Article Number: 000157727
IDPA: Gathering log files for troubleshooting Avamar client backup and restore issues
Summary: An Avamar backup or restore job is experiencing an issue. In order to diagnose why, it is necessary to locate the Avamar client log files. This article details various methods to do this. ...
Article Content
Instructions
Gathering the client logs from the Avamar HTML UI/AUI
The Activity Monitor in the Avamar Web User Interface enables you to view a detailed log of a client session to perform analysis or troubleshooting.
Steps
Gathering the client logs from the Avamar Administrator
On the Avamar Administrator interface, open the activity screen and right-click for the client whose logs you want to gather. Select "Download Support Bundle" and save the .zip file to your desktop.
For this feature to work the Avamar MCS service must be able to reach page the client (reach the client avagent service on port 28002).
Gathering the logs directly from the client
This method is available for clients which run the avscc process, such as Windows and Mac clients.
Which log files should be gathered?
This depends on the type of problem being investigated.
The best practice is to provide the entire directory but NOT the Avamar cache (.dat) files and Windows system state (.bkf) file. These are typically large and are rarely useful for troubleshooting purposes. Provide them only if Suppport request them.
What are the different logs for?
Additional Knowledge Base Articles for reference:
LKB23300 : Avamar: How to gather logs for troubleshooting Avamar VMware image backup issues
LKB38388 : How to gather logs and information to investigate Avamar Administrator console (MCGUI) issues
LKB22859 : Avamar: How to run "getlogs" to gather Avamar server logs Avamar: How to configure client log retention and how to limit the amount of space Avtar logs consume on a client
The Activity Monitor in the Avamar Web User Interface enables you to view a detailed log of a client session to perform analysis or troubleshooting.
Steps
- In the AUI navigation pane on the left, click >>, and then click Activity. The Activity Monitor appears and displays a list of all activities.
- Select an activity from the list, and then click VIEW LOGS
The Log details window appears. By default, the Activity Monitor displays a detailed log of all client backup activity for the past 72 hours
- To filter the content based on a search string, in the search field, type the string.
- To download the log file, click Download.
Gathering the client logs from the Avamar Administrator
On the Avamar Administrator interface, open the activity screen and right-click for the client whose logs you want to gather. Select "Download Support Bundle" and save the .zip file to your desktop.
For this feature to work the Avamar MCS service must be able to reach page the client (reach the client avagent service on port 28002).
Gathering the logs directly from the client
- Create a .zip file of logs through the Avamar client interface as shown below:
This method is available for clients which run the avscc process, such as Windows and Mac clients.
- Gathering logs manually from the Avamar log directory.
The location of the client logs varies depending on the client operating system.
- Windows: C:\Program Files\avs\var\
- Linux: /usr/local/avamar/var
- Other UNIX platforms: /opt/AVMRclnt/var
- NetWare: sys:\avamar\var
- MacOS: /private/var/avamar
Which log files should be gathered?
This depends on the type of problem being investigated.
The best practice is to provide the entire directory but NOT the Avamar cache (.dat) files and Windows system state (.bkf) file. These are typically large and are rarely useful for troubleshooting purposes. Provide them only if Suppport request them.
What are the different logs for?
- *.log files - also known as avtar logs and contain information about the backup
- *.alg files - contains workorder summary information
- avagent.log - logs workorders, connections, and registration messages for the Avamar backup service
- avtar.cmd - special parameters passed to avtar
- avagent.cmd - special parameters passed to avagent
- avagent.cfg - contains server hostname and server-side MCS connection port
- cid.bin - contains client identification number and server details
- avscc.log - logging for the Avamar client GUI
- p_cache.dat - hash cache
- f_cache.dat - file cache
- f_cache2.dat - paging file cache (used from Avamar v7)
- SystemState.bkf - Windows system state file
Note: From version 5, the avscc log has been relocated for the Windows operating system.
- Windows XP: %USER%\Application Data\Avamar\avscc.log
- Windows Vista: %USER%\AppData\Roaming\Avamar\avscc.log
- MacOS: (No change) /Users/USER/.avamardata/avscc.log
Where, USER is the username (short name) of the logged in account.
Once the log is available, identify any clear error or warning messages and use the support search facility to search for potentially relevant KB articles.
Once the log is available, identify any clear error or warning messages and use the support search facility to search for potentially relevant KB articles.
