1 <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
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2 <chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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3 xmlns:xl="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" version="5.0" xml:id="adminmisc">
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6 <title>Server Operations and Maintenance</title>
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8 <para>This chapter deals with basic server operations such as starting and stopping <application>Evergreen</application> as well wall
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9 security, backing up and troubleshooting <application>Evergreen</application>.</para>
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12 <section xml:id="startingopensrf">
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13 <title>Starting, Stopping and Restarting</title>
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14 <para>Occasionally, you may need to restart <application>Evergreen</application>. It is imperative that you understand the basic
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15 commands to stop and start the <application>Evergreen</application> server. You can start and stop <application>Evergreen</application> from the command line of
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16 the server using the <command>osrf_ctl.sh</command> script located in the
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17 <filename class="directory">openils/bin</filename> directory.</para>
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18 <note><para><command>The osrf_ctl.sh</command> command must be run as the <systemitem class="username">opensrf</systemitem> user.</para></note>
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19 <para>To view help on <command>osrf_ctl.sh</command> and get all of its options, run:</para>
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20 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -h</userinput></screen>
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21 <para>To start Evergreen, run:</para>
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22 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a start_all</userinput></screen>
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23 <para>The <option>-l</option> flag is used to indicate that Evergreen is configured to use <systemitem class="domainname">localhost</systemitem> as
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24 the host. If you have configured <filename>opensrf.xml</filename> to use your real hostname, do not use the <option>-l</option> flag. The <option>-a</option>
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25 option is required and indicates the <emphasis>action</emphasis> of the command. In this case
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26 <option>start_all</option>.
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29 <para>If you receive the error message: <errortext>osrf_ctl.sh: command not found</errortext>, then your environment variable
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30 <varname>PATH</varname><indexterm><primary>environment variable</primary><secondary>PATH</secondary></indexterm> does not include the
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31 <filename class="directory">/openils/bin</filename> directory. You can set it using the following command:</para>
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32 <screen><userinput>export <varname>PATH</varname>=$PATH:<filename class="directory">/openils/bin</filename></userinput></screen>
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33 <para>If you receive the error message <errortext>Can't locate OpenSRF/System.pm in @INC … BEGIN
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34 failed–compilation aborted</errortext>, then your environment variable <varname>PERL5LIB</varname><indexterm><primary>environment
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35 variable</primary><secondary>PERL5LIB</secondary></indexterm> does not
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36 include the <filename class="directory">/openils/lib/perl5</filename> directory. You can set it
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37 using the following command:</para>
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38 <screen><userinput>export <varname>PERL5LIB</varname>=$PERL5LIB:<filename class="directory">/openils/lib/perl5</filename></userinput></screen>
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40 <para>It is also possible to start a specific service. For example:</para>
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41 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a start_router</userinput></screen>
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42 <para>will only start the <systemitem class="service">router</systemitem> service.</para>
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44 <para>If you decide to start each service individually, you need to start them in a specific order
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45 for Evergreen to start correctly. Run the commands in this exact order:</para>
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46 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a start_router</userinput></screen>
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47 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a start_perl</userinput></screen>
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48 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a start_c</userinput></screen>
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50 <para>After starting or restarting Evergreen, it is also necessary to restart the <systemitem class="service">Apache web server</systemitem>
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51 <indexterm><primary>web server</primary><secondary>Apache</secondary></indexterm> for the OPAC to work correctly.</para>
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52 <para>To stop <application>Evergreen</application>, run:</para>
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53 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a stop_all</userinput></screen>
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54 <para>As with starting, you can choose to stop services individually.</para>
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55 <para>To restart <application>Evergreen</application>, run:</para>
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56 <screen><userinput>osrf_ctl.sh -l -a restart_all</userinput></screen>
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58 <section xml:id="backingup">
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59 <title>Backing Up</title>
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60 <para>Backing up your system files and data is a critical task for server and database administrators.
