- Preface
- New and Changed Information
- Overview
- Troubleshooting Matrix
- Troubleshooting an Installation or Update
- Troubleshooting the Configuration
- Troubleshooting Cisco APIC-EM Single and Multi-Host
- Troubleshooting Services Using System Health
- Troubleshooting Services Using the Controller Admin Console
- Troubleshooting Using the Logs
- Troubleshooting Passwords
- Troubleshooting Commands
- Troubleshooting Log Files
- Contacting the Cisco Technical Assistance Center
- Index
Troubleshooting
Using the Logs
The following logs may be used to troubleshoot Cisco APIC-EM:
Viewing Audit Logs
Audit logs capture information about the various applications (EasyQoS, PnP and IWAN). Additionally, the audit logs also capture information about device PKI notifications. The information in these audit logs can be used to assist in troubleshooting any issues involving the applications or device PKI certificates.
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.

You must have successfully installed the Cisco APIC-EM and it must be operational.
You must have either administrator (ROLE_ADMIN), policy administrator (ROLE_POLICY_ADMIN), or Observer (ROLE_OBSERVER) permissions and the appropriate resource scope to perform this procedure.
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 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.

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. You may want to adjust the logging level to assist in troubleshooting any issues by capturing more data. For example, by adjusting the logging level you can capture more data to review in a root cause analysis or rca support file.
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 | Due to the type of information that may be disclosed, 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. |
You must have successfully installed the Cisco APIC-EM and it must be operational.
You must have either administrator (ROLE_ADMIN) or policy administrator (ROLE_POLICY_ADMIN) permissions and the appropriate RBAC scope 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 Administrator 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: | ||
Step 4 | In the
Changing
Logging Level
window, choose a service from the
Services field to adjust its logging level.
| ||
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: | ||
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. |