Running a Trace

The PASSPORT trace feature is designed to assist in the diagnosis of problems that can occur during communications and terminal emulation. Information captured in a trace file can be analyzed by the Zephyr technical support and programming staff to assist with problem resolution. Your site administrator may ask you to assist in running diagnostic traces. After running the traces, you can email them to your site administrator.

PASSPORT PC TO HOST supports three types of tracing:

• Data Stream Trace - This type of trace is helpful in resolving problems involving the SNA BIND attributes, file transfer, host printing, HLLAPI and other problems involving the TN3270, TN5250, VT, SCO-ANSI or Wyse data stream.

• Low Level Trace - This type of trace is helpful in resolving problems involving the establishment of a connection or problems that deal with the actual communication device driver.

• HLLAPI Trace - This type of trace is helpful in resolving problems with HLLAPI applications.  

To run one or more traces:

1. Log off your mainframe session.

2. Close the session using the Communication®Disconnect menu command.

3. Enable the traces you want to run in the Diagnostics tab of the Communication®Setup dialog box.

4. Reestablish the session using the Communication®Connect menu command.

5. Log on to your mainframe and perform your terminal emulation activities.

6. Once you reach the point of failure, log off and exit PASSPORT.

7. Copy the trace files to another folder or rename them.

Note:  Your trace files will be overwritten if you restart PASSPORT! 

Your trace files will be in the following folders:

• The Data Stream Trace file is called Trace_xx.log (where xx is equal to the ASCII value of the HLLAPI short name for the session) and is located in the PASSPORT working directory.

• The Low Level Trace file is called Tracell_xx.log (where xx is equal to the ASCII value of the HLLAPI short name for the session) and is located in the PASSPORT working directory.

• The HLLAPI Trace file is called Ehtrace.log and is located in the PASSPORT working directory. 

To view the trace files:

• All of the trace files are ASCII text data and may be viewed with Notepad, Wordpad or some other text-based editor.

To send your trace files to Zephyr Technical Support

• First, fill out a problem report at http://www.zephyrcorp.com/techsupport/ask.html. This ensures that we can track your problem and route it to the correct support technician. Next, mail the trace file or files along with a detailed description of the problem to support@zephyrcorp.com or send the trace on disk to Zephyr Technical Support.

PASSPORT WEB TO HOST supports three types of tracing:

• Data Stream Trace - This type of trace is helpful in resolving problems involving the SNA BIND attributes, file transfer, host printing, and other problems involving the 3270, 5250, VT52, VT100, VT220, SCO-ANSI or Wyse data stream.

• Low Level Trace - This type of trace is helpful in resolving problems involving the establishment of a connection or problems that deal with the actual communication device driver. The data traced at this level is at the WinSock layer.

• HLLAPI Trace - This type of trace is helpful in resolving problems with HLLAPI applications.

To run a trace do the following:

1. Log off your mainframe session.

2. Choose Communication®Disconnect to terminate the session. (Or select the Disconnect button from the toolbar).

3. Choose Communication®Traces®Data Stream Trace, Communication®Traces®Low Level Trace or Communication®Traces®HLLAPI Trace to enable the approprite tracing facility. A check mark will appear next to each menu item when activated.

4. Choose Communication®Connect to reestablish the session. (Or select the Connect button from the toolbar).

5. Log on to your host and perform your terminal emulation activities.

6. Once you reach the point of failure, then log off your host session.

7. Choose Communication®Disconnect to terminate the session. (Or select the Disconnect button from the toolbar).

8. Choose Communication®Traces®Data Stream Trace, Communication®Traces®Low Level Trace or Communication®Traces®HLLAPI Trace to disable tracing for each type of tracing that is enabled.

9. Copy the trace files to another folder or rename them. There will be two trace files in the "\Program Files\eClient Local Files\" folder of the drive where the Windows operating system is installed with the following names:

• Trace_xx.log

• Tracell_xx.log

(where xx is equal to the ASCII value of the HLLAPI short name for the session, i.e. for session A xx is 41, for session B xx is 42, etc.).

The HLLAPI Trace file will be located in the current working directory on the workstation where the traces are run (C:\ by default) and will have the following name:

• Ehtrace.log

Note: Your trace files will be overwritten if you use Communication®Connect to reestablish the session prior to disabling the traces (step 8).

Note: All of the trace files are ANSI text data and may be viewed with Notepad or any text-based editor.

  10. Send these trace files to your site administrator.

Important Note: If you do not disable traces after running your trace and you connect your session again, your previous trace files will be overwritten and all data contained in those previous trace files will be lost.