SAP ASE error logging

Error messages from SAP ASE are sent to the user’s screen and to the error log file.

The stack trace from fatal error messages (severity levels 19 and higher) and error messages from the kernel are sent to an error log file. The name of this file varies; see the configuration documentation for your platform or the Utility Guide.

Note: The error log file is owned by the user who installed SAP ASE (or the person who started SAP ASE after an error log was removed). Permissions or ownership problems with the error log at the operating system level can block successful start-up of SAP ASE.

SAP ASE creates an error log for you if one does not already exist. Specify the location of the error log at start-up with the errorlogfile parameter in the runserver file or at the command line. The SAP installer utility configures the runserver file with $SYBASE/$SYBASE_ASE/install as the location of the error log if you do not choose an alternate location. If you do not specify the location in the runserver file or at the command line, the location of the error log is the directory from which you start SAP ASE. For more information about specifying the location of the error log, see dataserver in the Utility Guide.

Note: Always start SAP ASE from the same directory, or with the runserver file or the error log flag, so that you can locate your error log.

Each time you start a server, messages in the error log provide information on the success (or failure) of the start and the recovery of each database on the server. Subsequent fatal error messages and all kernel error messages are appended to the error log file. To reduce the size of the error log by deleting old or unneeded messages, “prune” the log while SAP ASE is shut down.

Reporting Errors

When you report an error to SAP Technical Support, include:

The message number, level number, and state number.
Any numbers, database object types, or database object names that are included in the error message.
The context in which the message was generated, that is, the command that was running at the time. You can help by providing a hard copy of the error log.

Severity Levels
The severity level of a message indicates the type and severity of the problem that SAP ASE has encountered.
Severity Levels 10 – 18
Error messages with severity levels 10–16 are generated by problems that are caused by user errors. These problems can be corrected by the user. Severity levels 17 and 18 do not terminate the user’s session.
Severity Levels 19 – 26
Fatal problems generate error messages with severity levels 19 and higher. They break the user’s connection to SAP ASE (some of the higher severity levels shut down SAP ASE). To continue working, the user must restart the client program.

Parent topic: Diagnosing System Problems