Tracing in BusinessObjects

Platform:
Windows
BusinessObjects XI, XI Release 2
Crystal Enterprise 8.5, 9, 10

Tracing to log files on the server is an effective method to get more information for a possible problem. All server trace files are located in the logging folder, for BusinessObjects XIR2 the path is \Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 11.5\Logging\. For Crystal Enterprise the path is a bit different.

Default there are some tracing going on in the log folder but you can enable extended logging for every BusinessObjects server installed.

To enable tracing for a server, follow these steps:

1. Open Central Configuration Manager (CCM).
2. Choose the server you want to trace and stop that service.
3. Open properties for the service.
4. Add -trace as a parameter switch to the command line.
5. Start the service.
6. A new trace file with the same name as the server EXE is now located in the logging folder.

Business Objects KBase article for Unix trace instructions:
http://technicalsupport.businessobjects.com/KanisaSupportSite/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=c2016966&sliceId=&dialogID=20798617&stateId=1%200%2020800000

But wait! There is more!

There is another way to get even more trace information from the Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence servers. This is only valid for BusinessObjects XI and XIR2 platforms. The extra logging creates a number of XML files with extensive information about the context of the report that is being run. These files are placed in a folder specified in a INI file.

This is what you have to do:

1. Create three environment variables (the path can be different):
   BO_TRACE_CONFIGDIR = C:\Temp
   BO_TRACE_CONFIGFILE = C:\Temp\BO_Trace.ini
   BO_TRACE_LOGDIR = C:\Temp
2. Create the INI file specified above with the following content:
   active = true;
   importance = xs;
   size = 1000000;
   keep = true;
3. Restart the servers.

After you run a report there will be a number of trace files in a subfolder in the folder specified in BO_TRACE_LOGDIR. I double checked on Business Objects site about this last tracing setup, and it should work for both Web Intelligence and Desktop Intelligence. I never got it to work for Desktop Intelligence though, neither for Job or Report Server.

IMPORTANT: Remember to remove all tracing when debugging is done. All trace activities to log files requires extra resources from the server.