Troubleshooting Strategy

When confronted with a problem, start troubleshooting the situation by asking the following questions:

• Did you encounter any error messages?

  Error messages typically identify which facility generated the message. You may encounter error messages from the operating system, the Information Builders product, or any third-party hardware, software, or data communications products in the installation.

  Information Builders numbered error messages (for example, FOC209) generally indicate a problem on a reporting server and are followed by a short description of the problem. You can see the full text of an error message by referring to an errors file or by displaying the message in your session. For instructions, see the Error Messages appendix in the Describing Data With WebFOCUS Language manual.

  It is important to record all error messages, as the information they contain is helpful when you obtain internal or external technical support. Once you have analyzed the error messages, you can advance to the next key question.

• Has this system configuration ever worked in its present form?

  If the system worked in the past but is not working now, you have an important clue to understanding the problem. The next step is to investigate what has changed with the configuration.

• Has something changed with the system configuration?

  By determining what has changed with the configuration, you may be able to solve, or at least isolate, the problem. For example, was something added to or changed in a Master File or procedure? If there are multiple steps in the application, can you determine which step caused the problem?

  Try to simplify the situation by excluding third-party products. For example, if you are using an Information Builders interface to a supported external data source such as Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, or Db2, can you duplicate the problem with a standard FOCUS data source, such as EMPLOYEE, or with a sequential file?

• What release of the Information Builders product are you using?

  Find out if a new version of the product was installed since the product last functioned properly, or if the product was upgraded with a maintenance patch or WebFOCUS Service Pack.

• Has anything changed in the computing environment?

  A new piece of hardware, an upgrade to the operating system or browser, a different version of a third-party data source, or a change in the data communications infrastructure could be relevant to the problem.

If the product worked in the past but is not working successfully now, and you have identified the settings that have changed since it last worked, you may be able to reset the product to the initial settings. If that is possible, change one item at a time and then observe the result.

In many cases, you will not be able to set everything back to the initial settings, but by asking the general troubleshooting questions, you will have a clearer picture of the problem and cause.

The problems you encounter may have already been documented. Information Builders products, such as WebFOCUS, have Release Notes, which are a compilation of all known problems and limitations for a specific release of the software. Additionally, the technical content for the product may include valuable information or useful hints about the specific feature you are trying to use.

Third-party products in your installation, including operating systems, hardware and software, and supported data sources, should have identical resources. Most products will have written documentation and a README file that provides the most current information on known problems.

Finally, both Information Builders and most third-party vendors have websites with useful support information.

For more information on Information Builders resources available to help you troubleshoot, see Information You Should Have.