Collecting Zmanda Windows Client Logs for Support

This article is for Amanda Enterprise (AE)

Debug logs from Zmanda Windows Client (ZWC) help the Zmanda Support team to troubleshoot issues involving Windows client hosts. They contain:

• Debug logging from the ZWC Service
• Configuration settings
• Information about your operating system environment

The ZWC Support utility collects the above information and packages them into a log archive. By default, this archive is created in C:\ProgramData\Zmanda\Zmanda Client for Windows - Server Edition(x64)\misc

When creating a support case, please provide as much information as possible about the problem you are experiencing in the case description

• error messages that are being displayed
• steps to reproduce the problem
• screenshot(s) of the affected Zmanda Management Console (web console) pages

1. If requested by the Support team, increase the logging level and/or number of log files. Instructions for doing so are further below in this article. Otherwise, please leave logging at the default level of 2.
2. If requested by the Support team, or if you know that the ZWC Service has been crashing, enable the ZWC Debug Environment. Instructions for doing so are further below in this article.
3. Reproduce the problem. Doing so just before collecting logs will help ensure that the relevant entries we are trying to investigate do not get rotated out of the logs due to subsequent operations.
4. To collect logs, run as administrator Start Menu Ã¢â€ â€™ All Programs Ã¢â€ â€™ Zmanda Ã¢â€ â€™ Zmanda Client for Windows Ã¢â€ â€™ ZWC Support
5. For ZWC 3.3.x, the ZWC Support script will offer to upload the log archive to Zmanda’s FTP site. If you are running ZWC 3.1.x or otherwise need to manually upload the log archive, please refer to How to send files to the Zmanda Support TeamPlease update your support case with the filename(s) of anything uploaded so that the Zmanda Support team can quickly locate it; we are not automatically notified of uploads.
6. If you changed your Log Level in Step 1, you may want to return it to the default level of 2.

Changing Log Level

The Zmanda Support team may ask you to increase the verbosity at which ZWC writes to its logs.

1. Open the ZWC Config Utility: Start Menu Ã¢â€ â€™ All Programs Ã¢â€ â€™ Zmanda Ã¢â€ â€™ Zmanda Client for Windows Ã¢â€ â€™ ZWC Config Utility
2. Select the Logging tab
3. Set Log Level to 5
4. Set Log File Count to 50
5. Click Save
6. Click Exit
7. If a backup run is not currently in progress, click Yes to restart the ZWC Service.

Collect Memory/Crash Dump

1. Engineering usually requires the Log Level to be at 5 (see section above).
2. Ensure that no backup run is in progress, including backups run by other software.
3. Start Menu Ã¢â€ â€™ All Programs Ã¢â€ â€™ Zmanda Ã¢â€ â€™ Zmanda Client for Windows Ã¢â€ â€™ ZWC Debug Environment Setup
4. When the ZWC Service crashes, there should be a memory dump file in C:\ProgramData\Zmanda\Zmanda Client for Windows - Server Edition(x64)\misc\CrashDump.  Verify that the file was recently created.
5. Collect and send logs as described above in the first section of this article.  The dump will be collected along with the rest of the ZWC logs when you use the ZWC Support utility.

If a memory dump is not found in the CrashDump folder mentioned above or if this folder contains a file but it is not a recently created file, a memory dump may still be able to be acquired using the Windows Server Action Center as described below:

1. Control Panel => System and Security => Action Center
2. Expand the “Maintainance” section and click the “View reliability history” link
3. Click the “View all problem reports” link at the bottom of the window
4. Look for a “ZWCService.exe” section
5. Expand the section if needed and right click on the one from the recent crash and select “View technical details”.
6. Click the ‘View a temporary copy of these files’ link.  This will open a window with files such as:
   * minidump.mdmp
   * memory.hdmp
   * AppCompat.txt
7. Copy these files to another location, zip them up, and send the zip file to us.  The zip file can be attached to an update of the case as long as it is less than 5 MB.  If it is larger than 5M, it can be uploaded to Zmanda’s FTP site.  Please see How to send files to the Zmanda Support Team.
8. Please also collect the ZWC logs as described in the first section of this article as these will be needed along with the memory dump to diagnose the cause of the crash.

ZWC Service Frozen

If the ZWC Service hangs instead of crashes, please manually create a dump file:

1. Open the Windows Task Manager
2. Locate the ZWCService.exe entry
3. Right-click the entry and select Create Dump File
4. A pop-up dialog will give the name and location of the resulting .dmp file. Please upload this file along with your logs.