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Netlogon Message Types

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The Netlogon Message Types view Layout for Charts enables you to obtain a high-level summary view of specific data from a Netlogon.log file that depicts the relative percentage of message volumes for each message type in the log. The Layout uses a Pie chart visualizer component where the volume for each message type is represented by a slice of the chart. The legend to the right of the Pie chart exposes each message type in a list of nodes for quick correlation with the message volumes represented in the Pie chart.

Note

A Netlogon.log file will be parsed only if you select the Netlogon configuration file in the Text Log Configuration drop-down list of the New Session dialog for a Data Retrieval Session prior to loading the data into Message Analyzer. Otherwise, no data will display in the Netlogon Message Types view Layout.

More Information
To learn more about working with text-based .log files, see Opening Text Log Files.

Using the Netlogon Message Types Layout

This Layout enables you to assess at-a-glance the distribution of message type volumes in a Netlogon.log file so that you can quickly focus on message types of interest. For example, you will likely want to review any log entries that contain error or diagnostic information first and this would mean looking at the messages of type CRITICAL and DIAGNOSIS. You might also review MAILSLOT messages for records of client and server communications and PERF messages that can include performance counter information related to setting up client-server sessions and the number of authentication timeouts that have occurred.

When your mouse hovers over any slice in the Pie chart, a tool tip displays a log message type and a value that represents the percent volume for the message type out of the total volume of all message types in the log. At the same time, the message type is highlighted in the chart's message type legend. Note that this legend is interactive, as is the Pie chart itself, and either of these enable you to drive the display of common message types into a new instance of the Analysis Grid viewer by double-clicking a legend node or a slice in the Pie chart, respectively, for further analysis of a particular log message type.

With these capabilities, you can quickly expose the data of different message types, which is very convenient when you need to detect errors and other important information that is buried in a large log file.

Interactive Analysis
This Layout for the Chart viewer is intended to work with the Netlogon Layout for the Analysis Grid viewer and the Netlogon Group by Message Type Layout for the Grouping viewer to create an integrated and interactive analysis environment. You will be able to correlate the data most effectively if you have these viewers and Layouts displayed. Note that these viewers and Layouts are configured in the Netlogon Logs Profile and will display after you load data from a Netlogon.log file, provided that you enabled this Profile on the Profiles tab of the Options dialog (accessible from the global Message Analyzer Tools menu).

As an additional example of interactively driving the display of messages, if you select any msgtype group in the Grouping viewer, you can display all the messages associated with a particular message type in the Analysis Grid viewer for further analysis, which includes reviewing Summary information and message Details.

More Information
To learn more about interactively analyzing Netlogon log data with the indicated viewing and Layout configurations, see the following topics:
Applying and Managing Analysis Grid Viewer Layouts — see the Netlogon Layout in this topic.
Grouping Viewer — see the Netlogon Group by Message Type Layout in this topic.
Working With Message Analyzer Profiles — see the Netlogon Logs Profile in the table of this topic to review a related usage scenario and analysis example and to learn how to manually display the Grouping and Chart viewers with the Layouts defined in this Profile.