Collecting Data: Read first for Lotus Notes & Domino

Technote (FAQ)

Question
Collecting troubleshooting data early, even before opening a PMR, helps IBM Technical Support quickly determine if:

symptoms match known problems (rediscovery). there is a non-defect problem that can be identified and resolved. there is a defect that identifies a workaround to reduce severity. locating root cause can speed development of a code fix.

What data should you collect when troubleshooting problems with Lotus Notes and Domino products?

Answer
The diagnostic data that you need to collect and the sources from which you collect that data are dependent on the type of problem that you are investigating. A general or base set of information is typically required for diagnosing and resolving a product-level or component-level problem. For specific symptoms, you might need to manually enable debug or collect additional problemspecific data.

Gathering general information Automated log collection via IBM Support Assistant (ISA) is the recommended method for improving accuracy of the data collection. For Lotus Domino and earlier versions of Lotus Notes (6.5 and 7.0) We recommend that you install ISA Lite on all of your Domino servers

and older Notes clients as a proactive measure to ensure it is available if needed. ISA Lite for Lotus Notes/Domino runs on AIX, Linux, Solaris and Windows platforms. Use this tool to gather the documentation and information necessary to troubleshoot the problem on the system(s) in your environment. If you cannot locate a problem type in ISA Lite which matches your scenario, select one of the General Collection types. IBM Support Assistant Lite (ISA Lite) for Lotus Notes and Domino

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For Lotus Notes 8.x Standard Client In Lotus Notes 8.0 and above, ISA Lite is embedded in the product. The following technotes provide more information on collecting general information for Lotus Notes: Notes 8.5.2 Notes 8.5.0 and 8.5.1 Notes 8.0.x Collecting Data: Collecting troubleshooting data for Notes 8.5.2 Standard Client issues (#1424260) Collecting Data: Collecting troubleshooting data for Notes 8.5.0 and 8.5.1 Standard Configuration (#1389356) Collecting Data: Collecting troubleshooting data for Notes 8.0x Standard Configuration issues (#1273533)

Gathering component specific information If you are experiencing any of the specific problems below, follow the instructions in the associated "Collecting data" document: Topic HTTP crash Collecting data document Collecting data for HTTP crash on a Lotus Domino server (#7010964) HTTP memory crash Collecting data for HTTP memory crash on Lotus Domino server (#7010967) HTTP hang or performance issue Collecting data for HTTP hang or performance issues on a Lotus Domino server (#7010969) NRPC mail routing Collecting Data for Lotus Domino server NRPC mail routing issues (#1447237) Server crash Collecting data for Lotus Domino server crash (#1447228) Server hang/bad performance Collecting data for Lotus Domino Server hang/bad performance (#1447230) Gathering general information manually (optional) As mentioned above, it is recommended you use ISA Lite to automatically collect troubleshooting data. Follow the steps below to manually collect the base set of information from the system you are troubleshooting: 1. Collect the notes.ini and console.log files files in the Lotus Notes or Lotus Domino install directory. 2. Collect the following files in the IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT directory: - the latest NSDs (*.nsd) dated for the day the problem occurred - the latest console.log (*.log) associated with the NSDs collected - the latest process*.dmp 3. Collect the following files in the data directory (the data directory is located in the Notes or Domino install directory): - the latest NSDs (*.nsd) dated for the day the problem occurred - the install.log 4. Collect *.log files in the Trace directory (the Trace directory is located in the Notes or Domino install directory). Gathering general information on IBM i systems

On IBM i, collect the following base set of information from the system you are troubleshooting: 1. Collect the notes.ini from the Domino Data directory. 2. From the IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT directory, collect the following: - the latest NSDs (*.nsd) dated for the day the problem occurred - the latest console.log (*.log) associated with the NSDs collected - the latest SEMDEBUG.txt (*.txt) associated with the NSDs collected In certain cases: Memory dumps may have been requested, these would also be in the IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT directory - if memory dumps were requested, memory dumps (*.dmp) generated for this particular issue If this is a Sametime server, - Collect *.log files in the Trace directory For install issues, also collect the install.log file, located in the Domino install directory. Submitting information to IBM Support After you collect the appropriate diagnostic data, you can provide that information to IBM Support. This step requires that a PMR be opened, if one does not exist. Refer to "Exchanging information with IBM Lotus Technical Support" for more information and steps. Frequently Asked Questions Q. Is there any way to avoid having to register for an IBM ID in order to download ISA Lite? A. Unfortunately, not at this time.

Q. Can you run ISA Lite from a Notes client machine to collect data from a Domino server machine? A. No. If you intend to gather data from a Domino server, the ISA Lite tool must be installed on and launched from the Domino server machine.

Q. Does it matter whether the Domino server is running when you run ISA Lite? A. No. And it should not disturb the server if it is running. The collectors simply gather files, place them in a zip/tar and transmit them to IBM.

Q. (UNIX only) The following error may occur when initially attempting to run ISA Lite in GUI mode on UNIX systems: "Can't connect to X11 window server" . A. The Lotus Domino install can run into the same error, and the same solution can be used for ISA Lite. Both the Domino setup program and the ISA Lite took launch a Java client. In some cases, you may need to set up the DISPLAY environment variable and allow xhost permission to the GUI as well. The same steps you apply in the Domino setup scenario are also used in the ISA Lite scenario. See technote # 1107421 for instructions.