How to collect debug logs (Windows)

This article describes the new way of enabling debug logging. Debug logs are needed in rare occasions and must be gathered only if Acronis support representative explicitly asks to do it (basically, when the root cause of a warning or error cannot be discovered based on the existing errors). Do not enable debug logs by default - it will fill free space quickly, and troubleshooting usual problems will be almost impossible due to large amount of unnecessary data.

Step 1: find the component's configuration file

Logs are controlled by configuration files which are located in the folder with the respective binary:

• Acronis Managed Machine service: C:\Program Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\mms.config
• service process:
  • Builds before 12730: C:\Program Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\service_process.config
  • Build 12730 and newer: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\Common\service_process.config
• Acronis Management Server: C:\Program Files\Acronis\AMS\
  abr_ams.config
  virtual_center_addon.config
• Service Manager: C:\Program Files\Acronis\ServiceManager\asm.config
• Acronis Storage Node: C:\Program Files\Acronis\StorageNode\
  ss.config
  staging_command.config
• Acronis Removable Storage Management Service: C:\Program Files\Acronis\ARSM\arsm.config
• Zmq Gateway: C:\Program Files\Acronis\ZmqGw\zmqgw.config
• Backup Manager: C:\Program Files\Acronis\BackupManager\backup_manager.yml

Step 2: Stop Acronis service(s)

Stop Acronis service(s) related to this component. This step is not obligatory, however config file may be in use while the service is running and so you won't be able to edit it.

Step 3: change the configuration file

1. Open the configuration file in an editor, for example, Notepad.
2. Search for the<logging>tag:
   
3. Find the channel you want to enable debug logs for all the channels:
   • Acronis Managed Machine Service C:\Program Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\
     mms.config
     <channel id="mms"...>  
     <channel id="alerts"...>
     <channel id="archive-manager"...>
     <channel id="astorage-client"...>
     <channel id="disk-manager"...>
     <channel id="backup-api"...>
     <channel id="dms"...>
     <channel id="protection_engine"...>
     <channel id="recovery-assistant"...>
     <channel id="zmq_client_connections"...> debug by default
     <channel id="zmq_client_sessions"...> debug by default
     <channel id="http"...>
     <channel id="account_server_client"...>
     <channel id="enforcement"...>
      <channel id="pcs"...>
     <channel id="task_execution"...>
     <channel id="rest_api"...>
     <channel id="active_protection"...>
   • service process
     Builds before 12730: C:\Program Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\
     Build 12730 and newer: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\Common\
     service_process.config
     <setlevel id="service_process"...>
   • Acronis Management Server C:\Program Files\Acronis\AMS\
     abr_ams.config
     <channel id="active_protection"...>
     <channel id="activity-stream"...> debug by default
     <channel id="agent-migration"...>
     <channel id="alerts"...>
     <channel id="ams"...>
     <channel id="async-ipc"...>
     <channel id="backup-assistant"...>
     <channel id="client-activity"...>
     <channel id="con"...>
     <channel id="curl"...>
     <channel id="dml_core"...>
     <channel id="dml_dispatcher_perf"...>
     <channel id="dms"...>
     <channel id="email_service"...>
     <channel id="enforcement"...>
     <channel id="gxt_engine_requests"...>
     <channel id="http"...>
     <channel id="perf-stat-init"...>
     <channel id="perf-stat-runtime"...>
     <channel id="protection_engine"...>
     <channel id="recovery-assistant"...>
     <channel id="registry-access"...>
     <channel id="session-manager"...> debug by default
     <channel id="server_dispatcher_perf"...>
     <channel id="settings"...>
     <channel id="tenancy_resolver"...>
     <channel id="sync_replication"...> debug by default
     <channel id="kibana"...>
     <channel id="update_provider"...> debug by default
     <channel id="rest_api"...>
     
     virtual_center_addon.config
     <channel id="balancing_addon"...>
     <channel id="balancing_addon_extra"...> debug by default
     <channel id="instance_merger_extra"...> debug by default
     <channel id="task_execution">
   • Service Manager C:\Program Files\Acronis\ServiceManager\
     asm.config
     "log_level"
   • Acronis Storage Node: C:\Program Files\Acronis\StorageNode\
     ss.config
     <channel id="asn"...>
     <channel id="pcs"...>
     <channel id="con"...>
     <channel id="archive-manager"...>
     <channel id="astorage-client"...>
     <channel id="backup-api"...>
     <channel id="dms"...>
     <channel id="zmq_client_connections"...> debug by default
     <channel id="zmq_client_sessions" ...> debug by default
     <channel id="http"...>
     <channel id="archive3"...>
     <channel id="account_server_client"...>
     <channel id="session-manager"...> debug by default
     
     staging_command.config
     <channel id="task_execution"...>
   • Acronis Removable Storage Management Service C:\Program Files\Acronis\ARSM\
     arsm.config
     <channel id="arsm"...>
     <channel id="tape_hotplug"...>
     <channel id="tape_select"...>
     <channel id="tape_scsi"...> debug by default
     <channel id="tape_db"...> debug by default
     <channel id="session-manager"...>
     <channel id="con"...>
   • Zmq Gateway C:\Program Files\Acronis\ZmqGw\
     zmqgw.config

      

     <channel id="settings"...>
     <channel id="zmqgw"...> debug by default

   • Backup Manager C:\Program Files\Acronis\BackupManager\
     backup-manager.yml

     "log
       level: info
       format: text
       filename: backup-manager.log"

1. Change the value of level="info" from "info" to "debug":
   
2. Save changes and close the file.
3. Restart the corresponding service: Start-> in Search, type services.msc and press Enter -> locate the service and click Restart service. (or start the service if you stopped it at step 2)
   • after changing ams.config -> Acronis Management Server service
   • after changing arsm.config -> Acronis Removable Storage Management service
   • after changing sp.config -> Acronis Management Machine service
   • after changing backup-manager.yml -> Acronis Management Server service

Step 4: reproduce the problem and collect the log

Once you have enabled debug logging, reproduce the problem.

The log has Process ID and time of process start.

Now you can check the log to investigate the root cause of the issue.

Logs are located in:

• Acronis Management Server log: C:\ProgramData\Acronis\AMS\logs
• Acronis Management Console log: C:\ProgramData\Acronis\BackupAndRecoveryConsole\logs
• Acronis Removable Storage Management service log: C:\ProgramData\Acronis\ARSM\logs
• Service process log: C:\ProgramData\Acronis\ServiceProcess\logs

Step 5: disable debug logging

1. Open the configuration file in an editor, for example, Notepad. (if file does not open, stop Acronis services)
2. Search for the<logging>tag.
3. Change the value of level="debug" from "debug" to "info".
4. Save changes and close the file.
5. Restart the corresponding service.

More information

Other parameters that you can change in the configuration file:

folder="<folder>"is the folder to place logs. For example, if you set it to the folder="C:\temp" then logs will be generated to C:\temp

level="{error|warning|info|debug}" is the logging level. All logs with the level less than specified here are not written to the log. For example, if set to "info", all logs except debug logs are written to the log (default value). If set to "warning", only warning and error messages are written to the log.

enabled="{true|false}" enables or disables this log.

maxfiles="<number>" sets the maximum number of log files. If you have more logs than maxfiles older logs will be removed.

maxage="<number>" sets the maximum age of log files in hours. If you have older logs than maxage, older logs will be removed.