You can use agent logging information to troubleshoot issues that are local to an AppDynamics app agent.

The Controller cannot access the log files generated by the .NET Microservices Agent.

This page describes how to work with agent logs. To access agent logging operations in the Controller UI, navigate to Node Dashboard > Agents > App Server Agent > Agent Operations.

Permissions

To request agent thread dumps or agent debug logs, users need the Agent Advanced Operation permission.

Get Agent Log Files and Thread Dump Samples

Requesting log files causes the agent to send the contents of its logs directory as a zip file to the Controller. From there, you can download the zip to your local machine.

These agent-specific considerations apply to logging sessions: 

  • For the Database Agent, Java Agent or PHP Agent, you can get all logs or choose from these alternatives:
    • Output from a specific logger at a set level, for a fixed duration. The Logger Name field specifies the agent logger names such as com.singularity, com.singularity.tm, com.singularity.tm.jdbc, or as pattern matching the agent logger name. For a list of supported loggers, see Java Supported Environments.
    • Thread dump samples. The agent takes a thread dump according to the specified collection interval and specified number to collect. After the interval elapses the thread dumps are uploaded by the agent as a zip file. 
  • For the Node.js agent, the proxy logs are available.
  • For the Python Agent, if you choose All logs in the logs directory, you get both the proxy logs and the agent logs. The agent log contains the log messages that it is configured to log in the agent configuration file. See Python Agent Settings.

While the status is PENDING, you can click Refresh to update the status field. Once the request succeeds, as indicated by the status, right-click the agent operation name for your request and choose Download Data. Enter a name for your request to prepend the generated zip file with your name. For example, the name of CurrentTime produces a zip file named similar to CurrentTime_Node_8000_1390503141046.zip.

If SUCCESSFUL doesn't eventually appear in the status for the request, the request may have timed out. A request can timeout due to incorrect request parameters or if the server becomes unavailable. In this case, right-click the request and choose Delete Data and retry the request.  

Start an Agent Logging Session

For Java and Database Agents, you can generate log information with the specific type of logging information. For the Node.js and Python agents, the log information generated is from the proxy only.   

  1. Confirm that you have enough disk space to create the logs before starting a logging session. Log file requests fail if there is not enough disk space available. The disk space required depends on application activity. If you are uncertain about the amount of space required, try conducting an agent logging session with the shortest duration and closely monitor the disk space on the monitored machine. 
  2. Click Start Agent Logging Session in the Agent Operations panel.

  3. Choose the duration for the logging session and the debug logger types to initiate. The logger type determines the type of information captured with these options:

    Logging Session Type

    Type of Information

    Application Wide Configuration

    Application configuration changes

    Business Transaction Registration

    Transaction, exit identification, self-resolution

    Current Time

    Requests to synch up the clock skew between the controller and the agent

    Events

    Changes in application state that are of potential interest

    Metric Data

    Metric data

    Metric Registration

    Metric registration

    One Way Agent

    For system (machine) agent only, information from the capture feature

    Request Segment data

    Snapshot upload of request segment

    System Agent Registration

    System (machine) agent registration

    System Agent Reregistration

    System (machine) agent reregistration

    System Agent Polling Handler

    System (machine) agent configuration request

    Task Execution

    Relates to the machine agent where you can create a task to execute on a machine, such as to restart the application server and run a script

    Top Summary Stats

    Request to upload the 'most expensive backend' summary

    Application Configuration

    Configuration change requests

    Transient Channel

    The activity of the transient channel that is used to upload and download instructions for JMX console live data

  4. Click Start Agent Logging Session. Each selected session type displays in the Session panel with a start and end time based on the selected Duration of the logging session.

Submitting Log Files to Support

When submitting log files to AppDynamics Support, ensure you send the entire contents of the agent logs directory available as a zip file for download when you request the agent logs.