sqla error log file

[Former Member]

Recently, a customer reported a problem with our application, which is running against sqla12. The windows system and application event logs, and the sqla console window, provided nothing helpful.

Is there a way to setup sqla so that it...

• keeps a running log of errors and events, but the size of the log file is kept below a certain maximum?
• will archive error/event logs that grow above a certain size?
  
• only sends events above a certain severity to the log? For instance, sqla might support an "error log level 1,2,3,..." capability.

Thanks, Doug

[MarkCulp]

SQL Anywhere does not (yet) support setting an error log level but it does do your other two requests. See the documentation for the -o switch (to specify the name of the console log messages file) and the -os switch (to limit size of the console log file) .

[VolkerBarth]

Any more hints as to the not yet...?

[MarkCulp]

@Volker: "not yet" simply means that as of this date the server does not support it. We (SA development) have had discussions in the past on the topic of getting different "levels" of detail. E.g. some customers have requested removal of the "starting/stopping checkpoint' messages from the log. Rather than reacting to specific customer requests for 'this' or 'that' we have discussed possible general solutions but it is unknown at this point when (if ever) enhancements to support 'levels' in the console log will be released in shipping software. FWIW: I don't think 'levels' is the right way to go... since the log is so multi-dimensional a single "level" cannot capture all of the possibilities.

[VolkerBarth]

Thanks for the clarification, and yes, I agree on the "a level is too simple" point of view:)

[VolkerBarth]

Just to add to Mark's answer:

AFAIK there's no "general error logging facility" in SQL Anywhere. And I would conclude that it's difficult to create a general one, simply since the need for error handling is usually application-specific, i.e. the requirements will be quite different between a "closed app" used by ordinary users (as in your case, methinks) and, say, a tool to query a database ad-hoc. In the former case, it would be useful to install error handling code to log the errors/warnings (possibly with the help of MESSAGE statements on the server-side) whereas in the latter case, you would possibly prefer immediate error message prompts instead of an error log...

Some more hints may be found in this FAQ.