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61 Having a strategy for backing up and recovery could be the difference between a minor annoyance for users and
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62 a complete catastrophe.</para>
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64 <title>Backing up the <application>Evergreen</application> Database</title><indexterm><primary>databases</primary></indexterm>
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65 <para>Most of the critical data for an <application>Evergreen</application> system – patrons, bibliographic records, holdings,
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66 transactions, bills – is stored in the <application>PostgreSQL</application><indexterm><primary>databases</primary>
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67 <secondary>PostgreSQL</secondary></indexterm> database. You can therefore use normal
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68 <application>PostgreSQL</application> backup procedures to backup this data. For example, the simplest method of backing up the Evergreen
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69 database is to use the <command>pg_dump</command> command to create a live backup of the database without having to
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70 interrupt any Evergreen services. Here is an example pg_dump command which will dump a local Evergreen database into a the file <filename>evergreen_db.backup</filename>:</para>
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71 <screen><userinput>pg_dump -U evergreen -h localhost -f evergreen_db.backup evergreen</userinput></screen>
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72 <para>To restore the backed up database into a new database, create a new database using the
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73 template0 database template and the UTF8 encoding, and run the <command>psql</command> command, specifying the new
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74 database as your target:</para>
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75 <screen><userinput>createdb -T template0 -E UTF8 -U evergreen -h localhost new_evergreen</userinput></screen>
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76 <screen><userinput>psql -U evergreen -h localhost -f evergreen_db.backup new_evergreen</userinput></screen>
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78 <para>This method of backup is only suitable for small Evergreen instances. Larger sites
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79 should consider implementing continuous archiving (also known as <quote>log shipping</quote>) to provide
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80 more granular backups with lower system overhead. More information on backing up <application>PostgreSQL</application>
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81 databases can be found in the official <link xl:href="http://www.postgresql.org/docs/"><application>PostgreSQL</application> documentation</link>.</para>
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85 <title>Backing up Evergreen Files</title>
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86 <para>When you deploy Evergreen, you will probably customize many aspects of your system including
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87 the system configuration files, <application>Apache</application> configuration files, OPAC and Staff Client. In order to
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88 protect your investment of time, you should carefully consider the best approach to backing up
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90 <para>There are a number of ways of tackling this problem. You could create a script that regularly
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91 creates a time-stamped tarball of all of these files and copies it to a remote server - but that
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92 would build up over time to hundreds of files. You could use <link xl:href="http://www.samba.org/rsync/"><application>rsync</application></link>
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93 <indexterm><primary>rsync</primary></indexterm> to ensure that the files of
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94 interest are regularly updated on a remote server - but then you would lose track of the changes to
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95 the files, should you make a change that introduces a problem down the road.</para>
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96 <para>Perhaps one of the best options is to use a version control system like <link xl:href="http://bazaar.canonical.com">
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97 <application>Bazaar</application></link><indexterm><primary>Version Control System</primary><secondary>Subversion</secondary></indexterm>,
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98 <link xl:href="http://git-scm.com/"><application>git</application></link><indexterm><primary>Version Control System</primary><secondary>git</secondary></indexterm>
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99 or <link xl:href="http://subversion.apache.org/"><application>Subversion</application></link><indexterm><primary>Version Control System</primary>
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100 <secondary>Subversion</secondary></indexterm> to regularly push updates of the files you care about to a repository on a
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101 remote server. This gives you the advantage of quickly being able to run through the history of the
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102 changes you made, with a commenting system that reminds you why each change was made, combined with
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103 remote storage of the pertinent files in case of disaster on site. In addition, your team can create
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104 local copies of the repository and test their own changes in isolation from the production
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105 system. Using a version control system also helps to recover system customizations after an
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109 <title>Full System Backup</title>
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110 <para>A full system backup archives every file on the file system. Some basic methods require you
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111 to shut down most system processes; other methods can use mirrored RAID<indexterm><primary>RAID</primary></indexterm> setups or
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112 SAN<indexterm><primary>SAN</primary></indexterm> storage to
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113 take <quote>snapshot</quote> backups of your full system while the system continues to run. The subject of how
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114 to implement full system backups is beyond the scope of this documentation.</para>
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117 <section xml:id="security">
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118 <title>Security</title>
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119 <para>As with an ILS and resource accessible from the world wide web careful consideration needs to be
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120 given to the security of your <application>Evergreen</application> servers and database. While it is impossible to cover all aspects
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121 of security, it is important to take several precautions when setting up production <application>Evergreen</application> site.</para>
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124 <para>Change the Evergreen <systemitem class="username">admin</systemitem> password and keep it secure. The
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125 default admin password is known by anyone who has installed <application>Evergreen</application>. It is not a secret
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126 and needs to be changed by the Administrator. It should also only be shared by those who
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127 need the highest level of access to your system.</para>
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130 <para>Create strong passwords using a combination of numerical and alphabetical characters
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131 for all of the Administrative passwords including the <systemitem class="username">postgres</systemitem> and
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132 <systemitem class="username">opensrf</systemitem> users</para>
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135 <para>Open ports in the firewall<indexterm><primary>firewall</primary></indexterm> with caution - It is necessary to open some ports to the
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136 server such as port 80 for <systemitem class="protocal">http</systemitem> <indexterm><primary>HTTP</primary></indexterm> and 443
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137 for <systemitem class="protocal">ssl</systemitem><indexterm><primary>SSL</primary></indexterm> , and it can be helpful to open ports for
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138 remote access to the database or staff client. It is also critical for administrators to
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139 understand the concepts of network security and take precautions to minimize vulnerabilities.
