KB-1946 General guide to providing Appian Support with logs when creating a support case

Purpose

Appian Support will request various logs depending on the reported issue. This article is a guide to which logs can be provided immediately to start off the troubleshooting process. Please note that this is a general guideline and is not all-encompassing. Appian Support may request additional logs at any point.

Instructions

Always Provide 

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory)
  • /logs/tomcat-stdOut.log 
  • /conf/appian-topology.xml 
  • /conf/build.info 

Engine Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory):
  • /logs/db_* logs for the impacted engines
  • /logs/service_manager.log
  • Zip file of the /logs/service-manager directory
  • /logs/perflogs/perf_monitor_db_*.csv 
• Logs generated from KB-1655
• Other information to be provided
  • Output of  <APPIAN-HOME>/services/bin/status.sh (status.bat)
  • Presence of recent *.l files
    • Note: These logs may contain sensitive data and Appian does not recommend supplying these files over a support case. Simply provide a screenshot of the *.l files that exist and Appian Support can review the actual file over a WebEx. 
  • Other environments running into the same issue
  • System related issues (examples include: NFS/NAS/Network/Resource Contention etc.)

Search Server Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory)
  • /logs/data-metrics/search_server_cluster.csv 
  • Zip file of the /logs/search-server directory 
• Other information to be provided
  • Any changes, if any, performed on the server post which search-server encountered issues

Data Server Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory)
  • Zip file of the /logs/data-server directory
• Other Information to be provided
  • Any changes, if any, performed on the server post which data server encountered issues
  • Output of <APPIAN-HOME>/data-server/bin/health.sh (health.bat)

Tomcat Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory)
  • /logs/tomcat-stdOut.log
  • /logs/tomcat-access.log
• Other information to be provided
  • Any changes, if any, performed on the server post which application server encountered issues
  • Timestamp when the issue was first encountered
  • Health of the primary database
  • Any issues encountered in any other lower region
  • Health of other Appian components: engines, data-server and search-server

Performance Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory):
  
  • Zip file of the /logs/perflogs/ directory from all servers hosting the environment
  • /logs/data-metrics/system.csv from all servers hosting Tomcat instances
  • tomcat access logs covering the period of the issue: /logs/tomcat-access.log.*
  • tomcat-stdOut logs covering the period of the issue: /logs/tomcat-stdOut.log.*
  • Note: If any of these directories or files are too large such that you cannot share them, please include only the latest files that cover the period of the issue.
• Logs generated from KB-1655
• Other information to be provided:
  • Where specifically is slowness observed? Example: Records, Tempo, Sites, a particular application etc.
    • Screen recordings/screenshots would be helpful.
  • Is this a Production, Testing, Staging, or Development Environment
  • Timestamp when the performance degradation was first experienced in the environment
  • Details around performance degradation:
    • Is it intermittent or does it persist throughout the day
    • Is the slowness experienced by all users, or a subset?
  • When was the last application deployment made on the environment?

Note: For performance issues, provide these set of logs from the time the issue was observed and also from a time where the issue was not observed so that Appian Support has a baseline for comparison.

Design Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory):
  
  • /logs/tomcat-stdOut.log
  • /logs/tomcat-access.log
• Other information to be provided
  • Timestamp including time zone when the issue was first experienced 
  • Was this working previously, or is this a new feature?
  • Information about any recent changes to the application?
  • Is the issue consistently reproducible, or is it intermittent? If intermittent, when does it usually occur?
  • Could you provide a timestamp, including time zone when the issue occurred
  • Does this issue occur in any other environments?
  • Any troubleshooting steps taken so far
  • Screenshots that will help explain the issue

WebAPI/Integration Issues

• Files/logs to provide (found in the <APPIAN_HOME> directory):
  
  • /logs/tomcat-stdOut.log
  • /logs/tomcat-access.log
• Other information to be provided
  • Was this working previously, or is it a new implementation?
  • How is the connection established with Appian integration/WebAPI?
  • Screenshots of the integration/WebAPI configuration
  • Screenshots of the error encountered
  • Is the issues encountered with a specific integration/WebAPI or is it impacting multiple integrations/WebAPIs?
  • Is the encountered in all environments?
  • Are you able to connect to the integration/WebAPI using third party clients like SoapUI or Postman?

Other Considerations

• The Logging documentation can be reviewed for details about these log files as well as where they can be located.
• Ensure the logs that are provided include the times when the issue was observed. The timestamps are logged in GMT.
• If the environment in question is distributed or highly available, ensure that the logs from all relevant servers have been provided and the attachments are labeled by server name. For example, if the environment has three engine servers and the reported issue is engine related, provide the logs from all three engine servers like so: engine_server_1.zip, engine_server_2.zip, engine_server_3.zip.
• This article does not apply to Appian Cloud environments.
• Appian support may request additional logs, if required.

Affected Versions

This article applies to all versions of Appian self-managed.

Last Reviewed: November 2022