Debugging Percussion Applications

Percussion offers two options for debugging applications.  Logging provides long-term monitoring of the Percussion server.  Tracing monitors specific activity in an application so you can debug it interactively.

Logging server activity

Three forms of logging are available for server activity in Percussion.

• Basic server activity is output to a console. This output is saved in the file <rhythmyxroot>/logs/AppServer/server.log. You can use this file to track basic server activity. Percussion Software Technical Support may request a copy of this file when providing assistance.  This file can also be accessed by Admin users via the http://mypercussion:9992/Rhythmyx/test/logs.jsp log viewer utility.

• Direct logging through Log4j is typically used for extensions and certain other Java classes (typically classes that begin with the prefix PS). The default Log4j configuration file is stored in AppServer/server/rx/config/log4j.xml. This file includes extensive comments describing the default configuration. 

• NOTE:  The Server Administrator Tool is not currently available for Percussion CM1.

  • A detailed server log is maintained internally. You can configure the level of detail in this log in the Percussion Server Administrator. The following levels of logging are available:
    • Errors - Log errors that occur during processing. Define this setting to help resolve problems.
    • Server startup and shutdown - Logs the startup and shutdown of the server.
    • Application startup and shutdown - Logs when applications start up and shutdown.
    • Application statistics at shutdown - Logs the time the application is active, events it processes, and performance statistics.
    • Basic user activity - Logs the session id, username, and request URL for each request and the host address of the requestor.
    • Full user activity - Logs all basic and detailed user activity and any additional information encountered while processing the request, such as SQL statements that are completed.
    • Detailed user activity - Logs basic user activity information, and the input XML document, HTML parameters, and request statistics.
    • Multiple handler - For multiple request handlers, logs a message for each resource that matches the request criteria. The first resource that matches the request criteria processes it, but Percussion checks subsequent resources. Use only for debugging purposes.

    You can request the output of this internal log from the Percussion Server Administrator. To retrieve the output of this log:

    1. In the Server Administrator tool, click the Logging tab and then the View tab.
    2. (Optional) Specify query options and enter dates and times. Logging data is very detailed so you may want to specify a small time interval to limit the amount of data returned.
    3. Click the [Get it] button. The Percussion Server Administrator will popup a new window with the output you requested.

       NOTE: The internal logger stores log information in an internal database. If for some reason this database is unavailable, Percussion writes log information to an XML file (log.xml) stored at the root of the Percussion installation.