Configure API Gateway diagnostic trace

By default, API Gateway produces diagnostic trace and debugging information to record details about its runtime execution. For example, this includes services starting or stopping, exceptions, and messages sent through API Gateway. This information can then be used by API Gateway administrators and developers for diagnostics and debugging purposes, and is useful when contacting Axway Support.

You can view and search the contents of API Gateway tracing in the following locations:

• Logs > Trace view in API Gateway Manager
• Trace files in the following locations:
  • Admin Node Manager: INSTALL_DIR/trace
  • API Gateway instance: INSTALL_DIR/groups/<group-id>/<instance-id>/trace
  • API Gateway Analytics: INSTALL_DIR/trace
• A console window for the running server

You can view and search the contents of the API Gateway trace log, domain audit log, and transaction logs in the Logs view in API Gateway Manager.

This topic explains how to configure the trace log only. For more details, see Configure API Gateway logging and events.

For details on how to redact sensitive data from trace files (for example, user passwords or credit card details), see Hide sensitive data in API Gateway Manager. The trace level you set impacts the redaction.

View API Gateway trace files

Each time API Gateway starts up, by default, it writes a trace file to the trace directory in your API Gateway installation (for example, INSTALL_DIR/groups/group-2/server1/trace).

The following example shows an extract from a default API Gateway trace file:

INFO    15/Jun/2012:09:54:01.047 [1b10] Realtime monitoring enabled
INFO    15/Jun/2012:09:54:01.060 [1b10] Storing metrics in database disabled
INFO    15/Jun/2012:09:54:03.229 [1b10] cert store configured
INFO    15/Jun/2012:09:54:03.248 [1b10] keypairs configured...

The trace file output takes the following format:

TraceLevel   Timestamp [thread-id] TraceMessage

For example, the first line in the above extract is described as follows:

Set API Gateway trace levels

The possible trace levels in order of least to most verbose output are as follows:

• FATAL
• ERROR
• INFO
• DEBUG
• DATA

FATAL is the least verbose and DATA the most verbose trace level. The default trace level is INFO.

Set the trace level

You can set the trace level using the following different approaches:

Configure API Gateway trace files

By default, trace files are named servername_timestamp.trc (for example, server1_20130118160212.trc ). You can configure the settings for trace file output in INSTALL_DIR/system/conf/trace.xml, which is included by INSTALL_DIR/system/conf/nodemanager. By default, trace.xml contains the following setting:

<FileRolloverTrace maxfiles="500" filename="%s_%Y%m%d%H%M%S.trc"/>

This setting means that API Gateway writes Node Manager trace output to nodemanager;onhostname_timestamp .trc (for example, nodemanager;on127.0.0.1_20130118160212.trc) in the trace directory of the API Gateway installation. And, the maximum number of files that the trace directory can contain is 500.

Configure rollover settings

The FileRolloverTrace element can contain the following attributes:

filename

directory

maxlen

maxfiles

rollDaily

The following setting shows example attributes:

<FileRolloverTrace maxfiles="5" maxlen="10485760" rollDaily="true 
    directory="/mydir/log/trace" filename="myserver.trc"/>

This setting means that API Gateway writes trace output to myserver.trc in the /mydir/log/trace directory, and rolls the trace files over at the start of each day. The maximum number of files that this directory can contain is 5, and the maximum trace file size is 10 MB.

Write output to syslog

On UNIX/Linux, you can send API Gateway trace output to syslog. In your INSTALL_DIR/system/conf/trace.xml file, add a SyslogTrace element, and specify a facility. For example:

Run trace at DEBUG level

When troubleshooting, it can be useful to set to the trace level to DEBUG for more verbose output. When running a trace at DEBUG level, API Gateway writes the status of every policy and filter that it processes into the trace file.

