By default, the debug files are created in sys:\system\tsa. The debug file name for smdr.nlm is smdrdbg.log and for tsafs.nlm is tsadbg.log. Debug messages are appended to these files each time the NLM™ programs are run with debug options.
To change the location where the debug logs are created, use the DebugFileName switch. For example, to change the debug file location to TESTVOL:DebugDir\tsafs.log for TSAFS, enter the following command:
tsafs /DebugFileName=TESTVOL:DebugDir\tsafs.log
By default, the debug files are created in /var/opt/novell/log/sms/. The debug file name for smdrd is smdrd_debug_xxxx.log where xxxx is the process id for smdrd. The debug file name for tsafs is tsafs_debug_xxxx.log where xxxx is the process id for smdrd.
Each time smdrd is run with debug options, new debug log files are created. If TSAFS is loaded and unloaded with debug options without restarting SMDR, debug messages are appended to the same TSAFS debug file.
To change the location where the debug logs are created, use the DebugFileName switch. For example, to change the debug file location to /home/testuser/, enter the following command:
smdrd -debugfilename=/home/testuser/smdrd -smsdebug=fffffffc -smsdebug2=fffffffc
The above command creates a file smdrd_xxxx.log in /home/testuser/ directory.
Debug logs can take a large amount of space depending on the length and nature of operations performed with SMS. The following procedures can help reduce the size of the debug log:
Ensure that SMS modules are run in debug mode for only those operations that are causing problems. If multiple backup or restore jobs are running at the same time, this would increase the size of the debug logs.
Ensure that only a few files or directories are included. To reduce the size and time taken to generate log files, try to narrow down a problem to a particular file or directory you suspect is causing a problem.
Turn off debug logging after the debug process is complete. Debug logging can impact performance as well as generate unnecessary debug log information that occupies disk space.
Compressing the log files before sending them to Novell Support also helps in getting the logs to arrive quickly even if slower links are involved in the transfer.