Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide
Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based
Applications with Ease Using SAP
NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing:
A System Administrators Guide
Robert Heidasch
Robert Heidasch worked for
several years as an SAP R/3
consultant and project
manager in the Financials
and Logistics areas. He
joined SAP in 1999 and
worked in the Logistics area
and on the integration of
SAP software with Microsoft
products using RFCs, BAPIs,
and Web services. Robert
currently works in the SAP
NetWeaver Foundation
group.
(complete bio appears on page 52)
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As an SAP system administrator, you know all too well how many hours,
and sometimes days, you can spend investigating system problems.
Perhaps a user transaction fails and loses important business data, or
a remote function call (RFC) in a critical program returns an error
message. Most of you are familiar with using the ABAP-based system
log or user log to identify the causes of such problems the database
is full or a network problem occurred, for example when they arise
in an ABAP-based application such as SAP R/3 or SAP Customer
Relationship Management (SAP CRM). But what do you do when a
Java-based application causes problems with the persistence layer, and
the user sees only a cryptic and unhelpful exception message in the
browser? What if the application is no longer responding? Or worse,
what if the problem occurs with an application that integrates both ABAP
and Java technologies in the same enterprise landscape?
To help you investigate problems in Java-based applications, this
article introduces you to the Java logging and tracing functionality
included with SAP NetWeaver 04. This logging and tracing architecture
applies to all Java-based SAP NetWeaver components (services,
interfaces, and libraries) and applications, including SAP Web
Application Server (SAP Web AS) 6.40, SAP Enterprise Portal
(SAP EP) 6.0, SAP Knowledge Management and Collaboration,1
and SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) 3.0. To familiarize you
with this architecture, I begin with an overview of Java logging and
1
For those who are unfamiliar with these components, SAP Knowledge Management is an
SAP NetWeaver component that provides a content management system for SAP EP. The SAP
NetWeaver Collaboration component is closely integrated with SAP Knowledge Management
and provides asynchronous (e.g., Collaboration Rooms) and synchronous (e.g., instant messaging)
methods of communication.
29
SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
tracing concepts and how they apply to the SAP
NetWeaver 04 environment. I then show you how
to configure Java-based logging and tracing in your
own SAP NetWeaver environment using the tools
provided with the SAP NetWeaver platform. Finally,
I share some tips for identifying potential problems
in log files, and I conclude by presenting some special
considerations for logging with SAP EP, a now widely
used component that requires a slightly different log-
ging configuration.
Separate Logs and Traces Offer
Something for Everyone
In keeping with Java principles, the Java-based log-
ging and tracing architecture in SAP NetWeaver is
designed to accommodate the needs of two disparate
types of users system administrators and system
integrators. Each group has inherently different inter-
ests and performs distinctly different tasks.
A system administrator focuses primarily on
managing and monitoring software systems, which
requires knowledge of the current state of an applica-
tion, its availability, any problems that arise, and the
states of its components. Because systems and appli-
cations are often complicated, system administrators
need to be able to perform a wide range of administra-
tive tasks in order to obtain the information they need.
The Java-based logging and tracing architecture in
SAP NetWeaver supports these needs by establishing
default administration areas for example, operating
system and hardware, database, network, user
management, and so on. For simplicity and ease of
use, each administration area has its own correspon-
ding log and trace files.
System integrators (application experts, consult-
ants, developers, etc.) are primarily responsible for
system integration and component and application
development. System integrators are typically skilled
developers who have a deep understanding of one
or more applications or functions and often work
closely with system administrators to resolve complex
30 www.SAPpro.com
application-generated system problems. For these
tasks, system integrators need detailed application-
level information such as the user action context, pro-
gram call stack, and so on.
To address both perspectives effectively, the
Java-based logging and tracing architecture in SAP
NetWeaver provides separate log and trace files.
System administrators typically work with log files,
which contain messages about current system status,
errors, and key system events. System integrators typ-
ically work with trace files, which contain information
about the program flow and erroneous system or
application behavior.
Ill next provide a brief overview of the specific
tools that make up the SAP NetWeaver logging and
tracing architecture. Once you have a solid founda-
tional knowledge of these tools and how they work, I
will then show you in detail how to use them in your
own SAP NetWeaver environment.
Overview of Java-Based Logging
and Tracing Administration
Delivered as part of the SAP NetWeaver platform,
SAP Web AS integrates two different application
technologies ABAP and Java. To facilitate trou-
bleshooting, the server architecture also provides
separate logging and tracing solutions for each
technology.2
The traditional ABAP-based logging infrastruc-
ture, which includes specialized logging-related trans-
actions (e.g., SLG0, SLG1, and SLG2) for defining
and reviewing application logs, is available only for
2
Although these solutions exist in parallel and are used separately,
you can aggregate their logs and traces in the Computing Center
Management System (CCMS). For more information, go to the
SAP help portal (http://help.sap.com), and in the SAP NetWeaver
documentation, follow the menu path Application Platform Java
Technology in SAP Web Application Server Administration Manual
Server Administration Logging Monitoring the J2EE Log
Files in the CCMS.
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 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Figure 1 Tools for Administering Logs and Traces for Java-Based Applications

Visual Administrator

Log Manager Configure global logging

and tracing parameters

Log Configurator

Log Controller Log Controller Severity Configure characteristics

of individual logs and traces
Log Destination Log Formatter

Log Viewer View logs and traces

Figure 2 The Visual Administrator Initial Screen and Connection Dialog

ABAP-based SAP Web AS applications.3 The ABAP- Web AS for running Java applications). Figure 1 is an
based logging functionality is well-known to system overview of the different tools that make up the log-
administrators who have worked with ABAP-based ging and tracing infrastructure and enable you to work
SAP systems such as SAP R/3 or SAP CRM. with logs and traces for your Java-based applications.

