How to Debug and troubleshoot SAP BPC

[Former Member]

Recently I have been involved with several upgrade projects and have been faced with some very interesting and cryptic error messages. Thus, it has prompted me to write a short blog on how to to debug and enable logging on the different BPC components which can be used to troubleshoot the issues further. Depending on your error message that you are receiving, it will help to understand how to get more information in the different components.

For Client Side Logging (Admin and BPC Client)

SAP Note 1328702 - Centralized log BPC 70 M SP4. https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1328702

• Edit BPC Client machine registry to enable [manually].
• Log files Log\BPCLOG.0 and Trace\BPCTrace.0
• 32bit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAP\BPC\COMMON.
• 64bit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP\BPC\COMMON7)
• Create keys if needed, add 'String value' named 'Logging' with '1' value.
• Logging = 1 ; trace and error logs will be written.
• Logging = 0 ; only error logs will be written.

In addition to troubleshooting, it is a good idea to do HTTP debugging. You can use the fiddler which is a free tool in order to debug the HTTP traffic between the client and the server. This tool is particularly useful for debugging slow refreshing reports.

For example: If you are having issues with slow refreshing reports, this tool will give you an idea of how long the client takes to send a request and how long it takes to receive a response from the web server. If your report is taking 5 minutes to refresh and the time it takes to send and receive a response from the web server is 10 seconds, it will point you in the right direction in terms of troubleshooting.

1. Install Fiddler on the client from: http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler2/version.asp
2. Launch Fiddler2.
3. Close any Internet Explorer sessions.
4. Launch BPC for Excel, recreate error.
5. Save the trace file as a .saz file.
6. Upload .saz file to SAP support message.

The .NET Middle Tier offers three primary logging mechanisms.

1. SAP BPC .NET Server logs  SAP BPC .NET Server logs: Located in "X\BPC\Logging".
2. Microsoft IIS Server logs: Standard IIS log files location is "%systemroot%\system32\Logfiles\W3SVC1". (If the SAP BPC Management Console is not enabled)  Some organizations may choose not to enable it.
3. Microsoft Windows Event Viewer

For the Server Side logging : (AppServer.dbo.tblLogs and PC_MS\LOGGING files) 

• Web Admin Task choose "Manage Logging"  this writes records to tblLogs
• Log = INFO  [None, Warning, ERROR, Fatal also valid].
• Trace -DEBUG [None, Path, INFO, Warning, ERROR also valid].
• Single User Trace

In order to get extended information on the server side on back end server operations, it is recommended to follow the steps outlined below:

This approach will log records to the AppServer.dbo.tblLogs table, which can be used as a source of troubleshooting.

SAP Note 1328702 - Centralized log BPC 70 M SP4. https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1328702

• dcomcnfg > expand and select "OsoftLogging"
• Expand components and "Osoft.Services.Platform.Logging.LogHandler > open properties.
• Tick box "Enable Object Construction" > type in DEBUG, SEND, RETRIEVE
• all events now recorded on server side including SQE events to tblLogs.

From SQL Server Management Studio, execute the following SQL query to get the information from the tblLogs table.

use Appserver
 go
  select * from AppServer.dbo.tblLogs
 order by DateWritten desc 
 go
 

In general all exceptions will have the following string message in the Message column.

 "==============[System Error Tracing]=============="

 

You will need to use the [datewritten] column as guide to isolating the time in which the exception has occurred. This kind of logging will generate a lot records, so it is a good idea to only use approach to troubleshoot critical issues and only for a limited time.

In order to get access to the Data Manager debug files it will be in the users [PrivatePublications] folder in the [WebFolder] path

BPC Data Manager Debug files

[WebFolders]\[AppSet]\[Application]\PrivatePublications\[UserID]\TempFiles

I hope this helps anyone who is struggling with an issue and needs to get more information.

This will help you with any OSS messages as the agent might ask you for debug logs

Kind Regards

Daniel