Configuring logging on the Notification Server and an Altiris Agent computer

Products

IT Management Suite Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

When troubleshooting complex issues within IT Management Suite (ITMS), the default logging levels often do not capture enough detail to identify the root cause. Support Engineers frequently require "Verbose" or "Trace" logging to see the full communication flow between the Symantec Management Agent (SMA) and the Notification Server (SMP).

How to configure logging on the Notification Server and on Altiris Agent computers

How to enable Verbose Logging

Environment

ITMS 8.6.x, 8.7.x, 8.8.x

Cause

Standard logging typically captures Errors, Warnings, and basic Information. To diagnose advanced issues, the logging configuration must be adjusted to increase the Severity level, the MaxFiles (retention), and the MaxSize (volume). This can be accomplished via the SMP Console, the Altiris Log Viewer, or direct Registry modifications.

Resolution

We've created Tasks to make the changes below. Please see KB Altiris Diagnostic Tasks.

[!IMPORTANT]

Disk Space Warning: Increasing log size and counts will consume more disk space. Ensure the target drive has sufficient overhead before applying these changes.

1. Windows Agent and Server Logging (Registry Method)

Logging for both the Agent and the SMP is controlled by the following registry key:

HKLM\Software\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Event Logging\LogFile

Note: The following regkey may or not exists already. Modify or create it if it does not exist.

Regkey Name	Recommended (Agent) value (decimal/hexadecimal)	Recommended (Server) value (decimal/hexadecimal)	Data Type	Description
Severity	255 (0xFF)	255 (0xFF)	DWORD	Enables Verbose/All logging levels.
MaxFiles	100	200	DWORD	Number of historical logs to keep.
MaxSize	1000	2000	DWORD	Max size of each log file in KB.
FilePath	Default	Default	String	Location of log storage.

Default File Paths:

SMP: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\SMP\Logs (Files named aXX.log)
Agent: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Agent\Logs (Files named agentXX.log)

See Increase the Altiris Logs file size

2. Configuration via LogViewer2.exe

The LogViewer2.exe utility is the primary tool for viewing and configuring logs on the fly.

1. Navigate to the Diagnostics folder on the SMP Server: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Diagnostics\.
2. Launch LogViewer2.exe.
3. Click Options > Log Options > NS Settings.
4. Check the boxes for Trace, Verbose at least (Debug entries can be also enabled for more detailed logging).
  - Tip: On the Notification Server, it is better to increase MaxFiles rather than MaxSize to prevent the Web Console from lagging when parsing very large files.

3. Configuration via SMP Console (Server Only)

On the SMP Console, go to Settings > All Settings.
Navigate to Notification Server > Notification Server Settings.
Select the Logging tab.
Adjust the logging level to include Trace and Verbose.

4. ULM Agent (Unix, Linux, Mac)

To enable debug logging on non-Windows endpoints, use the aex-helper utility via terminal:

Set Verbose Logging:

sudo aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_level DEVNOTE

Set Log Size to Unlimited:

sudo aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_file_size 0

Restart the Agent:

sudo /opt/altiris/notification/nsagent/bin/rcscript restart

There are five main levels of severity logging, and they are:

Errors
Warnings
Information
Trace
Verbose

The registry Severity key can be manually adjusted to the desired logging level (these are Decimal values):

1 = Errors
2 = Warnings
3 = Errors and Warnings
4 = Information
5 = Errors & Information
6 = Warnings & Information
7 = Errors, Warning & Information
8 = Trace
9 = Errors and Trace
10 = Warnings and Trace
11 = Errors, Warnings, and Trace
12 = Information and Trace
13 = Errors, Information, and Trace
14 = Warnings, Information, and Trace
15 = Errors, Warnings, Information, and Trace

16 = Verbose

17 = Verbose, Errors

........
255 (0xFF) = Verbose logging (All logging options enabled)

Additional Information

Please see KB Altiris Diagnostic Tasks for Tasks that can be imported to the SMP Console to make these Registry changes for you.