Starting with Release 6.40, SAP Web AS pro-
vides an independent logging and tracing infrastruc-
ture for Java-based applications as part of the SAP
J2EE Engine (the J2EE-compliant server within SAP
3
For more information on using the ABAP log, see the article An
Integrated Approach to Troubleshooting Your ABAP Programs:
Using Standard SAP Investigative Tools for Production Problems
(SAP Professional Journal, May/June 2004).
The SAP J2EE Engine Visual Administrator is
the central access point for all the logging and
tracing tools. To start the Visual Administrator, run
its startup script (go.bat on Microsoft Windows sys-
tems; go on Unix systems), which is located in the
/usr/sap/<SID>/JC<InstNo>/j2ee/admin directory on
the server. In the connection dialog that appears with
the Visual Administrator initial screen (see Figure 2),

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
select the connection configuration for the SAP
Web AS instance to which you want to connect, and
click on the Connect button. The Default connection
configuration (listed first in the connection dialog)
connects to the current instance via the P4 port (the
port designated for SAP Web AS communication).
Connecting to an instance other than the current
instance requires an additional connection configura-
tion (see the sidebar on the next page for more details).
As you can see in Figure 2, there are three connections
configured in addition to the default.
Lets take a brief tour of the Visual Administrator
logging tools outlined in Figure 1. As part of the
SAP J2EE Engines Java Enterprise Runtime, which
provides core system functions, the Log Manager
manages the logging of system events. This tool
enables you to configure basic, global characteristics
that will apply to all logs, such as whether system-
critical logs are stored in the database, whether traces
are written to a single file, and so on.
The Log Configurator is an API for configuring
individual logging and tracing settings for all Java-
based components and applications (both SAP-
supplied and custom-built). You configure the
settings by modifying the properties of the follow-
ing objects:
A log controller object is either a category
(an SAP-supplied or custom-built object that
defines log functionality settings) or a location
(an SAP-supplied or custom-built object that
defines trace functionality settings). A controller
can be set to a variety of severity levels, which
define the type of messages included in the log
or trace file for the category or location object,
respectively.
A log destination object specifies the location
of the log or trace file for its associated
controller object.
A log formatter object defines the format of
the log or trace file for its associated controller
object.
32 www.SAPpro.com
Finally, the Log Viewer enables you to examine
Java-based logs and traces. It is an easy-to-use tool
for analyzing system, application, and component
log/trace messages to investigate the current system
status, problems and errors, program flow, and so on.
The Log Viewer also offers helpful search and filter
functionality so you can view only the messages
generated by a particular application, for example,
which significantly simplifies and speeds up prob-
lem analysis.
While the Log Viewer is designed to simplify log
and trace file viewing and navigation, a basic under-
standing of the Java-based SAP Web AS directory
structure, and where to look for the physical log and
trace files, can be a huge timesaver when you need to
drill down to investigate a problem. Well take a
quick look at this next, and then I will walk you
through how to use the Visual Administrator tools in
your own SAP NetWeaver environment.
Understanding Where Log and
Trace Files Are Generated
Depending on your needs (for example, the number of
users and running applications you have), you can
configure the Java-based SAP Web AS with one or
more physical servers. The server software and the
physical server the software runs on are collectively
referred to as an instance. More physical servers
(instances) build a cluster. Each instance consists of
one or more dispatchers that forward user requests to
the server (or servers). Dispatchers and servers are
referred to as nodes and are instances of the Java
Virtual Machine (JVM).
The number of SAP Web AS instances to install,
and the number of dispatchers and servers to run on
each instance, depends entirely on your particular
needs and system resources. For example, one organi-
zation might install a single SAP Web AS instance on
a single physical server and run only one dispatcher
node and one server node. But another organization
might install multiple SAP Web AS instances on many
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 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Establishing Connections to Additional SAP Web AS Instances

In order to connect to an SAP Web Application Server

(SAP Web AS) other than the current instance, you
must establish a connection to it in the Visual
Administrator. Once created, the connection appears
in the connection dialog presented each time you start
the Visual Administrator (see Figure 2).

To create a new connection, click on the New button

in the Visual Administrator connection dialog and
follow the connection wizard instructions. In the first
screen of the wizard (see the first screenshot to the
right), enter the name (p78884 in the example) that
you would like to appear in the connection dialog.
Then select the connection type (in this example,
Direct Connection To a Dispatcher Node) and click on
the Next button.

Next, enter the details for connecting to the instance,

as shown in the second screenshot to the right. First
make sure you have all of the necessary information
a user name with administrator rights, the host
name for the target SAP Web AS instance, and
the P4 port number for the target SAP Web AS
instance (P4 is the port designated for SAP Web AS
communication).

To determine the P4 port number for the target SAP

Web AS instance, open the batchconfig.log file in
the /usr/sap/<SID>/JC<InstNo>/j2ee directory on
the current instance. Search for the entry that
contains the string p4 port =, as shown in the
screenshot below.

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
physical servers, which build a cluster, and run many
nodes on each physical server. The possible number
of nodes running in each instance also depends on the
physical server resources number of processors,
available memory, and so on.
In addition, each SAP Web AS node (dispatcher
or server) has its own home directory:
The dispatcher home directory (which Ill refer to
as <dispatcher home> for simplicity) is /usr/sap/
<SID>/JC<InstNo>/j2ee/cluster/dispatcher<No>.
The server home directory (which Ill refer to
as <server home> for simplicity) is /usr/sap/
<SID>/JC<InstNo>/j2ee/cluster/server<No>.
Further, each dispatcher and server node also
has its own dedicated log directory nested within
the home directory (<dispatcher home>/log and
<server home>/log). For example, server 0 running
on system E11 as instance 00 writes its log and trace
files in the /usr/sap/E11/JC00/j2ee/cluster/server0/log
directory. As you can see, the number of file loca-
tions can easily increase exponentially with each
additional SAP Web AS node, as can the number of
nodes with each additional SAP Web AS instance,
so its important to know where to look for a particu-
lar file.
Suppose you need to find the log or trace file for a
particular log controller. For example, perhaps you
need to investigate a user problem that occurred on
server A, node 0, in a particular application. Each log
controller has at least one specified destination, with a
physical file name defined by the destination pattern.
The log destination configuration can be either deliv-
ered as part of its associated SAP Web AS service or
application or created manually by the system admin-
istrator. So, to find the file in question, you would
use the Log Configurator (via the Visual Adminis-
trator) to check the category/location and log
destination settings.
For example, lets consider a log file for the
SAP-supplied System/Server category. As you can
34 www.SAPpro.com
see in the Destinations frame of the Log Configurator
in Figure 3, this category has two destinations
defined because you can start each server node with
or without using the system console. One destination
(system_server_console) is defined as a console log
(of type ConsoleLog). It is active only when the
server is started with the system console for
example, only when the server is not started as a
Microsoft Windows service. The other destination
(system_server_log) is defined as a file log (of type
FileLog) and uses the pattern ./log/system/server.log,
which represents the physical file name in the server
home directory. Therefore, all log messages for
the System/Server category appear in the log file
<server home>/log/system/server.log.
Now lets investigate how to determine the
location of a trace file, which is a bit more compli-
cated than locating a log file. Like a log file (as
defined by its category), a trace file (as defined by
its location) can have its own log destination.
However, the default configuration of the Java-based
SAP Web AS can override this setting depending on
the value (YES or NO) of the ForceSingleTraceFile
property in the Log Manager. If the value of the
ForceSingleTraceFile property is NO, SAP Web AS
uses the destination specified for that particular trace
(the log destination configuration); if it is YES, it
redirects all trace messages to a single trace file
defined by the DefaultTraceFile_Pattern property in
the Log Manager. By examining the Log Manager
properties, you can see that the default value of the
ForceSingleTraceFile property is YES, and the
default value of the DefaultTraceFile_Pattern
property is ./log/defaultTrace.trc. Thus, when
SAP Web AS uses the default configuration, all
trace messages are written to the trace file
<server home>/log/defaultTrace.trc, regardless of
whether the location has its own specified destination.
In other words, the ForceSingleTraceFile parameter
deactivates the use of any specific destinations for
individual traces.
You can disable the default single trace behav-
ior (that is, the creation of one trace file) for individ-
ual locations or for all locations. For example,
suppose you want to write all messages for a new
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Figure 3 Multiple Log Destinations Defined in the System/Server Category