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143 <para>Use permissions <indexterm><primary>permissions</primary></indexterm> and permission groups wisely - it is important to understand the
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144 purpose of the permissions and to only give users the level of access that they require.
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149 <section xml:id="logfiles">
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150 <title>Managing Log Files</title>
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151 <para><application>Evergreen</application> comes with a sophisticated logging system, but it is important to manage the <application>OpenSRF</application>
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152 and <application>Evergreen</application> logs. This section will provide a couple of log management techniques and tools.</para>
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154 <title>Using the Log Rotate<indexterm><primary>logrotate</primary></indexterm> Utility to Manage Log Size</title>
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155 <para>Fortunately, this is not a new problem for <systemitem class="osname">Unix</systemitem> administrators, and there are a number of ways of keeping your logs under control.
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156 On <systemitem class="osname">Debian</systemitem> and <systemitem class="osname">Ubuntu</systemitem>, for example,
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157 the <systemitem class="service">logrotate</systemitem> utility controls when old log files are compressed and a new log file is started.
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158 <systemitem class="service">logrotate</systemitem> runs once a day and checks all log files that it knows about to see if a
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159 threshold of time or size has been reached and rotates the log files if a threshold condition has been met.</para>
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160 <para>To teach <systemitem class="service">logrotate</systemitem> to rotate Evergreen logs on a weekly basis, or if they are > 50MB in size,
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161 create a new file <filename>/etc/logrotate.d/evergreen</filename> with the following contents: </para>
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164 /openils/var/log/*.log {
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165 # keep the last 4 archived log files along with the current log file
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166 # log log.1.gz log.2.gz log.3.gz log.4.gz
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167 # and delete the oldest log file (what would have been log.5.gz)
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169 # if the log file is > 50MB in size, rotate it immediately
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171 # for those logs that don't grow fast, rotate them weekly anyway
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177 <title>Changing Logging Level for <application>Evergreen</application></title>
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178 <para>Change the Log Levels in your config files. Changing the level of logging will help
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179 narrow down errors.</para>
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181 <para>A high logging level is not wise to do in a production environment since it
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182 will produce vastly larger log files and thus reduce server performance.</para>
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184 <para>Change logging levels by editing the configuration file
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185 <filename>/openils/conf/opensrf_core.xml</filename><indexterm><primary>configuration files</primary><secondary>opensrf_core.xml</secondary></indexterm></para>
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186 <para>you will want to search for lines containing <loglevel>.</para>
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187 <para> the default setting for loglevel is 3 which will log <emphasis>errors</emphasis>,
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188 <emphasis>warnings</emphasis> and <emphasis>information</emphasis>.</para>
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189 <para>The next level is 4 which is for debugging and provides additional information
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190 helpful for the debugging process.</para>
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191 <para>Thus, lines with:</para>
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192 <programlisting><loglevel>3</loglevel></programlisting>
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193 <para>Should be changed to:</para>
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194 <programlisting><loglevel>4</loglevel></programlisting>
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195 <para>to allow debugging level logging</para>
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196 <para>Other logging levels include <emphasis>0</emphasis> for no logging,
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197 <emphasis>1</emphasis> for logging errors and <emphasis>2</emphasis> for logging warnings
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projects / working / Evergreen.git / blob