LKB23300 : Avamar: How to gather logs for troubleshooting Avamar VMware image backup issues
LKB38388 : How to gather logs and information to investigate Avamar Administrator console (MCGUI) issues
LKB22859 : Avamar: How to run "getlogs" to gather Avamar server logs Avamar: How to configure client log retention and how to limit the amount of space Avtar logs consume on a client
Additional Information
Avamar HTML UI/AUI Activity Monitor Overview
Enabling more detailed (debug) logging
Occasionally, support or enginerings require more details than is available in the default output. To enable debug and verbose logging on a single client:
--verbose
It is also possible to enable debug and or verbose logging through the GUI for a single backup or enable it for an entire dataset.
See the latest Avamar System Administrator guide for current details but in general this requires you to select the 'More Options' button, choose 'Advanced Options' and then mark the 'Enable Debugging Messages' checkbox while performing a single backup or adding the --debug=true and --verbose=true options to a dataset.
Note:
Retrieving an Avamar backup log from the server
If troubleshooting a backup whose log is no longer present on the client, but which has not yet expired from the server, retrieve the backup log from the Avamar server.
Controlling Avamar client log retention
See the following article.
Only registered Dell Customers can access the content on the following link, via Dell.com/support
LKB60840 - Avamar - How to configure client log retention and limit how much space avtar logs may consume on a client
Gathering Avamar Client Log on Windows Servers for Guest Level Windows Backup Troubleshooting
Enabling more detailed (debug) logging
Occasionally, support or enginerings require more details than is available in the default output. To enable debug and verbose logging on a single client:
- Edit or create a text file on the client computer named avtar.cmd. The file must be placed in the Avamar installation directory (mentioned earlier in this article)
- Use a text editor to create the file and add these lines before saving the file
--verbose
It is also possible to enable debug and or verbose logging through the GUI for a single backup or enable it for an entire dataset.
See the latest Avamar System Administrator guide for current details but in general this requires you to select the 'More Options' button, choose 'Advanced Options' and then mark the 'Enable Debugging Messages' checkbox while performing a single backup or adding the --debug=true and --verbose=true options to a dataset.
Note:
-
When providing logs to support, use standard ZIP files and not some other compression utility such as Winrar or Winace. EMC Support may not have access to programs to decompress other archive types.
-
Best practice is to attach log files directly to the SR. Besides email attachment size limitations, if your support case passes ownership to another Support Engineer the new Engineer may not have access to the log files.
-
Avoid permanent use of --debug and --verbose avtar flags.
If possible and if the issue is reproducible, provide logs with and without debug enabled.
Retrieving an Avamar backup log from the server
If troubleshooting a backup whose log is no longer present on the client, but which has not yet expired from the server, retrieve the backup log from the Avamar server.
- List the backups available for the client:
mccli backup show --name=/domain/full-client-name
Created LabelNum Size Retention
----------------------- -------- ----------- ---------
2012-06-05 09:01:52 IST 99 34117216256 D
2012-06-05 08:49:15 IST 98 34108467200 D
2012-06-04 08:12:59 IST 97 34078259200 DW
2012-06-04 08:09:32 IST 96 34083352576 DW
----------------------- -------- ----------- ---------
2012-06-05 09:01:52 IST 99 34117216256 D
2012-06-05 08:49:15 IST 98 34108467200 D
2012-06-04 08:12:59 IST 97 34078259200 DW
2012-06-04 08:09:32 IST 96 34083352576 DW
- Take a note of the label number of the backup whose log you are interested in.
- Run the following avtar command, entering the appropriate information.
avtar -x --server=<Avamar server IP/hostname> --id=root --ap=<avamar root password> --path=/domain/full-client-name --labelnum=<from LabelNum column of previous output> --showlog > output-file
The 'Avamar root password' which must be supplied here is the Avamar server password, not the Linux operating system password.
- The log contents are available in 'output-file'.
Controlling Avamar client log retention
See the following article.
Only registered Dell Customers can access the content on the following link, via Dell.com/support
LKB60840 - Avamar - How to configure client log retention and limit how much space avtar logs may consume on a client
Gathering Avamar Client Log on Windows Servers for Guest Level Windows Backup Troubleshooting
Article Properties
Affected Product
Avamar, Integrated Data Protection Appliance Family
Product
Avamar Client, PowerProtect Data Protection Software, Integrated Data Protection Appliance Family, Integrated Data Protection Appliance Software
Last Published Date
06 May 2024
Version
5
Article Type
How To