Difference between logs and traces

Describes the difference between log and trace messages, and indicates in which languages they are available.

HCL Workload Automation and the Dynamic Workload Console create both log and trace messages:
Log messages
These are messages that provide you with information, give you warning of potential problems, and inform you of errors. Most log messages are described in Messages and Codes. Log messages are translated into the following languages:
  • Chinese - simplified
  • Chinese - traditional
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese - Brazilian
  • Spanish
Messages are written to the log file in the language of the locale set on the computer where they were generated, at the moment when they were generated.
Trace messages
These are messages for IBM® Software Support that provide in depth information about HCL Workload Automation processes. In most cases they are in English. Whereas log messages are written so that you can understand them in relation to the activity you were performing, trace messages might not be. There is no guarantee that you can diagnose any error situations from the information they contain.
The traces are provided at several different levels and in several different forms:
Messages for IBM® Software Support
These are similar to log messages, and while not intended for customer use, can be sometimes helpful to experienced customers who know the product well. The information they contain is used by IBM® Software Support to understand problems better.
Specific software traces
These are traces written directly by the program code normally indicating the values of variables being used in complex processes. They are not for use by the customer.
Automatic software traces
These are traces issued automatically by the code when it enters and exits code modules. They are not for use by the customer.
The following table gives more detailed information:
Table 1. Difference between logs and traces
Characteristics Log Messages Messages for IBM® Software Support Specific software traces Automatic software traces
Translated √
Documented in Product Documentation √ Some
Written to
Windows operating systems
<TWA_home>\TWS\stdlist\logs
UNIX operating systems
TWA_DATA_DIR/stdlist/logs/
 √
Written to
Windows operating systems
<TWA_home>\TWS\stdlist\traces
UNIX operating systems
TWA_DATA_DIR/stdlist/traces/
 √ √ √
Logging level, format etc. controlled by TWSCCLog.properties √ √ √
Logging level, format etc. controlled by TWSFullTrace √
Optionally written to memory by TWSFullTrace and written to disc by that utility when requested. √ √ √ √

If you want to merge the logs and traces controlled by TWSCCLog.properties into one file, set the localopts option merge stdlist to yes.