MustGather: Collecting troubleshooting data for Notes 8.

0x Standard
Configuration issues
Technote (FAQ)

Question
This technote explains how to collect the diagnostic data that may be needed by IBM Support
for certain issues with the install and use of Lotus Notes 8.0x Standard Configuration. For
information on collecting troubleshooting data for Notes 8.5x, see technote #1389356.

Answer
Excerpt from Notes 8 Help:

Purpose
IBM Support Assistant (ISA) is a free software application intended to help customers be
more productive with IBM products by resolving product challenges faster. Customers are
encouraged to consult ISA when experiencing a product challenge. ISA offers resources for
self-help that can enable customers to identify, assess, and overcome product difficulties
without needing to contact IBM. When it is necessary to contact IBM, ISA offers resources for
rapid submission of problem reports and immediate, automated collection of diagnostic data
that can accelerate problem resolution.

Steps to Collect Data using the IBM Support Assistant

1. Open Notes 8.
2. Select Help > Support > IBM Support Assistant.
3. Select "Service".
4. Select "Collect Data".
5. Select the "Lotus Notes 8.0" checkbox.
6. For Problem Type select "Notes General Problem Data Collection".
7. Select the "Collect" button. The following message appears:

8. Select OK, then enter a brief description of the issue as the reason for data collection and
select OK.
9. Select the "Collect MetaData" option under the question, "Do you also wish to collect the
.metadata directory (Recommended)?" Then select OK.

At the bottom of the 'Data Collection Progress' box, you should see something similar to
following (though the collections results are not always available):
"The collection has completed successfully.
The collection results (which will not always be available) are located in C:\Program
Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace\isaCollector_SSKTWP_8_0_071129_1628_4
920.jar"

10. Copy the location of the collection file to the clipboard. In the example above, the location
of the file that should be copied is: C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace\
11. Open Microsoft Windows Explorer, paste this location into the Address bar, and press the
ENTER key or select Go.
12. Obtain the file from that folder location. The file is a ".jar" file, which should be sent to
IBM Lotus Technical Support for review.

Note:

You can specify the email address of the IBM Engineer assisting in review of the concern.
Alternatively, you can supply the file to the PMR for the Engineer to download and review.

If additional trace parameters are not changed, then the IBM Support Assistant logs can be
run after the problem has occurred. As such, the issue does not need to be reproduced again
for the collection of data. As a general rule, the trace and error logs stored by the client cycle
from 0 to 5, meaning 0 is the most recent and 5 is from an earlier launch of the client. As
long as the issue occurred during the past five restarts, the immediate data can be sent in for
the issue. If not, reproduce the issue and then send in the file above for review.

Additional Information:

The .jar file can be opened/unzipped using a zip utility program. Once opened, you can
access "error" and "log" files in the Notes\Data\workspace\logs directory.