Prepare for syslog analysis

What to do

Before the test

To be able to analyse the syslog during and after the test some preparation has to be done before the test starts. This can be done in a number of ways, for example:

Remember the TelORB time before start the test case.
Give the command tail that is storing all messages sent to the syslog in a separately file.

During the test

Check now and then if any messages has been received.

After the test

Check all messages that arrived during the test case. This can be done in a number of ways, for example:

Use an editor to have a look in the syslog file. Find out relevant messages with help of the time stamps and the time check that was done before the test started.
If the command tail was given before the test started, stop it with "Control/C" and analyse the messages in the created file.

Note

I don't know which messages to look for or which to ignore. Maybe we can mention some examples here when we have used the syslog for a while.

Information

The syslog is a function where messages are sent from the software on the processors to a file on the IO processors. It is up to the design person to decide what and when something shall be sent to the syslog. So the use of a message can be of different level.

That syslog is stored in the file /opt/telorb/syslog/ on both IO Processors.

When do a time stamp arrive

The syslog contain time stamp messages which arrives when:

When a message should be sent and it has passed more than 10 seconds since the last message was sent.
If 20 messages have been sent without a time stamp message has been sent.

Time stamp information

A time stamp messages which can look like:

TelORB: Mon Jan 1 01:00:45 1990, Host: Tue Mar 20 18:38:48 2001

The first entry (TelORB) is the time in the TelORB system when the time stamp was sent from the system.

The other entry (Host) is the time on the IO processor when the time stamp was stored in the file.

Message information

A messages in the syslog can look like this:

2 [ +41] IPC: Established link through Ethernet B to [2.1.5]

The first entry (2) is the number of the processor that generated the message.

Next entry ([ +41]) is a time stamp when the message was sent from the processor, in this case was it sent 41 ms after the last time stamp message.

The last entry (IPC: Est...) is the message itself.

Debug levels

Each message has a debug level. This is used to filter how much and what type of messages that are sent to the syslog file. The level is not showed in the message printout. Level 0 to 6 should be messages that is understandable for everyone. Level 7 is for the design person only. See the document "TelORB Configuration Parameters" for more information about the different levels.

The level can be set in two different ways:

Set the Initial Data parameter SYSLOG_LEVEL in the epct file. If it is not set the default value 5 is used.
Set the value with a telnet session.
1. telnet "IP-address of a Processor" 8100
2. cd syslog
3. loglevel 7 (set the debug level to 7 for that processor only)

Prepare the syslog before the test start

Check the TelORB clock by:

Open the TelORB Manager, "Processors" sheet.
Under the heading "Clock Configuration", check the Local time.

Store all messages sent to the syslog in an other file by:

Login to IO Processor 1 or 2.
Give the following command:
tail -f /opt/telorb/syslog > filename

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