Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Useful Essbase Debugging Link

I often answer user questions on the OTN forum and the Network 54 board about issues that they are seeing. Normally, the user posts the error when they really don't know where to turn for help. Often, what they don't realize is, much of the information they need in order to look for a solution is already embedded within the error message. The key piece of information is the error number. Essbase error numbers are generally easy to spot as they are seven digit numbers. Consider this excerpt from my Essbase log:

[Fri Dec 12 13:13:32 2008]Local/ESSBASE0///Error(1012004)
Invalid member name Markett


When you look at the error messages in the log, the root cause of the error may or may not be apparent. In the example above, it is apparent that the member name is spelled incorrectly. Some error messages, however, are not so easy to decipher. Recently, I found that Oracle has a nice reference site that sometimes gives you much better information on an Essbase error:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E10530_01/doc/epm.931/html_esb_error/erhelp.htm

The site provides a nice summary for this particular error:



Unfortunately, not all Essbase errors are documented on the site. In those circumstances, it is best to use your favorite internet search engine to search for "Essbase error xxxxxxx'" where the x's represent the error number you are seeing in your logs. It is almost certain that you are not the first person to experience the same issue and you will often find the answer already posted somewhere online. If you don't find the solution posted, then post a question on one of the forums. Of course, if all else fails you can always call Oracle Tech Support!

4 comments:

GlennS said...

another great place to get error message information is from the api message.txt file. It has most of the error codes and their text.
Glenn

Tim Tow said...

You are correct Glenn. The message.txt file is normally the first place I go, especially if I only have the error number and not the description.

The message.txt only gives the message text, which is often helpful, but doesn't give any steps to resolve the issue which make the link I posted more useful.

Tim

Mickey said...

Where is the messages.txt file located? I am trying to debug some code and 1000047 is one of those not on the link you mention.

Dermott Beverley said...

Mickey here's one place to find the messasge.txt file %Hyperion_Home%\products\Essbase\EssbaseClient\api\include