application you are developing to a separate file,
perhaps because you want to define a custom log
formatter for a specialized message format. To
turn off this behavior for one location, set the
SingleTraceFile_UnrestrictedLocations property
in the Log Manager to the desired file location.
To turn off this behavior for all locations, set the
value of the ForceSingleTraceFile property in the
Log Manager to NO. The affected locations then
use the specified log destination (instead of the default
log destination) and write messages to the specified
trace file.
As an example, all SAP-supplied locations
for SAP EP 6.0 use the log destination
service_com.sap.portal.prt.sapj2ee_portalTrace by
default. If you disable the single trace for all loca-
tions by setting the ForceSingleTraceFile property
to NO, SAP EP writes all trace messages to the file
<server home>/log/applications/portal/portal.trc.
Now that you have a solid understanding of where
and how SAP Web AS generates log and trace files,
and how to locate them, I will show you how to use
each of the Visual Administrator tools and settings to

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005

Figure 4 Changing Log Manager Properties Using the Config Tool

manage log and trace files in your own SAP
NetWeaver environment, starting with the Log
Manager.4
Working with the Log Manager
Configuring Global and Local
Logging and Tracing Properties
The Log Manager defines basic logging and tracing
4
For complete details on the Visual Administrator tools, go to the SAP
help portal at http://help.sap.com, and in the SAP NetWeaver documen-
tation, follow the menu path Application Platform Java Technology
in SAP Web Application Server Administration Manual Server
Administration Logging.
properties for the Java-based components and appli-
cations in your SAP NetWeaver environment. It
defines the severity level at which logs are stored in
the database, where they are stored (as described in
the previous section), how long they are stored, and
their maximum size, for example. You can specify
these settings for all SAP Web AS nodes or for indi-
vidual nodes.
The Java-based SAP Web AS provides two tools
for configuring the Log Manager properties as part of
the SAP J2EE Engine the Config Tool and the
Visual Administrator. The advantage of using the
Config Tool is that it is available at all times, whether
or not SAP Web AS is running it connects directly
to the database. To start the Config Tool, run the
startup script (configtool.bat on Microsoft Windows

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 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Figure 5 Changing Log Manager Properties Using the Visual Administrator

systems; configtool.sh on Unix systems), which is (when modifying a particular nodes configuration).
located in the /usr/sap/<SID>/JC<InstNo>/j2ee/ To activate your changes, you must restart the
configtool directory on the server. affected server.

To navigate to the Log Manager settings for
a particular server node, select cluster-data
instance_ID<No> server_ID<No> managers
LogManager in the Config Tool navigation pane
(as shown in Figure 4). To navigate to the global
settings, select cluster-data Global server
configuration managers LogManager. To
modify a property, select it in the Global properties
frame (shown at the top of the right-hand pane in
Figure 4), enter a new value, and click on the Set
button to the right, which becomes active once you
enter a value. The changed property then appears
in the Custom value column (when modifying the
global server configuration), or it appears in the
Local properties frame below the global properties
When SAP Web AS is running, you have the
option to use the Visual Administrator tool to change
the Log Manager properties. To navigate to the set-
tings for a local server node, select <SID> Server
<No> Kernel LogManager on the Cluster tab
in the Visual Administrator navigation pane (see
Figure 5). To navigate to the global settings,
select the Global Configuration tab in the Visual
Administrator navigation pane and then select
Global Configuration Server Kernel
LogManager. To change a property, select the prop-
erty, enter a new value, and then click on the Update
button at the bottom of the right-hand pane. When
you are finished, remember to restart SAP Web AS to
activate your changes.

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
During startup, SAP Web AS initializes the log-
ging and tracing structure by reading the log configu-
ration files associated with the components and
applications. All SAP Web AS components (services,
interfaces, and libraries) and applications, both SAP-
supplied and custom-built, deliver their initial logging
and tracing configuration in a log-configuration.xml
file (well look at this file in more detail in an upcom-
ing section). Using these files, the entire logging and
tracing structure is initialized for all SAP Web AS
components and applications in a single operation. As
a result, SAP Web AS applications can share logging
and tracing objects, such as those delivered by SAP.
For example, SAP-supplied SAP Web AS components
(such as the Portal Runtime service and SAP XI 3.0
adapters) and SAP Web AS applications (such as
SAP EP and Web Dynpro applications) deliver the ini-
tial configuration for logging and tracing that is in turn
used by all of their components.

