Knowledge Base: ADMINISTRATION : Activity, Event and Audit Logs
 
Activity, Event and Audit Logs
Creation Date: October 22, 1997
Revision Date: April 24, 2014
Product: DS‑Client
Summary
The DS‑Client software logs all information about activities performed (scheduled and demanded) in the DS‑Client database. This information is organized into four categories and can be used to troubleshoot, monitor and report DS‑Client activities. DS‑Client keeps this information in its database for a period specified in the Keep DS-Client logs parameter of the DS‑Client configuration (DS-User > Setup > Configuration: Parameters).
NOTE:  Logs older than the defined retention period are automatically cleaned by the Admin. processes. However, for each existing backup set, the last 10 activities will be preserved even if they exceed the retention period for logs. This means some backup sets that have only a few activities may retain old logs indefinitely (or until the backup set itself is deleted).
Activity Log
The Activity Log contains a high‑level summary of a particular DS‑Client's activities (such as backup or restore). This information can be viewed using the Activity Log Viewer, which contains the following fields:
 
 
User Name
Shows the name of the user that performed the activity (empty if scheduled).
Type
Shows the type of activity (backup, restore, delete, ...).
Owner
Shows the name of the owner of the backup set
Description
Shows the node, and backup set name.
Errors
Shows the number of errors that occurred during activity.
Start
Shows the date and time the activity started.
End
Shows the time of day the activity ended.
Duration
Length of time between the activity's start and end times.
Files
Shows the number of files that were affected by the activity.
Online
Shows the amount of data affected by the activity.
Completion
Shows the completion status of the corresponding activity. This shows whether the activity completed by finishing and closing gracefully. Note that errors can occur, even if the activity is completed. If an activity appears in red, it is because it had a completion status that might not have resulted in a complete activity and you should check the Event Log for further details.
 
For activities that completed or are still running, they appear in black color in that Activity Log. Examples of this type of completion include:
Completed with errors
Completed with errors and warnings
Completed with warnings
In progress: activity is still running
Successful: activity successfully completed with no errors or warnings
 
For activities that did not complete for different reasons, they appear in red color in the Activity Log. Examples of this type of completion include:
Amount limit
Disconnect
Error limit
Incomplete: activity did not finish completely and/or failed to close its connection with DS-System properly
No connection: activity failed to connect to the DS-System
No source: failed to connect to backup set source
Not allowed
Shutdown
Time limit
User stop(ped): user stopped the activity
Unexpected stop: activity stopped for other reasons
Yield
ID
Activity's unique identification number.
Event Log
The Event Log contains detailed information (events) which was recorded during a particular activity. It contains mostly error events that occurred during an activity. The Event Log also contains entries for all DS‑User login/log-off attempts and errors that occurred outside of any activity (like in schedule module). This information can be viewed with the Event Log Viewer or from the Activity Log Viewer and it contains the following fields:
 
 
Icon
Shows the event type (Information, Warning or Error)
Time
Shows the date and time that the event occurred.
User
Shows the User Name of the user (if any) associated with the event
Category
Shows the category of the event (database, socket, system, ...)
Event #
Shows a numeric error ID code.
ID
Unique ID numbers used to distinguish one activity from another.
Text
May display additional information associated with the message (ex: the IP address of a connection).
Description
Shows a description of the event.
Detailed Log
The Detailed Log contains a log of all files that were affected by a specific backup or restore activity. Only those activities whose 'Detailed Log' flag is set, will have that information recorded. This is set as follows:
• Scheduled backups: Backup Set Properties > Options
• On-Demand backups: Backup Wizard > Select options for demand backup screen
• Restores: Restore Wizard > Select Restore Options screen.
Detailed Log information can be viewed from the Activity Log Viewer.
Audit Trail
The Audit log contains a list of all modifications (additions, deletions and updates) made to the DS‑Client database. This information includes DS‑Client setup, backup set, and schedule information. The DS‑Client administrator can use these logs for troubleshooting and auditing purposes. This information can be viewed with the Audit Trail and it contains the following fields:
 
 
Icon
Shows the operation type.
Time
Shows the time the modification occurred.
User
Shows the name of the user who performed the modification.
Operation
Shows the type of modification performed.
Table
Shows the table that was modified.
Description
Shows details of the modification that occurred.
Note
If a DS-Client fails to start due to a configuration, database or other error, it will record errors in the operating system event log:
• For Windows, they are recorded in the Event Viewer.
• For Linux, in /tmp/dsclient.err, or /tmp/dsclient.out, or /var/log/messages.
• For Mac, in /Library/Logs or /var/log.