN.LOG Inventory Data Loader:       DATALODR.LOG Despooler:                   DESPOOL.LOG Inventory Processor:         INVPROC.LOG Senders:                     LANSEND.LOG, RASASYNC.LOG, and so on Maintenance Manager:          MAINTMAN.LOG Job Scheduler:               SCHED.LOG Site Reporter:               SITEREPT.LOG Package Command Manager:     No log file used; see note below. Program Group Controller:    \SMSLOG.TXT AppStart:                    \SMSLOG.TXT Information included in a log file usually includes the time of day, error codes, a description, and identification of the component and thread ID. Because of the specialization of each component, each log file contains slightly different text. If you need to see what is happening with a particular task, and there is insufficient information reported by Systems Management Server Administrator, you can check the log files to see how things are progressing.

NOTE: The Package Command Manager does not use a log file; instead, it can be run with a /debug switch that causes PCM to write diagnostic information to a special window up to a maximum of 64 kilobytes (K).

Additional query words: config sms prodsms

Keywords: kbhman kbinventory kbmaintman kbnetwork kbpcm kbscheduler kbscman KB122055

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