Sharing Log or Trace Files
Across Applications
Suppose you are interested in log messages that
are generated by more than one application.
You can easily direct messages from several
applications to the same log or trace file using the
log-configuration.xml file or the Log Configurator
you can assign the same log destination to one
or more categories or locations. However, keep in
mind that you cannot use the same log destination
for both the category and location because you
cannot mix log and trace messages in the same
physical file.
When SAP Web AS is up and running, and com-
ponents and applications are initialized, you use the
Log Configurator to change the initial configuration
delivered in their associated log-configuration.xml
files. The Log Configurator can activate such changes
without restarting the server, which is useful when
38 www.SAPpro.com
you need to investigate problems on a production sys-
tem where you cant readily perform a restart.
I will show you how to use the Log Configurator
next, and I will also take a more detailed look at the
log-configuration.xml file and how you can use the
predefined log and trace hierarchy to streamline your
log configuration.
Working with the Log
Configurator Setting Log
and Trace Characteristics
The Log Configurator enables you to manage logs
and traces for individual Java components by defining
category objects (for logs) or location objects (for
traces) for the components. While you can create
your own categories and locations,5 SAP-supplied
SAP NetWeaver components and applications also
come with some predefined top-level and default
categories and locations that help to simplify the
task of identifying and analyzing messages associ-
ated with a particular application. You can even use
these predefined categories and locations for your
custom-built applications. For example, a custom-
built application named myApplication might use
the SAP-supplied System/Applications category
for logging and its own com.myCompany.myLocation
location for tracing. I discuss these predefined
objects in more detail in the upcoming section
Taking Advantage of the Predefined Log and Trace
Hierarchy.
Once defined, the category and location objects
are created as a part of the logging and tracing struc-
ture initialization described in the previous section,
which then makes them available to all applications
and to the Visual Administrator. The category and
5
For details on creating custom controllers, go to the SAP help portal at
http://help.sap.com, and in the SAP NetWeaver documentation, follow
the menu path Application Platform Java Technology in SAP Web
Application Server Administration Manual Server Administration
Logging Log configuration Working with the Advanced Mode
Adding, Editing, and Removing Log Controllers.
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide
Figure 6 Working with the Log Configurator
location objects are organized into a hierarchical
structure according to the application or components
logical functional structure.
Figure 6 shows the Log Configurator open in
the Visual Administrator. The navigation pane on
the left lists the available tools in Figure 6, the
Log Configurator is selected. The middle pane dis-
plays the features for the selected tool. For the Log
Configurator, this pane contains a series of tabs
(Categories, Locations, Destinations, and Formatters).
Click on a tab to select an object type, and then navi-
gate to a particular object. The properties of the
selected object are displayed at the far right.
The Log Configurator operates in two modes,
simple and advanced, which you switch between
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using the To simple mode and To advanced mode
toggle button at the top of the screen:
Simple mode is designed for use on production
systems and offers only the basic functionality
of changing the log controller severity. This
mode is useful when you need to change the
category or location severity in order to obtain
more detailed information about a particular
application.
Advanced mode (which is shown in Figure 6)
is designed for use in a development environment
and offers the full configuration functionality.
This mode is helpful when you need to configure
logging and tracing for testing and dont want to
restart SAP Web AS after each test.
39
SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005

Figure 7 Options for Configuring Categories and Locations

Option Purpose

Destination Indicates the name and location of the physical log or trace file. Each log destination
generates messages in a format defined in the log formatter.

Formatter Defines the output format of messages in the log or trace file. SAP Web AS includes the
following predefined formatters:
ListFormatter, which generates messages in list format and is typically used for log
files
TraceFormatter, which is typically used for trace files
XMLFormatter, which generates messages in either the SAP-defined format or a
custom XML format
You can also define your own formatter using the log configuration file and the Log
Configurator (more on this in the section Understanding the Log Configuration File).

Severity Represents message importance:

Fatal The application is no longer usable.
Error The application cannot complete the task, but is still usable.
Warning The application has detected a potential problem.
Info Displays information about normal task flow and status.
Path The application called one of several key methods (useful during program flow
analysis).
Debug Displays information about the internal program state, such as variable
values.
All Generates all messages.
None The category or location is not active (i.e., does not generate messages).

Figure 7 summarizes the options for defining
categories and locations. SAP delivers all of its
predefined categories with Info severity and its pre-
defined locations with Error severity. This default
configuration provides basic system information
with acceptable performance. The default category
configuration provides system administrators with
an overview of system availability and common
functional problems, such as the application failing
to start. The default location configuration generates
the information most useful to system integrators
(error messages, application state, and so on), and
excludes detailed information that is typically used
for problem analysis during development and could
cause significant performance problems in a produc-
tion system. Be aware that using a lower severity
(such as Debug) for a location can result in long
SAP Web AS startup times and poor system response
times for example, SAP EP users could experience
significant delays in response time.
You can change the severity of any category or
location with the Log Configurator. Once saved,
your changes overwrite the initial configuration (as
defined in the log configuration file) during startup
and are visible in the Log Configurator. However,
the initial configuration and subsequent changes are
stored in separate places, so you can restore the initial
configuration for the local SAP Web AS node or the
entire cluster at any time. This option is useful for
optimizing the performance of a new application on
a development system (see the sidebar on the next
page for more on how to effectively manage your
configuration files).

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 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Proactively Manage Disk Space by Archiving Log and Trace Data

The amount of log and trace data generated on a production system can be quite large. Consequently,
logging and tracing normally reuse the same set of files. Each log destination has a count parameter
that defines a fixed number of physical files that are used cyclically and periodically overwritten.

To manage these files more proactively and disable the overwriting behavior, you can activate the auto-
archive feature. Click on the Properties tab in the Log Configurator (as shown in the screenshot below),
and set the value of the ArchiveOldLogFiles property to ON. Instead of being overwritten, log and trace
files are saved in the <server home>/log/archive directory as defined by the ArchivesDirectory property.
Remember to regularly delete these files or archive them to another device to avoid running out of
disk space.

Note!
Be aware that, in practice, you may be able to manually change logging and tracing configuration only on a
development system because you cannot transport the configuration between SAP Web AS systems development
and production, for example. The component should be delivered with its initial configuration in the log
configuration file so that the system can create its logging and tracing configuration automatically. If the
component is delivered without its log configuration, the categories and locations will not appear in the Log
Configurator, and you therefore cannot modify its properties. The logging and tracing objects will instead inherit
their property settings from their parent objects, which can have undesirable effects for example, if the severity
property is set to NONE in the parent object, by inheriting that setting, the child category or location object will
then be inactive. (For more on parent/child inheritance in logging configuration, see the section Taking Advantage
of the Predefined Log and Trace Hierarchy.)

