User trace

User trace is one of two types of optional trace available in WebSphere Event Broker. User trace is inactive by default, and must be activated explicitly by a command, or by the workbench, when you need more information than that provided by the entries in the Event Log. For more information about logs, see Logs.

Typically you utilize user trace for debugging your applications, as it can trace brokers, execution groups, and deployed message flows.

You can use the workbench to control most of the trace activity that you need. The workbench also enables you to start and stop tracing on remote systems.

When you activate user tracing, you cause additional processing for every activity in the component that you are tracing. Large quantities of data are generated by the components. Expect to see some impact on performance while user trace is active. You can limit this additional processing by being selective about what you trace, and by restricting the time during which trace is active.

The user trace log files

When trace is active for any component, information is recorded in binary form. The location of the trace logs is as follows:
Windows
If you set the workpath using the -w parameter of the mqsicreatebroker command, the location is workpath\log . If you do not specify the broker workpath, the location is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\IBM\MQSI\common\log.
UNIX
/var/mqsi/common/log
z/OS
/component_filesystem/log

The file names reflect the component and subcomponent for which the trace is active. For example, the broker name and unique execution group identifier form part of the file name when you are tracing activity within that execution group.

For example, if you have created a broker called WBRK_BROKER, you might see the following files in the log subdirectory:
WBRK_BROKER.682ec116-dc00-0000-0080-ce28a236e03d.userTrace.bin.1
WBRK_BROKER.682ec116-dc00-0000-0080-ce28a236e03d.userTrace.bin.2

You cannot view these files directly; use the commands that are provided to access the trace information and convert it to a viewable format. Use the mqsireadlog command to retrieve the trace log for the specified component. Issue the command on the computer on which the log was generated. You can specify the output to be directed to a file, which is independent of operating system, and can be transferred to other systems for browsing or formatting using the mqsiformatlog command.