Debug a filter

The trace output for a specific filter takes the following format:

Filter name {
     Trace for the filter is indented to identify output from the filter
} status, in x milliseconds

The status is 0, 1, or 2, depending if the filter failed, succeeded, or aborted. For example, the result of an WS-Security Username Token filter running successfully is as follows:

DEBUG 12:43:59:093 [11a4] run filter [WS-Security Username Token] {
DEBUG 12:43:59:093 [11a4]   WsUsernameTokenFilter.invoke:Verify username and password
DEBUG 12:43:59:093 [11a4]   WsAuthN.getWSUsernameTokenDetails:
                            Get token from actor=current actor
DEBUG 12:43:59:093 [11a4]   Version handler -  creating a new ws block
DEBUG 12:43:59:108 [11a4]   Version handler - adding the ws element to the wsnodelist
DEBUG 12:43:59:108 [11a4]   Version handler -  number of ws blocks found:1
DEBUG 12:43:59:124 [11a4]   No timestamp passed in WS block, no need to check 
                            timestamp
DEBUG 12:43:59:139 [11a4]   WsAuthN.getWSUsernameTokenDetails: Check <Created> element 
                            in token. Value=2010-08-06T11:43:43Z
DEBUG 12:43:59:139 [11a4]   WS Nonce TimeStamp Max Size is 1000 and wsNonces cache 4
DEBUG 12:43:59:139 [11a4]   Add WS nonce for key [joe:2010-08-06T11:43:43Z]. 
                            New cache size [5].
DEBUG 12:43:59:155 [11a4]   WsBasicAuthN.getUsername:Getting username
DEBUG 12:43:59:171 [11a4]   WS-Security UsernameToken authN via CLEAR password
DEBUG 12:43:59:171 [11a4]   VordelRepository.checkCredentials:username=joe
DEBUG 12:43:59:186 [11a4] } = 1, in 62 milliseconds

Debug a policy

The trace output for a policy shows it running with all its contained filters, and takes the following format:

policy Name {
     Filter 1 {
         Trace for the filter
     } status, in x milliseconds

     Filter 2 {
        Trace for the filter
    } status, in x milliseconds
} 

For example, the following extract shows a policy called when running a simple service:

DEBUG ... run circuit "/axis/services/urn:cominfo"...
DEBUG ... run filter [Service Handler for 'ComInfoServiceService'] {
DEBUG ...   Set the service name to be ComInfoServiceService
DEBUG ...   Web Service context already set to ComInfoServiceService
DEBUG ...   close content stream
DEBUG ...   Calling the Operation Processor Chain [1. Request from Client]...
DEBUG ...   run filter [1. Request from Client] {
DEBUG ...      run filter [Before Operation-specific Policy] {
DEBUG ...         run circuit "WS-Security UsernameToken AuthN"...
DEBUG ...           run filter [WS-Security Username Token] {...
DEBUG ...           } = 1, in 62 milliseconds
DEBUG ...           ..."WS-Security UsernameToken AuthN" complete.
DEBUG ...       } = 1, in 74 milliseconds  ...

Debug at startup

When running a startup trace with a DEBUG level set in the SystemSettings, API Gateway logs the configuration that it is loading. This can often help to debug any incorrectly configured items at start up, for example:

DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0] configure loadable module type RemoteHost, load order = 500000
DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0] RemoteHost {
DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0]     ESPK:1035
DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0]     ParentPK:113
DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0]     Key Fields:
DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0]         name:{csdwmp3308.wellsfargo.com}
DEBUG 14:38:54:206 [1ee0]         port:{7010}
DEBUG 14:38:54:221 [1ee0]     Fields:
DEBUG 14:38:54:221 [1ee0]         maxConnections:{128}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         turnMode:{off}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         inputBufSize:{8192}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         includeContentLengthRequest:{0}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         idletimeout:{15000}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         activetimeout:{30000}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         forceHTTP10:{0}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         turnProtocol:{http}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         includeContentLengthResponse:{0}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         addressCacheTime:{300000}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         outputBufSize:{8192}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         sessionCacheSize:{32}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         _version:{1}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         loadorder:{500000}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0]         class:{com.vordel.dwe.NativeModule}
DEBUG 14:38:54:268 [1ee0] }

For details on setting trace levels, and running a startup trace, see Set API Gateway trace levels.