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
Figure 8 Delivering the Log Configuration File
SAP Web AS Unit Type Format
Java-based SAP Web AS components
Server components SDA
Dispatcher components SDA
Java-based SAP Web AS applications
All applications EAR
Up to this point, youve seen a lot of references
to the log configuration file, which makes configura-
tion modifications possible, but you have yet to take a
good look at it. Well examine this key file next.
Understanding the Log Configuration File
The log configuration file (log-configuration.xml)
defines the logging and tracing configuration for
SAP Web AS components and applications. It con-
tains the configuration details for SAP-supplied
and custom-built components (services, interfaces,
and libraries) and applications that use logging and
tracing objects (categories, locations, destinations,
and formatters).
The easiest way to maintain the log configuration
file is to use the SAP NetWeaver Java Development
Infrastructure (JDI), which is the SAP integrated
development environment (IDE) for Java-based appli-
cations. However, you can also use other XML edi-
tors, such as UltraEdit,6 to manually define the logging
and tracing objects.
As mentioned earlier, all SAP Web AS compo-
nents and applications deliver their initial logging and
tracing configuration in a log configuration file that is
included in the components deployment package
SAP Web AS components (services and libraries) use
a Software Delivery Archive (SDA) package, and
SAP Web AS applications use an Enterprise Archive
(EAR) package. For deployment, you use the
Software Deployment Manager (SDM) tool, which is
6
For more information, go to www.ultraedit.com.
42 www.SAPpro.com
Directory Location
<SDA root>/server/descriptors
<SDA root>/dispatcher/descriptors
<EAR root>/MATA-INF
located in the /usr/sap/<SID>/JC<InstNo>/SDM
directory.7
In order for the SAP Web AS component or appli-
cation to recognize the logging and tracing configura-
tion, the log configuration file must be included in the
expected package type and deployed to the directory
location shown in Figure 8.
Because SAP Web AS components and applica-
tions are stored in the persistence layer (that is, a data-
base such as MaxDB, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL), you
can update the log configuration file to support later
versions of an application or component. During
startup, SAP Web AS reads the current logging and
tracing configuration from the SAP Web AS persis-
tence layer, which makes the configuration available to
applications and visible in the Log Configurator. Any
subsequent configuration changes are stored separately
in the SAP Web AS persistence layer, leaving the orig-
inal configuration (as defined in the log configuration
file) intact. As a result, you can easily restore the initial
configuration from the persistence layer at any time via
the Installation defaults button in the Log Configurator
toolbar (which you can see back in Figure 6).
Figure 9 shows an example log configuration
file that configures logging and tracing for a test
application. First note that the initial configuration
defines three locations to support separate functional-
ity and performance tests. The location
7
The details of deploying SAP Web AS components and applications are
beyond the scope of this article. For more information, go to the SAP
NetWeaver documentation at http://help.sap.com, and follow the menu
path Application Platform Java Technology in SAP Web Application
Server Development Manual Deployment: Putting It All Together.
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Figure 9 Example Log Configuration File (log-configuration.xml)

1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

2 <!DOCTYPE log-configuration SYSTEM "log-configuration.dtd">

3 <log-configuration>
4 <log-formatters>
5 <log-formatter name="myFormatter" type=" TraceFormatter"/>
6 </log-formatters>

7 <log-destinations>
8 <log-destination name="myDestination" type="FileLog"
a. pattern="./myTestAppl.trc"
b. effective-severity="ALL"
c. encoding="Cp1252"
d. count="5"
e. limit="10000000">
9 <formatter-ref name=" myFormatter"/>
10 </log-destination>
11 </log-destinations>

12 <log-controllers>
13 <log-controller name="com.myCompany.myTest"
effective-severity="ERROR">
14 <associated-destinations>
15 <destination-ref name="myDestination"
association-type="LOG"/>
16 <anonymous-destination type="ConsoleLog"
association-type="PRIVATE-LOG"/>
17 </associated-destinations>
18 </log-controller>

19 <log-controller name="com.myCompany.myTest.Func"
effective-severity="ERROR">
20 <associated-destinations>
21 <destination-ref name="myDestination"
association-type="LOG"/>
22 <anonymous-destination type="ConsoleLog"
association-type="PRIVATE-LOG"/>
23 </associated-destinations>
24 </log-controller>

25 <log-controller name="com.myCompany.myTest.Perf"
effective-severity="ERROR">
26 <associated-destinations>
27 <destination-ref name="myDestination"
association-type="LOG"/>
28 <anonymous-destination type="ConsoleLog"
association-type="PRIVATE-LOG"/>
29 </associated-destinations>
30 </log-controller>
31 </log-controllers>
32 </log-configuration>

