IBM - MustGather: Read first for all WebSphere Application Server products

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MustGather: Read first for all WebSphere Application Server products

Technote (FAQ)
Problem
MustGather documents aid in problem determination and save time resolving Problem Management Records (PMRs).
Collecting MustGather data early, even before opening the PMR, helps IBM® Support quickly determine if: Symptoms match known problems (rediscovery).
There is a non-defect problem that can be identified and resolved.
There is a defect that identifies a workaround to reduce severity.
Locating root cause can speed development of a code fix.
Solution
MustGather: Readme first table of contents:
Gathering general information
Gathering component specific information
Submitting information to IBM Support
For WebSphere Application Server V5.0.2 or later, use thecollector tool to capture general information for each host machine. If you are running a version previous to V5.0.2, you can alsomanually collect the general information.
Entering "Collector -summary" output into an electronically-opened PMR(ESR) eliminates waiting on the phone to provide general information to Level 1 support.
For assistance in help identifying the component causing problems, visit theTroubleshooting Guide for WebSphere Application Server.
Otherwise, take a look at the components and thecomponent descriptions in the table below. If one of the product components below matches your symptom or the part of the product with which you are experiencing problems, follow the instructions in the associated MustGather document:
View all MustGather documents.
Components Upgrade Policies
IBM Education Assistant

100% CPU Usage Includes multiple product categories. 100% CPU usage due to a WebSphere Application Server process.
read
Administrative Console (all non-scripting) Any problems associated with using the Administrative Console, not including scripting (wsadmin). Does not include problems that occur after changing a setting that causes a change in behavior.
learn

Administrative Scripting Tools (for example: wsadmin or ANT) Problems experienced performing Administration tasks using command line tools.
learn

Application Client Problems related to any number of J2EE supported stand-alone applications that communicate directly with the Application Server.
read
Application Server Toolkit (AST) A tool for making Enterprise Applications (EARs) deployable in WebSphere Application Server.

Classloader Programming errors or configuration issues that result in programs or classes not being found. Typically you see an error message in the stack track trace or in the browser indicating "class not found".
learn

Crash z/OS® terminology: ABEND occurs (usually generates a dump).
Distributed terminology: process dies (usually generates a core file on UNIX® or a user.dmp on Windows®).
read
Data Replication Services Problems with sharing and replicating cached contents using JMS message broker.
learn

DB Connections/Connection Pooling Includes DB2® as well as connector problems that occur with interfaces such as CICS®, MQSeries®, and IMS, when connecting to a back-end system without using an EJB. This does not include any connectors that are shipped with Enterprise Edition (EE).
learn

Deploy (for example: AAT or ANT or EAR/WAR/JAR) Problems that occur during the deployment of any application.
learn

Double Byte Character Set (DBCS) Language-specific issues where the character set requires two bytes to store a letter (for example, Kanji).

Dynamic Cache Problems that occur when dynamic cache is enabled, but do not occur if dynamic cache is disable.

Edge Component Problems that occur with Load Balancer or Caching Proxy.

EJB Container Problems with EJB beans.
learn

General These are process-related issues. Only a few problems fall into this category.
learn

Hangs/Performance Degradation Any problems reporting a hang or degradation in performance in a WebSphere JVM. This can include performance problems that occur after upgrading to a newer version of WebSphere Application Server; however, this should not contain performance issues that occur after deploying a new version of a customer application. These types of problems are handled by the IBM Services group.
learn

HTTP Transport Any problems that occur during communication directly to the Application Server (bypassing the plug-in).

IBM HTTP Server Any Web server related problem.

Install Problems that might be encountered installing the product, fix packs or interim fixes. Do not put configuration problems in this category.
learn

Java 2 Connectivity (J2C) Problems with back-end connectivity.

Java Management Extensions (JMX) or JMX client API Errors with Java Code that uses WebSphere Application Server JMX APIs.

Java Message Service (JMS) Problems with back-end connectivity to asynchronous activities (for example: MQ).
learn

Java Security (JSSE/JCE) Problems with implementing Java security with applications using Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) defined interfaces.
learn

Java Transaction Service (JTS) JTS provides the internal facilities needed by WebSphere components to coordinate resources that are involved in transactional work. Any specific JTS problems are reported here.

Java SDK Problems specific to the JVM (for example, JVM crashes and JIT failures).
read
JNDI/Naming Problems with the lookup facility for objects like enterprise beans.
learn

JSP Problems with JavaServer Pages (JSP) (for example, JSP compilation failures, JSP BatchCompiler problems, and JSP runtime exceptions).

Migration Problems associated with migrating to a new release.
learn

Object Level Trace/Distributed Debugger (OLT/DD) Problems running this graphical user interface tool.

Object Request Broker (ORB) Problems encountered when managing distributed objects (for example, EJB).

Out of Memory Out of memory issues.

PD tools (for example Log Analyzer) Problems running problem determination stand-alone tools.
learn

Plug-in Any plug-in problem, with the exception of remote installations.
learn
read
Plug-in (remote) Install Problems related to the installation or configuration of a Web server on system other than WebSphere Application Server.
learn
read
PMI/Performance Tools Problems with Performance Monitoring Tools, Performance Advisors or with the Interface.
learn

Programming Model Extensions (PME)learn

Scheduler A programming extension responsible for starting actions at specific times or intervals.

Security Problems that occur only when security is enabled. This includes authentication issues (for example, RACF and LDAP)
learn

Service Integration Technology
Servlet Engine/Web Container Problems experienced when running servlets.

Sessions and Session Management Problems or errors maintaining HttpSessions (for example: loss of session data or problems with HttpSession failover).

System Management/Repository Problems starting Network Deployment Edition or Base Application Server, or errors in related Application Server logs.
learn

Trial Any problems related to the Trial (Beta) version of WebSphere Application Server. Currently, beta versions of code are not supported through the normal PMR submission process.
read
Web Services (for example: SOAP or UDDI or WSGW or WSIF) Problems using any of the example Web services.
learn

Web Services Security Problems that occur only when security is enabled for Web Services.
learn

Workload Management (WLM) Problems specific to WLM using service classes, applenvs or WLM problems that occur in runtime.
learn

Components IBM Education Assistant

Upgrade Policies
View all MustGather documents.
After a PMR is open, you cansubmit diagnostic MustGather data to IBM.
If usingESR, update the PMR to indicate that data has been sent.
If you are running WebSphere Application Server V5.0 or higher, use thecollector tool to capture information for components specified in the table above.
Entering "Collector -summary" output into an electronically-opened PMR(ESR) eliminates waiting on the phone to providegeneral information to Level 1.
For releases of WebSphere® Application Server previous to V5.0.2, manually gather the following information for each host machine: Hostname The product and version of the Web server, if one is installed The application server or clone, if either are installed The WebSphere Application Server version and edition The installed interim fixes Your operating system and version The operating system patches or maintenance level The number of CPUs that you have The amount of RAM that you have
Related informationSubmitting information to IBM supportSteps to getting support for WebSphere Application ServerTroubleshooting guide for WebSphere Application ServerMustGather: Read first for WebSphere Application Server for z/OSMustGather: Read first for WebSphere Extended DeploymentMustGather: Read first for IBM HTTP ServerMustGather: Read first for WebSphere MQ v5.3, v5.3.1 and v6.0 productsMustGather: Read first for IBM WebSphere Portal and WebSphere Portal - Express, for Multi-Platforms