Troubleshooting Using the Logs

The following logs may be used to troubleshoot Cisco APIC-EM:

  • Audit Logs—Logs used primarily to monitor Cisco APIC-EM policy creation and application.

  • Service Logs—Logs used to monitor Cisco APIC-EM services.

Viewing Audit Logs

Cisco APIC-EM audit logs are used primarily to keep track of policies for the EasyQoS and iWAN applications.

You can view audit logs using the Audit Logs window in the Cisco APIC-EM GUI. The Cisco APIC-EM also supports the ability to export the audit logs to a local system.

Figure 1. Audit Logs

Before You Begin

You must have successfully deployed the Cisco APIC-EM and it must be operational.

You must have either administrator (ROLE_ADMIN) or policy administrator (ROLE_POLICY_ADMIN) permissions to perform this procedure.

For information about the user permissions required to perform tasks using the Cisco APIC-EM, see the chapter, "Managing Users and Roles," in the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module Configuration Guide.

    Step 1   In the Home window, click either admin or the Settings icon (gear) at the top right corner of the screen.
    Step 2   Click the Audit Logs link from the drop-down menu.

    The Audit Logs window appears. In the Audit Logs window, you view current policies that exist in your network. These are policies applied by either the IWAN or EasyQoS applications.

    The following information is displayed for each policy in the window:

    • Description—Application or policy audit log description

    • Site—Name of site for the specific audit log

    • Device—Device or devices for the audit log

    • Requestor—User requesting audit log

    • Created On—Date application or policy audit log was created.

    Step 3   Click on the addition icon (+) next to an audit log to view the children audit logs in the Audit Logs window.

    Each audit log is a parent to several child audit logs. By clicking on this icon, you can view a series of additional audit logs.

    Step 4   Perform a search of the audit logs by clicking on the Search field in the Audit Logs window, entering a specific parameter, and then clicking the Submit button.

    You can search for a specific audit log by the following parameters:

    • Description

    • Requestor

    • Device

    • Site

    • Start Date

    • End Date

    Step 5   Click on the dual arrow icon to refresh the data displayed in the window.

    The data displayed in the window is refreshed with the latest audit log data.

    Step 6   Click on the down arrow icon to download a local copy of the audit log in .csv file format.

    A .csv file containing audit log data is downloaded locally to your system. You can use the .csv file for additional review of the audit log or archive it as a record of activity on the controller.

    What to Do Next

    Proceed to review any additional log files using the controller's GUI, or download individual audit logs as .csv files for further review or for archiving purposes.

    Changing the Logging Level

    To assist in troubleshooting any service issues, you can change the logging level for Cisco APIC-EM services by using the Changing the Logging Level window in the Cisco APIC-EM GUI.

    Figure 2. Service Logging Level Window

    A logging level determines the amount of data that is captured to the controller's log files. Each logging level is cumulative, that is, each level contains all the data generated by the specified level and any higher levels. For example, setting the logging level to Info also captures Warn and Error logs.

    The default logging level for services in the controller is informational (Info). You can change the logging level from informational (Info) to a different logging level (Debug or Trace) to capture more information.


    Caution

    Any logs collected at the Debug level or higher should be handled with restricted access.


    Note

    The log files are created and stored in a centralized location on your controller. From this location, the controller can query and display them in the GUI The total compressed size of the log files is 2GB. If log files created are in excess of 2GB, then the pre-existing log files are overwritten with the newer log files.

    Before You Begin

    You must have successfully deployed the Cisco APIC-EM and it must be operational.

    You must have administrator (ROLE_ADMIN) permissions to perform this procedure.

    For information about the user permissions required to perform tasks using the Cisco APIC-EM, see the chapter, Managing Users and Roles in the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module Configuration Guide.

      Step 1   In the Home window, click either admin or the Settings icon (gear) at the top right corner of the screen.
      Step 2   Click the Settings link from the drop-down menu.
      Step 3   In the Settings navigation pane, click Changing the Logging Level to view the Changing Logging Level window.

      The Logging Level table appears with the following fields:

      • Services

      • Logging Level

      • Timeout

      Step 4   In the Changing Logging Level window, choose a service from the Services field to adjust its logging level.
      Note   

      The Services field displays any services that are currently configured and running on the controller.

      Step 5   In the Changing Logging Level window, choose the new logging level for the service from the Logging Level field.