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
com.myCompany.myTest.Func (line 19) is used
for the functionality test, the location
com.myCompany.myTest.Perf (line 25) is used
for the performance test, and finally, the location
com.myCompany.myTest (line 13) is a parent
location that can be used to propagate the defined
severity, as described in the next section. Defining
multiple locations enables you to easily separate the
test results when viewing the output in the Log
Viewer. For example, you can define a filter for the
location name to select and view messages only from
a particular test. (For more information about filters,
see the section Working with the Log Viewer
Analyzing Logs and Traces later in this article.)
Notice that all three locations use the ERROR sever-
ity (the effective-severity element in lines 13,
19, and 25) and myDestination as the log destina-
tion (the destination-ref element in lines 15, 21,
and 27). In lines 8-10, myDestination is defined
as a file log (the type element in line 8) and uses
the physical file myTestAppl.trc (the pattern
element in line 8), which is located in the
<server home>/log directory. Therefore, all trace
messages will be written to the physical file name
<server home>/log/myTestAppl.trc. The log destina-
tion uses myFormatter as the log formatter (line 5),
with the SAP-supplied TraceFormatter as the
message formatter.
In the next sections, Ill show you some ways that
you can leverage the predefined log and trace hierar-
chy to streamline log configuration for your applica-
tions and components.
Taking Advantage of the Predefined Log and
Trace Hierarchy
Logging and tracing objects are organized into sepa-
rate hierarchical structures, one each for category and
location. This hierarchical structure enables applica-
tion developers to group all messages associated with
a particular topic or feature. The levels of the hierar-
chy are separated with special characters: a slash (/)
for categories (e.g., System/Server) and a period (.)
for locations (e.g., com.sap.engine).
44 www.SAPpro.com
Lets revisit the example log configuration file
from the previous section (refer back to Figure 9).
Lets say that to simplify tracing, the developer creates
three locations (com.myCompany.myTest,
com.myCompany.myTest.Func, and
com.myCompany.myTest.Perf, as in the
previous example) in the log configuration file. By
simply changing the severity of the parent location
(com.myCompany.myTest), the developer can
propagate the change to all child locations in a single
step. This technique is a fast and easy way to activate
tracing for a particular functional area.
This inheritance mechanism is also a simple way
to propagate configuration settings or changes. During
logging and tracing initialization (at SAP Web AS
startup), child categories and locations can inherit
properties from their parents, rather than having an
explicitly defined severity, destination, or formatter.
SAP NetWeaver applications take advantage of
this parent/child inheritance with shared logging and
tracing objects that are configured in SAP-supplied
SAP Web AS applications. For example, the Portal
Runtime service defines the logging and tracing con-
figuration for SAP EP.
 Caution!
Do not change any SAP-supplied categories,
locations, destinations, or formatters in the log
configuration file for your application there is no
guarantee that the object will still work as designed
if you do make changes to it. And while SAP
support can revert configuration changes made via
the Log Configurator, there is no way to revert
changes made directly to the log configuration file.
Instead, define new objects with a unique prefix (for
example, the com.myCompany namespace) to
distinguish them from SAP-supplied objects.
Predefined Categories for Logging
The Java-based logging hierarchy is organized into
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Figure 10 SAP-Defined Categories for Logging

Category File Location Contains Log Messages for
System
System/Server <server root>/log/system/server.log SAP Web AS
System/Database <server root>/log/system/database.log Database
System/Network <server root>/log/system/network.log Network
System/Security <server root>/log/system/security.log System security issues
System/UserInterface <server root>/log/system/usersession.log User sessions
Applications
Applications/Common/Backup <server root>/log/applications.log Backup functionality
Applications/Common/Archiving <server root>/log/applications.log Archiving functionality
Applications/Common/Resources <server root>/log/applications.log Resource management
Applications/Common/Configuration <server root>/log/applications.log Application configuration
Applications/Common/Security <server root>/log/applications.log Application security
Applications/Common/Failover <server root>/log/applications.log Application failover functionality
(load balancing)
Applications/Common/Infrastructure <server root>/log/applications.log Application infrastructure
Performance
Performance <server root>/log/sat.log Reserved for Single Activity Trace (SAT)

three top-level categories, which are defined in
the SAP Web AS kernel and visible in the Log
Configurator:
System, which is the entry point for categories
used in the SAP Web AS system.
Applications, which is the entry point for cate-
gories used in SAP Web AS applications.
Performance, which is the top-level category
reserved for Single Activity Trace (SAT).8
Figure 10 lists the categories defined in the Java
logging and tracing functionality. Both SAP-supplied
and custom-built applications can use these categories.
Application categories are globally defined in
the logging and tracing infrastructure and can be
used in custom-built applications. Most SAP-
supplied applications use their own predefined subcat-
egories. For example, SAP Knowledge Management
and Collaboration uses the Applications/kmc root
category, while SAP XI 3.0 uses the Applications/
ExchangeInfrastructure root category and the
Applications/ExchangeInfrastructure/
AdapterFramework subcategory. There is one excep-
tion SAP EP 6.0 uses the System/Server category
because the Portal Runtime service is strongly inte-
grated with SAP Web AS.
Application-Specific Locations for Tracing

8
The Java-based logging and tracing solution doesnt
You use Single Activity Trace to track a single activity that is running over
multiple applications/components. For more information, go to the SAP
define any locations for use with tracing in custom-
NetWeaver documentation at http://help.sap.com, and follow the menu built applications. Instead, each SAP-supplied or
path Application Platform Java Technology in SAP Web Application custom-built application is expected to define and
Server Administration Manual Server Administration Monitoring
Techniques for Problem Analysis Single Activity Trace. use its own top-level (or root) location and associated

