Administrator's Guide

Using the ADSM Activity Log

The activity log contains all messages normally sent to the server console during server operation. The only exceptions are responses to commands entered at the console, such as responses to QUERY commands.

Examples of messages sent to the activity log include:

• When client sessions start or end
• When migration starts and ends
• When backup versions are expired
• What data is exported to tape
• When expiration processing is performed
• What export or import processing is performed

Any error messages sent to the server console are also stored in the activity log.

Use the following sections to adjust the size of the activity log, set an activity log retention period, and request information about the activity log.

Changing the Size of the Activity Log

Because the activity log is stored in the database, the size of the activity log should be factored into the amount of space allocated for the database. Allow at least 1MB of additional space for the activity log.

The size of your activity log depends on how many messages are generated by daily processing operations and how long you want to retain those messages in the activity log. When retention time is increased, the amount of accumulated data also increases requiring additional database storage.

When there is not enough space in the database or recovery log for activity log records, ADSM stops recording and sends messages to the server console. If you increase the size of the database or recovery log, ADSM starts activity log recording again. For information about increasing the size of the database or recovery log, see "Adding Space to the Database or Recovery Log".

If you do not have enough space in the database for the activity log, you can do one of the following:

• Allocate more space to the database
• Reduce the length of time that messages are retained in the activity log

Setting the Activity Log Retention Period

You can specify how long activity log information is retained in the database by using the SET ACTLOGRETENTION command.

The server automatically deletes messages from the activity log after they have passed the specified age. At installation, the activity log retention period is set to one day. To change the retention period to 30 days, for example, enter:

set actlogretention 30

You can display the current retention period for the activity log by querying the server status.

Requesting Information from the Activity Log

You can request information stored in the activity log. To minimize processing time when querying the activity log, you can:

• Specify a time period in which messages have been generated. The default for the QUERY ACTLOG command shows all activities that have occurred in the previous hour.
• Specify the message number of a specific message or set of messages.
• Specify a string expression to search for specific text in messages.
• Specify the QUERY ACTLOG command from the command line for large queries instead of using the graphical user interface.

For example, to review messages generated on May 30 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., enter:

query actlog begindate=05/30/1996 enddate=05/30/1996
begintime=08:00 endtime=17:00

To request information about messages related to the expiration of files from the server storage inventory, enter:

query actlog msgno=0813

Refer to ADSM Messages for message numbers.

You can also request information only about messages logged by one or all clients. For example, to search the activity log for ADSM messages from the client for node JEE:

query actlog originator=client node=jee