You should document any problem you might have with Blueworx Voice Response, for the following reasons:
Capture as much of the relevant information as you can. Copying the error log to tape or diskette describes how to capture the contents of the Blueworx Voice Response error log. Other means of capturing information include the call detail record log, the DTstatus.out file, and NetView® for AIX. Blueworx Voice Response for AIX: Configuring the System describes how Blueworx Voice Response captures and stores information that can assist you in documenting problems.
For more information on the DTstatus.out file, the call detail record log, see Blueworx Voice Response for AIX: Configuring the System.
The existence of a recent core file indicates that the system is having a problem. Although you cannot solve the problem by yourself, Blueworx Support will need to know that the core file exists. The support representative can describe to you the steps you need to take.
Some processes in Blueworx Voice Response set the SA_FULLDUMP flag so that the entire user data area is dumped when a core file is created. The default limit for a core dump is 1 MB (2,000 blocks), and because the user data area is typically larger than this, you must increase this limit so that core files are not truncated. Set this limit to 10 MB, because although core files are infrequent, it is important that all the information is captured for problem determination.
You can modify this limit by changing /etc/security/limits when Blueworx Voice Response is installed, or you can simply check that it is already set to a reasonably large value. The field you need to check or change is core. Add the following to /etc/security/limits, if it is not already there:
Most Blueworx Voice Response processes run with $VAEBIN as the current directory. If such a process encounters an exception, it creates a core file in $VAEBIN. Only the root user can write to $VAEBIN, so during Blueworx Voice Response installation the directory /var/adm/ras/dirTalk, and the symbolic link $VAEBIN/core are created. Using the $VAEBIN/core symbolic link, and the /var/adm/ras/dirTalk directory, any Blueworx Voice Response process can write a core file without root privilege. The $VAEBIN/core symbolic link is used by Blueworx Support to debug the problem that caused the core dump, so do not remove it.
When a core file is created by a Blueworx Voice Response process, it is written to the /var/adm/ras/dirTalk directory and has the name core.owner, where owner is the name of the process that created the core file.
There are two ways to determine whether a core file exists. The first and most direct way is to:
If files exist that match the file pattern core.* and they have a recent date and time stamp, call Blueworx Support.
The second way uses the AIX error logging facility to notify the Blueworx Voice Response system administrator when a Blueworx Voice Response process creates a core file. This is achieved by creating a shell script called coredump_notify_exit.sh in dtuser’s home directory. If this file exists and can be run, it is called each time a core file is created. You can use this script to send mail to the system administrator. A sample shell script called coredump_notify_exit.sample is provided in the /usr/lpp/dirTalk/sw/samples directory.
Information that you see on the screen when you start Blueworx Voice Response (either by logging on to the userid dtuser, or from inittab when your system is restarted) is kept in either vaeinit.log or vaeinit.nox.log.
Each time you start Blueworx Voice Response the previous log file is overwritten. Only one file is kept, so you see either vaeinit.log or vaeinit.nox.log in the home directory.
This log might be useful if errors occur when you are using a terminal where scroll bars are not available, or during system startup when the output normally goes to a console display that is running in graphics mode, and errors scroll off the screen before you can note all the information. To see any messages you have missed, you can view the log file.
The vaeinit.log file is created when you start Blueworx Voice Response from the Blueworx Voice Response userid (usually dtuser).
The vaeinit.nox.log file is created when you start Blueworx Voice Response from inittab when your system is recycled. This file is also created when Blueworx Voice Response starts automatically after a power failure.