      The following logging levels are supported on the controller:

      • Trace—Trace messages

      • Debug—Debugging messages

      • Info—Normal but significant condition messages

      • Warn—Warning condition messages

      • Error—Error condition messages

      Step 6   In the Changing Logging Level window, choose the time period for the logging level from the Timeout field for the logging level adjustment.

      You configure logging level time periods in increments of 15 minutes up to an unlimited time period.

      Step 7   Review your selection and click the Apply button.

      To cancel your selection click the Cancel button.

      The logging level for the specified service is set.

      Downloading the Service Logs

      For troubleshooting purposes, you can search and download service logs using the Search Logs window in the Cisco APIC-EM GUI. You can first narrow your search down to certain specific parameters with the GUI, and then download only these logs locally for further review or to send to support for assistance.

      Figure 3. Downloading Logs

      The following types of log files are reviewed during a search and download:

      • Linux logs

      • Grapevine logs

      • Grapevine service logs

      • Database logs

      Before You Begin

      You must have successfully deployed the Cisco APIC-EM and it must be operational.

      You must have either administrator (ROLE_ADMIN) or policy administrator (ROLE_POLICY_ADMIN) permissions to perform this procedure.

      For information about the user permissions required to perform tasks using the Cisco APIC-EM, see the chapter, "Managing Users and Roles," in the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module Configuration Guide.

        Step 1   In the Home window, click either admin or the Settings icon (gear) at the top right corner of the screen.
        Step 2   Click the Logs link from the drop-down menu.

        The Search Logs window appears. In the Search Logs window, you can download the controller service logs by performing the following tasks:

        • Download service logs by entering a string value.

        • Download service logs by configuring the GUI drop-down menus and fields.

        • Download service logs by both entering a string value and by configuring the GUI drop-down menus and fields as filters to that string value.

        Step 3   (Optional) Enter a string value in the Search Logs field at the top of the Search Logs window and click the Download button.

        The log download results are displayed at the bottom of the Search Logs window.

        Step 4   (Optional) In the Search Log window, choose a service from the Services drop-down menu for the download and click the plus sign (+).

        You can add several different services to your download, by choosing from the drop-down menu and then clicking the plus sign(+).

        Note   

        The Services drop-down menu displays any services that are currently configured and running on the controller.

        Step 5   (Optional) In the Search Log window, choose a Java class from the Class drop-down menu for the download and click the plus sign (+).

        You can add several different Java classes to your download, by choosing from the drop-down menu and then clicking the plus sign(+).

        Step 6   (Optional) In the Search Logs window, choose a logging level from the Log Level drop-down menu.

        The following logging levels are supported:

        • Trace—Trace messages

        • Debug—Debugging messages

        • Info—Normal but significant condition messages

        • Warn—Warning condition messages

        • Error—Error condition messages

        Step 7   (Optional) Adjust the logging level by choosing an appropriate condition in the second Log Level drop-down menu.

        The following logging level adjustments are supported:

        • And Below—Search for the specified logging level and any other logging level that has a lower level. For example, a Trace has a lower logging level than a Warn.

        • Only—Search only for the specified logging level. Ignore any other logging levels in the results.

        • And Above—Search for the specified logging level and any other logging level with a higher level. For example, a Warn has a higher logging level than a Debug.

        Step 8   (Optional) In the Search Logs window, enter a start time for the logs in the Start Time field for the download or use the calendar icon.

        If entering a date and time directly, use the following formats:

        • Hour: Minutes, AM or PM

        • MM/DD/YYYY

        Step 9   (Optional) In the Search Logs window, enter an end time for the logs in the End Time field for the download or use the calendar icon.

        If entering a date and time directly, use the following formats:

        • Hour: Minutes, AM or PM

        • MM/DD/YYYY

        Step 10   Review your log search settings and then click the Download button. The log download results are displayed at the bottom right of the Search Log window as a page icon displaying the number of logs using the following format: Search Results (5).log.
        Step 11   Click on the icon for the log download results.

        A new window opens that displays the log download data. This data is organized using the following parameters:

        • Timestamp—Time message was sent to the log file

        • Service type—Service

        • Class—Java class that executed the request.

        • Log level—Log level

        • Message—Actual detail of message that was sent to the log file. For example, "File not found" or "Resource xxx not found".

        • Version Number—Version of the service.

        What to Do Next

        Proceed with any additional service log searches and downloads.