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
sublocations. For example, as its root location, SAP
Web AS 6.40 defines com.sap.engine, SAP EP 6.0
defines com.sap.portal, User Management and
Security defines com.sap.security, and SAP XI 3.0
defines com.sap.aii. Each application also defines
many sublocations.
Custom-built applications should follow the same
strategy. Continuing our earlier example, suppose a
developer defines com.myCompany.myTest as the
root location for tracing in a test application. When
creating functional and performance tests, the devel-
oper should also define the sublocations
com.myCompany.myTest.Func (for writing trace mes-
sages in the functional test) and
com.myCompany.myTest.Perf (for writing trace mes-
sages in the performance test).
Now that you know how to use the Log Manager
and Log Configurator to configure your log and trace
properties and characteristics, lets look at how the
Log Viewer can help you analyze the results once you
run the log or trace.
Working with the Log Viewer
Analyzing Logs and Traces
The Log Viewer enables you to view and analyze gen-
erated logs and traces. There are three versions of the
tool; the version you run depends on the current state
(that is, running or stopped) of the target server
instance:
The Log Viewer is accessed from the Visual
Administrator and can be used only when SAP
Web AS is running.9
The Standalone Log Viewer is accessed by run-
ning its startup file. It offers similar functionality
9
Technically, the Log Viewer is a client/server component. The client is
the Log Viewer service (accessed via the Visual Administrator), while
the Log Viewer server runs as part of SAP Web AS. This architecture
enables you to connect to different SAP Web AS nodes for log and
trace analysis.
46 www.SAPpro.com
to the Log Viewer but can be used regardless of
whether SAP Web AS is running.
The Command Line Log Viewer, as its name
implies, is command-driven (that is, it has no
GUI) and can be used regardless of whether SAP
Web AS is running.
Lets take a closer look at each in turn.
The Log Viewer
Since each SAP Web AS node (dispatcher or server)
has its own root directory containing logs and traces,
you need to know which node you want to analyze.
Once youve identified the appropriate node, select
Cluster Server <No> Services LogViewer in
the Visual Administrator (see Figure 11). When you
first open the Log Viewer, the runtime window
(located in the middle pane in Figure 11 ) shows only
the Cluster element. To open a log or trace, expand
the runtime hierarchy and double-click on the file. As
you can see in Figure 11, the Log Viewer organizes
logs by SAP Web AS node (dispatchers and servers)
and physical file system structure. The overview win-
dow on the far right displays log and trace messages
in table form so you can analyze multiple logs and
traces in parallel.
 Caution!
Be careful when opening multiple log and trace
files simultaneously. Because each open file uses
SAP Web AS resources (especially memory),
remember to close any logs and traces that are no
longer needed to avoid memory problems.
The example in Figure 11 shows the Log Viewer
with the defaultTrace.trc file open. Lets assume that
the Log Manager is configured to write all generated
trace messages to this file. Each log and trace file has
an identification number (in this case, 16) that is visi-
ble in both the runtime window and the overview
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide
Figure 11 Reviewing a Trace in the Log Viewer
ID
number
Runtime
Filter
window. To obtain more information, in the middle
pane, click on the Properties tab to display the Log
Viewer configuration or the Additional Info tab to dis-
play the Log Viewer service references.
To significantly speed up problem analysis, the
Log Viewer provides search functionality that enables
you to quickly identify log or trace messages that con-
tain specific information. At the top of the overview
window, enter a search string in the Find field (in this
example, portal.prt). Then choose the column of
interest from the in column dropdown list and click
on the Search button. The results of the search that
is, the messages that meet your criteria appear in
the lower part of the overview window.
For site licenses and volume subscriptions, call 1-781-751-8799.
Search string
ID number
Overview
The Log Viewer also provides filter functionality,
so you can specify more complex search and selection
criteria for log or trace messages. In the filter window
(at the lower middle part of the screen), enter the
search string in the Text field, then choose the column
of interest from the in column dropdown list and
select a filter option by clicking on one of the four
Include/Exclude buttons. The Log Viewer refreshes
the currently displayed log or trace overview to dis-
play only the messages that meet your filter criteria.
Filters are cumulative, so the Log Viewer adds
each new filter to the existing list. You display and
modify filters on the filter Info tab, which shows all
defined filters. Click on the Info tab in the filter
47
SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
Figure 12 Managing Filters in the Log Viewer
window to display the available filters. As you can
see in Figure 12, the filter Info tab shows an overview
of filters that apply to all logs and traces (in the Global
Filters section) and filters that apply to a selected log
or trace (in the Selected Log Filters section). Click on
the Active? checkbox to deactivate an existing filter or
click on the Delete icon to delete it.
Because the Java-based SAP Web AS uses Java
Figure 13 The Log Viewer Table View
48 www.SAPpro.com
input/output operations to generate log and trace mes-
sages, using logging and tracing extensively can nega-
tively impact system performance. Therefore, the
Log Viewer is especially useful for analyzing which
application and category or location is producing the
most log or trace data, so you can inform the responsi-
ble developer. To perform this task, switch to the
table view in the Log Viewer by clicking on the View
Logs as Table button in the Log Viewer toolbar (see
Figure 13). Then double-click on a column name to
use the built-in sorting functionality. To select the
biggest and fastest-growing files, sort sequentially
on the State, # New Records, and Length columns.
Analyze the contents of each column to determine
the responsible applications and their locations and
categories, which appear in the Location (not visible)
and Category columns in the overview window shown
in Figure 11.
With this feature, you can easily adapt the log or
trace severity setting to suit the current system situa-
tion. For example, heavily used applications (whether
SAP-supplied or custom-built) can have a huge impact
on system performance. After running many tests to
eliminate possible errors and problems, you might
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide
decide to reduce the number of messages generated by
the application by modifying the severity for several
or all categories and locations.
 Caution!
The Log Viewer can potentially cause performance
problems. It operates as a client, requesting log
and trace data from SAP Web AS. Trying to open a
huge log or trace file can significantly slow down
normal user activities, such as the SAP Web AS
response time for a portal request or the SAP XI 3.0
document processing time.
The Standalone and Command Line
Log Viewers
The Standalone Log Viewer offers a user interface
and functionality that is similar to the standard Log
Viewer. However, you can use this version of the tool
regardless of whether the Java-based SAP Web AS
server is running. You can also use the Standalone
Log Viewer to simultaneously analyze logs and traces
on many server nodes. The Standalone Log Viewer
is located in the /usr/sap/<SID>/JC<InstNo>/j2ee/
admin/logviewer-standalone directory. To start this
tool, run its startup script (logviewer.bat on Microsoft
Windows systems or logviewer.sh on Unix systems).
You can also use the Command Line Log Viewer
to analyze logs and traces. Rather than presenting a
GUI, this version of the tool is command-driven (and
a big favorite with the Unix crowd). To start the
Command Line Log Viewer, run its startup script
(lv.bat on Microsoft Windows systems or lv.sh on
Unix systems), which is located in the Standalone Log
Viewer directory. Online documentation is available
via the -h or -help command line parameter. For
example, to request help in Microsoft Windows, go to
the logviewer-standalone directory, start the Microsoft
Windows command line, and enter the command:
lv.bat -h.
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You are now equipped with the knowledge you
need to get started using Java-based logging with most
of the components and applications in your own SAP
NetWeaver environment. SAP EP components require
a slightly different configuration, however. If your
company is like most, SAP EP is playing an increasing
role in your business, so its important to understand
these differences in order to fully leverage Java log-
ging functionality. Well take a quick look at the key
differences next.
Special Considerations for
SAP EP Logging
As part of the SAP NetWeaver platform, SAP EP
is strongly integrated into the Java-based SAP
Web AS. Consequently, the Portal Runtime (PRT)
defines the logging and tracing configuration for
all SAP-supplied SAP EP components.10 The PRT
Logger in SAP EP 6.0 SP6 is backward-compatible
with previous SAP EP versions (5.0 and 6.0 SP2), so
you can import custom-built SAP EP components into
the SAP NetWeaver portal and use the new logging
and tracing functionality.
Taking full advantage of logging and tracing in
SAP EP components requires an understanding of how
its logging and tracing configuration differs from
other SAP NetWeaver components. The PRT logging
and tracing configuration:
Uses a different configuration file (logger.xml)
that is specifically designed for use by SAP EP
components (both SAP-supplied and custom-built
components).
Defines its own portalTrace log destination.
Does not define its own formatter. Because
SAP EP is strongly integrated into SAP Web AS,
10
For simplicity, I use the phrase SAP EP components to collectively
refer to all SAP EP services, components, iViews, master iViews, and
so on.
49
SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005

