eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by SPUlsLogTest

The Unified Logging Service (ULS) writes SharePoint Foundation events to the SharePoint Trace Log, and stores them in the file system. ULS logging, when implemented effectively, can provide very useful information for developers, server administrators, and support personnel alike. The ULS logs can collect data at varying levels depending on the logging settings. Typically, every ULS log record indicates the diagnostic area and the specific category under the diagnostic area that has been traced.

Using the SPUlsLogTest test, you can capture the number and nature of messages of various types and levels that are logged in the ULS logs. These statistics are grouped by area and category, so that you can instantly isolate the problem-prone categories and the diagnostic areas they belong to. This way, you will be enabled to investigate issues more effeciently and resolve them quickly.

For this test to run and report metrics, you need to enable the health data collection on the target SharePoint server. To know how to achieve this, follow the steps below:

  1. In the SharePoint management console, select the Monitoring node under Central Administration. Then, click on the Configure usage and health data collection option under Reporting.

  2. The Configure usage and health data collection page will then appear.

  3. Scroll down the Configure usage and health data collection page, then select the Enable health data collection check box that becomes visible.

Output of the test : One set of results for each web application on the SharePoint server being monitored

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
Medium_severity_messages Indicates the number of messages of a medium severity that are currently logged in the ULS log for this category of this area. Number Medium_severity_messages represent all messages except Verbose and VerboseEx messages. Such messages record all high-level information about operations that were performed. These messages provide enough detail to construct the data flow and sequence of operations. Administrators or support professionals could use such messages to troubleshoot issues.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the medium severity messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.
High_severity_messages Indicates the number of messages of a high severity that are currently logged in the ULS log for this category of this area. Number High_severity_messages record all events that are unexpected but which do not stop the processing of a solution.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the high severity messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.
Monitorable_messages Indicates the number of monitorable messages that are currently logged in the ULS log for this category of this area. Number Monitorable_messages capture all unrecoverable events that limit the functionality of the solution but do not stop the application.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the monitorable messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.
Warning_messages Indicates the number of warning messages that are currently logged in the ULS log for this category of this diagnostic area. Number This message type indicates a potential problem or issue that might require attention. You should review and track warning messages for patterns over time.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the warning messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.
Error_messages Indicates the number of error messages that are currently logged in the ULS log for this category of this area. Number A message of this type indicates an urgent condition. You should investigate all error events.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the error messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.
Critical_messages Indicates the number of critical messages that are currently logged in the ULS log for this category of this area. Number This message type indicates a serious error that has caused a major failure in the solution.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the critical messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.
Unexpected_messages Indicates the number of unexpected messages logged in the ULS log for this category of this area. Number Unexpected_messages record events that cause solutions to stop processing.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the complete description of the unexpected messages logged in the ULS log for a specific category of an area.