Teamcenter - Troubleshooting Teamcenter Issues

NOTE: An excellent source for troubleshooting Teamcenter issues is the Teamcenter Online
Documentation detailing how to enable and capture log files and how to set debug options for different
processes. Diagnostic utilities are also available and described below.

Prerequisites

Classify the incident

There are several common types of incidents:

- A user interface problem

E.g. A user expects a particular functionality or a dialog
- A functional problem with a program
- A performance issue
E.g. One client needs much more time to display the information than another
- Data inconsistency

Get an overview of the installation

Identify the following:

- the hardware components related to the Teamcenter installation

- which Teamcenter processes are running on which hardware
- the communication channels between the processes
- which process writes which log files and the location of the files in your installation
- the location of the installed Teamcenter version documentation
- the installed software versions for all components

Usually this information is already available in the installation documentation at your site.

Starting an analysis

Some questions to consider:

How do I know which log files I need?

Which debug options should I use?

Which diagnostic utility helps in getting a better understanding of the problem?

Incident Types

User Interface Issue

A user interface issue can be related to the user interface, a communication problem with the web
application server or the tcserver process and the FMS system.

How do I know which log files I need?

If an error message is shown, it will be the starting point for the analysis. All messages are listed in the
Rich Application Client log file. ($HOME/Teamcenter/RAC/$Number/Username_TcRAC_Number.log)

Example:

ERROR 2011-03-01 18:22:27,199 - com.teamcenter.rac.kernel.TCException

 Unable to logout: There are applications running that Portal has
launched. Please close them and exit.

at com.teamcenter.rac.kernel.TCSession.handleException(Unknown
Source)

.....

WARN 2011-03-01 18:22:30,370 - Messagebox warning

Unable to logout: There are applications running that Portal has

launched. Please close them and exit.

If no message is displayed, it can be a missing or not working functionality or the user interface does
not respond to user actions.

If a functionality is missing, consult the Teamcenter Online Documentation. If it is still documented but
not displayed, it can be related to a configuration issue.

If the RAC freezes, check the communication between the user interface and the web application
server or tcserver process.

Which debug options should I use?

The log level is defined in...\rac\plugins\configuration_8000.3.0\TcLogger.properties. To set the debug

level for the client use:

log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, TcLoggerConsoleAppender,
TcLoggerFileAppender, TcLogContext

A more detailed description can be found in the Teamcenter Online Documentation / Rich Client
Customization Programmers Guide / Troubleshooting rich client customization / Enabling client-side
logging / Changing the logging level and location.

Which diagnostic utility helps in getting a better understanding of the problem?

There are two tools to monitor the client communication: communication indicator and the
Communications Monitor

An indicator will flash if there is an active communication:

More detailed communication can be viewed using the Communications Monitor.

The usage of this powerful tool is described in the Teamcenter Online Documentation / Rich Client
Customization Programmers Guide / Troubleshooting rich client customization / Rich Client debugging
tools / Debug using the Communication Monitor tool.

This tool has other uses as well, such as seeing which server requests produce a heavy work load or
lead to a errors.

A Functional Problem with a Program

How do I know which log files I need?

The starting point is the tcserver process. The tcserver process produces 3 log files:

- The tcservernumber.syslog
- The tcservernumber.jnl
- The tcservernumber.log

To get a consistent collection of files, make sure the number is the same.

In a 2 Tier installation the tcserver process communicates directly with the Rich Application Client. In a
4 Tier environment it communicates with the Web Application server.

For more information about the tcserver log please refer to the Teamcenter Online Documentation /
System Administration Guide / Logging / Logging for Teamcenter tiers / Enterprise tier logging.

The syslog file should be reviewed first to understand the tcserver process because there are status
messages, warnings and error messages in this file.

An error can be identified by a +++ Symbol e.g.

*** EXCEPTION: O/S ERROR: signal 15 in line 1553 of

/plm/cynas/tce_iproot3/units/tc_syss/tc_syss.8.1_build/src/syss/error
/ind/error.cxx at Mon Jul 25 10:32:46 2011 CEST

+++ General Fault Exception

Which debug options should I use?

There is no general recommendation. The next step is to analyze the jnl file.

Which diagnostic utility helps in getting a better understanding of the problem?

There is a knowledge database in the web available at

http://solutioncenter.industrysoftware.automation.siemens.com/default.stm

Performance Issues

Before an analysis can begin, decide whether it is a performance issue related to the FMS system or
if it is related to the communication with the web application server, tcserver process and database.

If it takes a long time to retrieve file based data like NX parts, it is usually related to the FMS system.
In this case check the infrastructure and the FMS configuration.

If it takes a long time to get data from the database, e.g. expanding a BVR in the PSE, it is related to
the communication performance, database performance or processing power of the hardware.

How do I know which log files I need?

A good starting point is the comlog and the tcserver process. To enable the comlog set
TC_COMMUNICATION_LOGGING = ON.

There are several FMS related log files. Please refer to the Teamcenter Online Documentation /
System Administration Guide / Logging / Logging for Teamcenter tiers / Resource tier logging

Which debug options should I use?

There are some environment settings for the performance analysis in the tcserver process. E.g.
TC_SQL_DEBUG and TC_SLOW_SQL. The debug settings are described in the Teamcenter Online
Documentation / Preferences Environment Variables Reference / Introduction to environment
variables / Setting environment variables.
Which diagnostic utility helps in getting a better understanding of the problem?

In addition, there is a performance monitor available. It can be turned on with the environment setting
TC_PERFORMANCE_MONITOR=0. The SQL performance statistic is written to the
tcservernumber.syslog and can be investigated using spreadsheet applications. For more information
about this powerful tool see Teamcenter Online Documentation / Rich Client Customization
Programmers Guide / Troubleshooting rich client customization / Rich Client debugging tools / Debug
using Performance Monitor tool.

As already described above, there is a Communication Monitor in the Rich Client. If the Show Timing
option is enabled, the processing time for a request is listed and can be used for the analysis.

Data Inconsistency Issues

How do I know which log files I need?

Data inconsistencies are discovered by the application which tries to use the data. The starting point
is the application log file.

Which debug options should I use?

That depends on the application. If it is discovered by Teamcenter, start with the

TC_COMMUNICATION_LOGGING and TC_SQL_DEBUG.

Which diagnostic utility helps in getting a better understanding of the problem?

There is a Print Object application in the Rich Client application. It shows the attributes in the
database for a given object. The reference attributes are links to the object. The Print Object can be
used to analyze the data structure and find any inconsistencies. The tool is described in the Online
Documentation. Teamcenter Online Documentation / Rich Client Customization Programmers Guide /
Troubleshooting rich client customization / Rich Client debugging tools / Debug using the Print Object
tool.