all SAP EP components must use the SAP- Understanding the Portal Configuration File
supplied ListFormatter.
The portal configuration file (logger.xml), instead of
Does not define its own category. All SAP EP the log configuration file (log-configuration.xml),
components must use the SAP-defined System/ defines the logging and tracing configuration for
Server category, again because SAP EP is strongly SAP EP components or applications.
integrated into SAP Web AS.
During portal startup or SAP EP component
In addition, SAP EP 6.0 uses different logging deployment, the PRT opens and analyzes the portal
severities in order to support backward-compatibility. configuration file. It then builds an internal mapping
Figure 14 shows how the logging severity in SAP EP between the PRT Logger name and the location,
maps to Java-based SAP NetWeaver logging, which which is defined by an entry (via the locationName
is helpful to understand if you support an SAP element) in the portal configuration file. If the loca-
NetWeaver system with custom-built SAP EP tion doesnt exist, the PRT creates and configures the
components installed. Notice that you deactivate location in the SAP NetWeaver logging and tracing
the PRT Logger in other words, prevent it from infrastructure. From that point, the PRT Logger
sending messages to a log file with the isActive directs all messages to the specified location where
parameter, which produces the same behavior as you can view them in the Log Viewer.
the None severity in other SAP NetWeaver compo-
nents. (See the next section for details about this If you import an SAP EP component from a previ-
parameter.) ous SAP EP version (5.0 or 6.0 SP2), the portal con-
figuration file wont contain a locationName entry for
it. Therefore, the PRT Logger doesnt have a defined
Figure 14 SAP EP and Java Logging location for generating log messages. In this case,
Severity Mapping during portal startup or SAP EP component deploy-
SAP EP Logging Java Logging ment, the PRT generates a warning message in the
Severity Severity System/Server log and composes the location name
Severe Error on the fly by combining the com.sap.portal. prefix
Warning Warning and the PRT Logger name. For example, if the PRT
Info Info Logger name is myLogger, the corresponding location
Debug Debug name is com.sap.portal.myLogger.
All All
isActive = false None But what happens if you forget to define the PRT
Logger in the portal configuration file, resulting in
an undefined logger for the SAP EP component?
In this case, the PRT writes an error message to the
System/Server log and redirects all messages to the

Tip default com.sap.portal.portal trace location defined in
the PRT.
The PRT Logger name and location must be
unique across all SAP EP components, whether Lets examine a sample portal configuration file
SAP-supplied or custom-built. Its a good idea to to better understand its contents. Figure 15 shows
define a unique name prefix (such as an identifying
an example that defines a PRT Logger named
namespace) in the portal configuration file for
custom-built SAP EP components.
myPortalLogger and maps it to the
com.sap.portal.myPortal location. The location sever-
ity is Error.

50 www.SAPpro.com 2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
 Pinpoint Problems in Java-Based Applications with Ease Using SAP NetWeaver 04 Logging and Tracing: A System Administrators Guide

Figure 15 Example Portal Configuration File (logger.xml)

1 <Logger name="myPortalLogger"
2 loggerInterface="com.sapportals.portal.prt.logger.ILogger"
3 locationName="com.sap.portal.myPortal"
4 isActive="true"
5 pattern="%d # %20t %15s %m #">
6 <LoggerClass
className="com.sapportals.portal.prt.logger.SimpleFileLogger"
7 level="SEVERE">
8 <param filename="logs/portal.log"
9 append="false"
10 limit="800000">
11 </param>
12 </LoggerClass>
13 </Logger>

Notice that the name element (line 1) defines the Conclusion

name of the PRT Logger that is used in the SAP EP
component. The locationName element (line 3)
defines the name of the tracing location to which the
PRT Logger messages are written. Next, the combina-
tion of the isActive (line 4) and level (line 7)
elements determines the location severity. If you
want to set the location severity to Error, you must
set the value of the isActive parameter to true
and the value of the level parameter to SEVERE. If
the value of the isActive parameter is false, the
location severity will be NONE. All other parameters
in this file (such as file name, pattern, append, and
limit) are ignored because the PRT uses predefined
values for them for all PRT Loggers.

Tip
Remember that the PRT checks and automatically
re-creates the initial configuration (as defined in
the portal configuration file) during SAP EP
component startup. If necessary, you can delete a
location on demand. The PRT will automatically
re-create it.
This article introduced you to the Java-based logging
and tracing infrastructure delivered with the SAP
NetWeaver 04 platform. You learned how this solu-
tion works and what features it offers, and how the
log and portal configuration files deliver the initial
logging and tracing configuration for SAP-supplied
and custom-built SAP NetWeaver applications
and components.
In addition, you gained an understanding of
how the easy-to-use tools provided in the Visual
Administrator the Log Manager, the Log
Configurator, and the Log Viewer streamline
the task of administering Java-based logging and
tracing. In fact, the ability to change the configura-
tion on the fly to suit current conditions is invaluable
to any system administrator. If an application or
component causes a problem, you can immediately
reconfigure the category or location severity to
provide additional information for troubleshooting.
As you have seen, this solution offers both system
administrators and system integrators a powerful and
purpose-built environment for investigating system

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SAP Professional Journal March/April 2005
status and analyzing problems in the Java-based SAP
NetWeaver environment. Whether your system land-
scape is ABAP-only, Java-only, or a combination of
Java and ABAP technologies, you now have the
knowledge you need to investigate any problem more
confidently and efficiently.
52 www.SAPpro.com
Robert Heidasch holds an M.S. in Computer
Science and a B.S. in Economics, Management and
Marketing from the Technical University of Opole.
After receiving his degrees, he worked for several
years as an SAP R/3 consultant and project
manager in the Financials and Logistics areas.
Robert joined SAP in 1999 and worked in the
Logistics area and on the integration of SAP
software with Microsoft products using RFCs,
BAPIs, and Web services. He currently works in
the SAP NetWeaver Foundation group. You can
reach him at robert.heidasch@sap.com.
2005 SAP Professional Journal. Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.