Having difficulty logging into an application when Identity Authentication is the IdP or Identity Authentication is acting as a proxy? Did you know that you can download the Troubleshooting log in the Identity Authentication Administration Console to find out what the exact error message is? And did you know that with the Support Log Assistant you don't even need to search for this error on Launchpad anymore, but the Support Log Assistant will immediately print out what the cause of the error is and what the solution is? All you need to do is upload the Identity Authentication Troubleshooting log to Support Log Assistant and you're done. Let's look at the details and tricks.
What is the Identity Authentication Troubleshooting log and how can I download it?
A tenant administrator can view Identity Authentication Troubleshooting logs to monitor the system, and diagnose and solve problems.
The direct URL to download the Troubleshooting log is
https://<tenant ID>.accounts.ondemand.com/admin/#/troubleshootingLogs
For more information about your tenant ID(s) and administrator(s), see Viewing Assigned Tenants and Administrators.
The Troubleshooting log contains data for the last 1/4/24 hours, based on your choice. It is recommended that you set the log severity to 'All' and make sure that the time period you choose covers the time interval when there was some kind of failure with an integration when Identity Authentication was acting as a proxy or the IdP. Download the file.
We recommend that you do not change the name of the downloaded Identity Authentication Troubleshooting log file, because the Support Log Assistant tool needs to recognize the file, and in most cases, this is done based on the original name and file name structure of the file.
What is Support Log Assistant and how can I scan my Identity Authentication Troubleshooting log file with it?
Support Log Assistant is developed by SAP, and this tool analyzes text files such as logs, configuration files, or traces automatically. It then suggests solutions to known issues found in the files and highlights the important details.
The tool does not upload files to any SAP servers. Instead, the tool downloads a small list of conditions (rules) to your browser and scans the files locally using javascript that runs in your browser.
The direct URL for the Support Log Assistant is:
https://supportportal-pslogassistant-app.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com/
Drag and drop the downloaded Identity Authentication Troubleshooting log file to the designated area in the Support Log Assistant:
After this, if the File Type is recognized as 'IAS Troubleshooting Log' then you are good, and you can click on the Scan Files button:
If the issue you are facing is a known issue, and we have an SAP Note/KBA/Guided Answer/Wiki, etc. for that, we will show it so that you can check and follow the next actions on how to resolve the issue:
Just click on the resolution to see, like above on the KBA.
Plus Trick
If your Identity Authentication tenant is in heavy use, so there may be multiple errors in the log file, and you want to be sure about more details of a specific error, you should look for the X-IDS-ID associated with that event. Often besides a generic error like 500 error in the UI, in the Troubleshooting log, there is a more detailed and meaningful error. The X-IDS-ID is a header found in a Request or Response related to Identity Authentication and indicates correlation events related to a specific event. To view this you can use the Network tab of your browser (F12 key) or the
SAML tracer, see the screenshot below for reference:
Either look at the network tab or the
SAML tracer, always look for the last request or response related to the Identity Authentication tenant before you got the error in the UI. Select the proper line and then look for the X-IDS-ID in the Headers tab. Then in the Identity Authentication Troubleshooting log that you downloaded, search for this ID with Ctrl+F and you'll find the much more detailed and meaningful error, for example:
I hope you find the Support Log Assistant useful and that it will help you in the future to find a solution to the problem you may be facing as soon as possible. I trust that the trick about X-IDS-ID at the end of my blog post was also understandable. For any questions or comments, feel free to contact me in the comments.
Best regards,
István
Related Article:
Analyze Troubleshooting Logs with Support Log Assistant 2.0.