ST01 -- No file !

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am trying to get my ST01 trace file. This is an activity which I have done Innumerable times and has often very often obtained sucessful file output.

What I have done :

1.transaction --> ST01

2.Checked the Auth Box

3.Write option --Write to Disk

4.Filter --. user name

5.Switched on trace

6.setting --> write to DB

I tried even with trace on at the begining

But I get as out put NOTHING ! just a dynpro

Did I miss out something --> ??

[jurjen_heeck]

How many application servers do you have?

[Former Member]

Wow !! Juergen!! you are right-- I guess !

I have six of them but where does ST01 give me an option to select all the Ap servers ? am on 46 C

[jurjen_heeck]

> does ST01 give me an option to select all the Ap servers ?

I think it does not, so you'll have to start a trace on each one of them by directly logging on instead of via a load balancer.

[Former Member]

Hi George,

This some time happens.

Do one thing .Change the date criteria.I mean change from date.You will find the traces.

Bcoz I to faced the same problem many no of times.

If there is any issue let me know.

Thanks,

Sudheer.

[Former Member]

But this option is "From Date " is not there either while settign up the trace or during analysis of the trace.

During the analysis, I just blanked out the start date -->

result--> NO trace still.

[Former Member]

Hi George,

I am really wondering.

This is the first time I am hearing starting a Trace w/o Date .

To my knowlege these date and time fields are mandatory bcoz this is only the search criteria you can check.

Let me know if this can be done w/o Date.

Thanks,

Sudheer.

[Former Member]

Hi Sudheer,

If any field i smandatory - there will be a message asking you to fill it in for example if youcreate a user without a last name or try to save auser without the inital pwd.

In this case its not there. There is another possible explanation too --> when the trace is turned on the date & time is taken into consideration

If you will go into ST01 you will se that there is no date fld there ( 46C)

looging intoeach server yes thats what i think the reason woudl be ..but can you think of any other way ?? perhaps anyother tcd ??

Thanks

[Former Member]

Also, I believe when you do not specify the time/date for analysis it simply reviews a -+10 minute window of when the analysis is requested.

So unless you leave tracing enabled on a system all the time (which isn't suggested) you wouldn't have to change your time/date unless you need to go back and specifically review previous records.

[Former Member]

Ben,

You did raise interesting point. in the front screenof ST01 yes there is a maxfile size --> is this the defined file size ? yes Isuppose.

Now in the file list --> there is yet another file size is this the current file size or the max filesize ?

How do I know the file size ??

[Former Member]

Hi Folks !

1. I was searching the forum and came across juluius ( I like to add more U's as I dont know where are the orginal ones were !!) in which he explained the SM04 & Al08 as a side kick he mentions that use sm51 to get the server to boot out the user --> for the trace just do the same first step would be --> BEFORE transaction ST01 determine on which apserver the user is ( SM51) once you search the user there get the ST01 activated. there is a drawbackthough. If for any reason you want to trace the activity of a user who WOULD log in , you have no way to knwo to which server he may logon !

Thanks

[Former Member]

>

> Hi Folks !
> 
> 1. I was searching the forum and came across juluius ( I like to add more U's as I dont know where are the orginal ones were !!) in which he explained the SM04 & Al08 as a side kick he mentions that use sm51 to get the server to boot out the user --> for the trace just do the same first step would be --> BEFORE transaction ST01 determine on which apserver the user is ( SM51) once you search the user there get the ST01 activated. there is a drawbackthough. If for any reason you want to trace the activity of a user who WOULD log in , you have no way to knwo  to which server he may logon !
> 
> Thanks

George,

The is not a drawback. That is expected and by design, apps server are load balancers and you never know what app server a user will connect to.

It's simple make sure the target user is already logged on.

1. Run AL08 to find the app server or CI the user is connected to.

2. Run SM51 double click on the app server or CI the user is connected to.

3. Run /nST01.

Hope this helps or clarify things a bit!

