BlueCielo Meridian Global Collaboration Framework 2017 Administrator's Guide

Configuring centralized logging

The Global Collaboration Framework generates plain text log files that contain event and error information that you can use to monitor and troubleshoot GCF activities. The import and export processors generate separate files and these can be configured using the settings described in Configuring the general settings, Configuring the import settings, and Configuring the export settings. Each GCF site generates its own log files, which are useful for managing that site but the log files do not provide an overview of the entire GCF environment. For that purpose, you can configure centralized logging.

Centralized logging causes each GCF site to also generate XML files of the log data and to transmit them to a shared folder on a central GCF computer. The central GCF computer periodically scans the folder for new XML files, imports them into a Microsoft SQL Server database, and then either moves them to a configurable location or deletes them.

The database uses two tables named Documents and Packages.The Packages table contains one row for each imported or exported briefcase. The Packages table is linked to the Documents table that contains one row for each document in a package. Error information is logged in both tables.

You can create your own reports with tools like Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services or a SQL Server application that allow you to visualize and analyze the log data.

Note    This feature supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or higher, which must be installed on the central GCF computer.

To configure centralized logging:

1. On the central GCF computer, run the following script to create the central logging tables. You must have write access to the database.

   C:\Program Files (x86)\BC-Meridian\Program\GCF\Tools\XmlLogging\sqlcmd\runsqlcmd.cmd

2. In Windows Task Scheduler, create a task to periodically run the following executable that scans for and imports the log files:

   C:\Program Files (x86)\BC-Meridian\Program\GCF\Tools\XmlLogging\GcfXmlLoggingScanner.exe

3. Open the following file in any text editor:

   C:\Program Files (x86)\BC-Meridian\Program\GCF\Tools\XmlLogging\GcfXmlLoggingScanner.exe.config

4. Verify that:

   • The ConnectionString setting is correct for your database.
   • The ScanDirectory setting is the same as the InPath setting in the Import section of the GCF processor configuration (.ini) file for the central site.
   • The location specified for the XmlBackupPath setting exists and the account under which the scheduled task runs has write access there. If you would prefer that the XML log files be deleted after processing, remove the setting.
5. In Meridian Enterprise Configurator, verify that a share is defined as described in Creating and editing a share for every GCF site, including the local site (to include the local log data). The shares are necessary for the transfer of the XML log files.

6. Enable logging output by adding the following settings in the [Settings] section in the GCF processor configuration (.ini) file of each site, including the local site:

   GcfXmlLogging = true
   GcfXmlLoggingSite = <CentralSiteShareName>