Using Service Log Files for HPC Pack

 

Applies To: Microsoft HPC Pack 2012, Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 R2

Starting with HPC Pack 2012 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), binary trace log files are generated by the HPC Pack services on the head node and on compute nodes. This topic describes locations and setting for these files. The binary log files provide expanded tracing information in a compressed file format, and replace the text log files that were generated in earlier versions of HPC Pack. The files can be used to help troubleshoot the services and cluster management operations in the HPC cluster.

In this topic:

  • Location of log files

  • Log file configuration settings

  • Extract the information in the log files

Location of log files

Log files are generated in folder the following locations. Files are named according to their source (such as the service that generates them) and are numbered consecutively – for example, HpcScheduler_00000.bin, HpcScheduler_00001.bin, and so on.

Logs

Location

Default value

HPC service logs

%CCP_LOGROOT_SYS%

%CCP_DATA%LogFiles

Cluster management API logs

%CCP_LOGROOT_USR%

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Hpc LogFiles

You can delete files in these locations if you need to recover disk space temporarily.

Log file configuration settings

You can modify the log level of all the logs, to display more or less tracing information. You can also adjust the maximum sizes and disk usage of the log files.

Log level

The following table shows the available log levels.

Log level

Description

0

No logging

1

Error messages only

2

Error and warning messages only

3

Error, warning, and information messages only

4

Error, warning, information, and trace messages

The default log level depends on the sources of the logs and the configuration of the registry keys shown in the following table. You can configure different values, depending on your needs, or if the cluster performance for your workloads is affected by the log level.

Log source

Registry key

Default value

HPC Management Service, HPC SDM Store Service, cluster management API

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HPC\ManagementTraceLevel

3

All other HPC services

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HPC\TraceLevel

4

For example, you can use the following procedure to modify the value of the TraceLevel registry key.

Warning

The following procedure includes steps to modify the registry. Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.

To configure the TraceLevel registry key

  1. Start Registry Editor on the head node.

  2. In Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HPC.

  3. Set the TraceLevel key to an integer between 0 and 4, and then click OK.

  4. Restart the corresponding service or services (for example HPCScheduler.exe).

Log file size

The configuration file for each of the HPC services contains the following settings that determine the size of the log files. Each configuration file is located in the %CCP_HOME%bin folder (for example, HpcScheduler.exe.config).

Setting

Description

FileSizeMB

Maximum size, in MB, of an individual log file. Default: 4.

MaxAllowedDiskUsageInMB

Maximum disk usage, in MB, of the log files for each service. Default: varies by service.

To configure the log file size settings for an HPC service

  1. In a text editor such as Notepad, open the configuration file of the related process in the %CCP_HOME%bin folder. For example, to configure settings for the HPC Job Scheduler Service, open HPCScheduler.exe.config.

  2. In the <system.diagnostics> node, modify the value of FileSizeMB or MaxAllowedDiskUsageinMB. Then save the file.

  3. Restart the corresponding service (for example HPCScheduler.exe).

Extract the information in the log files

To extract the information in the binary log files that are generated by HPC Pack, use the hpctrace command-line tool.

For example, to collect and extract the information in the log files for the HPC SDM Store Service, and write the output files to the C:\My Logs folder, type the following at a command prompt on the head node:

hpctrace getlog sdm -d:"C:\My Logs"

For detailed command syntax, type hpctrace /? at a command prompt, or see hpctrace.