Edited by: John Navarro on Dec 10, 2008 8:25 PM

[Former Member]

John,

You missed the point. What I mentioned is if you know a user logs in at a time when you are notthere in the location to do the excercise you mentioned , how woudl you run a trace ??

[Former Member]

>

> John,
> You missed the point. What I mentioned is if you know a user logs in at a time when you are notthere in the location to do the excercise you mentioned , how woudl you run a trace  ??

Sorry, still missed the point with your reply. It's not important but I hope you answered your own question. Good Luck!

If I take your reply literally you will need "An automated way to trigger ST01 on the correct app server when a target user logs on to any given application server". I would also like that on my wish list with Santa.

[Former Member]

Yeah ! ask for two !!

[Former Member]

> If I take your reply literally you will need "An automated way to trigger ST01 on the correct app server when a target user logs on to any given application server". I would also like that on my wish list with Santa.

I don't know of a standard utility to do that, but it can be done with a few lines of ABAP quite easily.

Probably the easiest way would be to use the start transaction approach in the session_manager.

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

Yes..because SM51 gives the servers and Sm04 gives the App server logged on to or directly frm Al08 the tobe desinged Pgm can identify the server and intite the ST01 there.

[Former Member]

SM51 is a very powerfull transaction, and I suspect that you can activate a trace from there as well, possibly even with a time delay. But to make it dependent on the event of a logon is probably more tricky. Also, activating traces remotely for remote (re)logons might have additional risks, as the users might be able to activate traces on each other... and/or need the authority for tracing while tracing themselves...

Strangely enough, trace type of authorization checks for the administation functions control a number of very powerfull tools.

There are exits in the STAT collectors which you could also use (that would also be independent of the SAPGui), but you might loose a few minutes as a downside to it.

An exit in the SM19 audit log is another option worth exploring. Probably a better one. It already allows for dynamic activation and is triggered for events such as logons. At that point, the SAP kernel should already know which app server the user is being connected to, and even where it is calling (back) from once logged on. It would also be independent of the user type, SAPGui, etc and provide a lot of reason coding around the start and stop of the trace. I would favour this option.

Just to be sure that we are not wandering off in the wrong direction here.... so your problem was that you started a trace for a user, but the file was empty because you either activated it on the wrong app server or it was empty for selecting the data for that user by the time you logged on again?

For the second case, you can also filter the users being traced (but I assume you know that).

GG, can you please explain which part of this wandering discussion around tracing (also my "fault" this time) is still open and what exactly you want to trace (or just generally anything)? It is also not clear for which types of users and authentication types you want this?

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

Juluius-( I have now determined a way to remember the Us in your name --> place it after every alphabet !!)

Well I was not getting the trace file and Though I did knew it had something todowith the server (Juergen did mention that too) I was trying to navigate to through this through the ST01 itself but was not geeting there- till I read your sm04/al08 last sentence ! then combined all together !

I still dont knwo if I could do the trace as the user has since logged off !!

[Former Member]

Probably it is easier for me to change my name, than for you to get it right...

If I remember correctly, the trace file does not stop when full, but uses FIFO (first in, first out) approach.

That is what I meant by starting it on an event and stopping it when the connection is closed or the "keep alive" finds that the session is gone.

But in the SAPGui world thing might not always work.

For dialog users I would go for the start_transaction option.

For background and RFC users, an event to start the trace from a program would be possible.

If you want both in one elegant solution, I think you will need to open a development request with the SAP folks.

I have a very similar wish, which I think will be very usefull. If you search for "wellness" or "snow" then you will find it.

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

George,

One other thing to definitely double check on. What is the size thresh hold of your trace file log?

I had a system once where another admin left tracing on and it literally filled up the /usr/sap/SID/PROF/log

directory.

Once it filled I was no longer able to run a trace, and the "no data" error was misleading.

If it's full, just delete the trace file, and reset it's status. You should then be able to run a trace that will record some information.

Hope this helps.