Oracle Network Products Troubleshooting Guide

Summary of Trace Parameters

Three common trace parameters control the level of detail of the trace, the name of the trace file, and the location of the trace file. There are defaults for all three of these parameters. If you choose the defaults, you do not need to provide any values for the trace parameters. To change the defaults, use Oracle Network Manager.

Trace Levels

You can set trace levels to provide different amounts of trace information. For each component, there are three levels:

OFF This setting signifies that no trace output should be generated. This setting is the default.
USER This setting is intended for database administrators or users who are administering TNS products, but do not have extensive network knowledge. The USER trace level generates only English sentences describing high-level significant networking events.
ADMIN This setting is intended for network or database administrators with more knowledge of network terms and concepts. The ADMIN trace level generates all of the USER level statements plus additional information such as TNS addresses and detailed events.

The parameters are of the form:

TRACE_LEVEL_component = [OFF|USER|ADMIN]

For example, the following parameter, set in Oracle Network Manager, would produce trace output for the client at the administrator level:

TRACE_LEVEL_CLIENT = ADMIN

Trace Filenames

You can control the name of the trace file for each component. Any valid string can be used as a trace filename. The parameters are of the form:

TRACE_FILE_component = string

For example, the following parameter would send listener trace output to a file called TEST.TRC on the server machine:

TRACE_FILE_LISTENER = TEST

Change the default trace filename using Oracle Network Manager.

Note: On most operating systems, the suffix .TRC is automatically appended to the filename you provide for the parameter; do not include the suffix when you enter the file name in Oracle Network Manager.

Note: You cannot change the default name, PMP.TRC, of the trace file for the pump.

Note: Some platforms have restrictions on the properties of a filename. See your Oracle operating system-specific manuals for platform specific restrictions.

Trace File Directories

You can control the destination directory of the trace file for each component, except the Connection Manager and Navigator, through Oracle Network Manager.

Examples are specific to different operating systems. An example on a UNIX system might be:

TRACE_DIRECTORY_LISTENER = /tmp/trace

Note: Some platforms have restrictions on the properties of a directory name. See your Oracle operating system-specific manuals for platform specific restrictions.

Unique Trace Files for Clients

Normally, when a new trace file is created for a client, it overwrites any existing trace file for that component. If you want to save an existing trace file, you must change its name before running the trace facility again. However, if the TRACE_UNIQUE_CLIENT parameter is set to ON, the trace facility appends a process identifier to the name of each trace file generated so that several can coexist. The format of the appended process identifier is platform specific. The default is OFF.

Note: Trace files are usually very large. If this parameter is set to ON, the number of large trace files created could interfere with the available disk space on your machine. Therefore, turn this parameter on only for specific reasons and delete the resulting files when they are no longer useful.

Unique Trace Files for Servers and Interchange Components

When tracing is turned on for servers or Interchange components, the trace files generated automatically have process identifiers attached, so that new trace files do not overwrite existing ones. There is no parameter needed to control this feature. Be careful not to let too many trace files accumulate, however, as they are usually quite large.

Note: This feature is not implemented on all operating systems. See the Oracle operating system-specific documentation for your platform for further information.

Unique Trace Files for Names Servers

When tracing is turned on to trace a Names Server, by default the trace files generated have process identifiers attached, so that new trace files do not overwrite existing ones. Be careful not to let too many trace files accumulate, however, as they are usually quite large. You can turn this feature off using Oracle Network Manager.

Note: This feature is not implemented on all operating systems. See the Oracle operating system-specific documentation for your platform for further information.

Unique Trace Files for Names Control Utility

When tracing is turned on to trace the Names Control Utility itself, the trace files generated have process identifiers attached, so that new trace files do not overwrite existing ones. This feature is controlled by the NAMESCTL.TRACE_UNIQUE parameter. Be careful not to let too many trace files accumulate, however, as they are usually quite large.

Note: This feature is not implemented on all operating systems. See the Oracle operating system-specific documentation for your platform for further information.

Tracing the TNSPING Utility

You can manually add the following two tracing parameters to SQLNET.ORA to perform tracing on the TNSPING utility:

TNSPING.TRACE_LEVEL 
TNSPING.TRACE_DIRECTORY

OFF	This setting signifies that no trace output should be generated. This setting is the default.
USER	This setting is intended for database administrators or users who are administering TNS products, but do not have extensive network knowledge. The USER trace level generates only English sentences describing high-level significant networking events.
ADMIN	This setting is intended for network or database administrators with more knowledge of network terms and concepts. The ADMIN trace level generates all of the USER level statements plus additional information such as TNS addresses and detailed events.