Run trace at DATA level

When the trace level is set to DATA, API Gateway writes the contents of the messages that it receives and sends to the trace file. This enables you to see what messages API Gateway has received and sent (for example, to reassemble a received or sent message).

Search by thread ID

Every HTTP request handled by API Gateway is processed in its own thread, and threads can be reused when an HTTP transaction is complete. You can see what has happened to a message in API Gateway by following the trace by thread ID. Because multiple messages can be processed by API Gateway at the same time, it is useful to eliminate threads that you are not interested in by searching for items that only match the thread you want.

You can do this using the search feature in the API Gateway Manager Logs view. Enter the thread you wish to search for in the Only show lines with text text box, and click Refresh. Alternatively, you can do this on the command line using vi by specifying the thread ID as a pattern to search for in the trace file. In this example, the thread ID is 145c:

:g!/145c/d

The following example shows the DATA trace when a message is sent by API Gateway (message starts with snd):

DATA 17:45:35:718 [145c]  snd 1495: 
    <POST /axis/services/urn:cominfo HTTP/1.1Connection:closeContent-Length:
    1295User-Agent:VordelSOAPAction:""Via:1.0 devsupport2 (Vordel)
    Host:devsupport2:7070Content-Type:text/xml<?xml version="1.0" 
    encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
    <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <soap:Header>
       <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/
          oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> 
          <wsse:UsernameToken xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/
            2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd" 
              wsu:Id="Id-00000128d05aca81-00000000009d04dc-10">
              <wsse:Username>joeuser</wsse:Username>
              <wsse:Nonce EncodingType="utf-8">
                  gmP9GCjoe+YIuK1einlENA==
               </wsse:Nonce>
              <wsse:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/
                 oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText">
                  joepwd
              </wsse:Password>
              <wsu:Created>2010-05-25T16:45:30Z</wsu:Created>
          </wsse:UsernameToken>
       </wsse:Security>
      </soap:Header>
      <soap:Body>
         <ns1:getInfo xmlns:ns1="http://stock.samples">
              <symbol xsi:type="xsd:string">CSCO</symbol>
              <info xsi:type="xsd:string">address</info>
          </ns1:getInfo>
      </soap:Body>
    </soap:Envelope>

The following example shows the DATA trace when a message is received by API Gateway (message starts with rcv):

DATA 17:45:35:734 [145c]  rcv 557:<HTTP/1.0 200 OKSet-Cookie:8Set-Cookie2:
    8Content-Type:text/xml; charset=utf-8<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
       xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
       <soapenv:Body>
         <ns1:getInfoResponse soapenv:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/
             soap/encoding/" xmlns:ns1="http://stock.samples">
             <getInfoReturn xsi:type="xsd:string">
               San Jose, CA
             </getInfoReturn>
         </ns1:getInfoResponse>
       </soapenv:Body>
    </soapenv:Envelope>

If you want to see what has been received by API Gateway on this thread, run the following command:

All snd and rcv trace statements start and end with < and > respectively. If you are assembling a message by hand from the DATA trace, remember to remove characters. In addition, the sending and/or receiving of a single message may span multiple trace statements.

Integrate trace output with Apache log4J

Apache log4j is included on API Gateway classpath. This is because some third-party products that API Gateway interoperates with require log4j. The configuration for log4j is found in API Gateway INSTALL_DIR/system/conf directory in the log4j2.xml file.

For example, to specify that the log4j appender sends output to API Gateway trace file, add the following setting to your log4j2.xml file:

<Root level="debug">
<AppenderRef ref="STDOUT" />
<AppenderRef ref="VordelTrace" />
</Root>

Environment variables

These variables override the trace.xml file settings, which enables the logging behavior to be defined at runtime.

• true = Write trace files to disk
• false = Do not write trace files to disk

• true = Output JSON formatted trace to stdout
• false = Do not output JSON formatted trace to stdout