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Identifying Log messages from PDS Components
As mentioned in section 1, all PDS components log their errors and warnings to the Windows Application Log. When you search for errors or warnings from the PDS components, you see the following names in the Source column:

You can also sort the list of events (error and warnings) by double-clicking the column titles:

Click once on the column name to sort it in ascending order, and click again to sort it in descending order. This is particularly useful when you are looking for specific events from one application (for example, all the events logged by PDS FileSync).

In the top left of the Event Properties window, you see three additional buttons:

To copy and paste the event details:

1. Click the Clipboard icon (just under the Down arrow) in the Event Properties window (see above).
2. From the desktop, select Start > All Programs > Accessories > Notepad (or any other text editor).
3. In Notepad, go to the Menu bar and select Edit > Paste.

The details of the event appear in the Notepad window.

Once you have the event details in Notepad, you may copy and paste relevant parts (e.g. the description) to include in emails or to execute a search on www.Google.com (or any other search engine, see Appendix K - Tools and Resources, section 8, for an example on such a search).

Identifying Event Types: Information, Warnings, and Errors
In Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, there are only five event types. Information, Warning, and Error are the most common, but in the Security Log, there are also Success Audit and Failure Audit type events.

Event Type	Description
	Information events Generally positive information. They usually mean that an application or service was successful at doing something, and wants it to be recorded for posterity. For instance, the PDS FileSync Windows service always logs informational messages when it starts or stops. Event Logs can be packed with information events. They can and should be examined occasionally. Information events are often written by applications, and examining them can help you understand the application functionality better. However, if you are troubleshooting a serious problem, you may want to examine the Warning and Error events first.
	Warning events Generally negative occurrences, but are usually more a sign of an impending problem sometime in the future. As an example, when a volume is running low on disk space, a warning event is written to the System Log. As another example, PDS Service logs a warning if Point users request a very large number of loans, tasks, or Cardex records that exceed the limit. Look for such events and address them as needed.
	Error events The first events to search when you are troubleshooting actual problems. Error events generally indicate a failure of some kind. For instance, an error event is written if a service fails to start. These types of events can also indicate a properly working service or an application that fails to perform a function. As an example, if you change your SQL password and your PDS database connection strings are out of date, all PDS components log errors when you attempt to connect to the database. Even when you are unaware of problems with a machine, you should be on the lookout for Error events and work to resolve them.

Since Event Logs can contain many entries, you may find it handy to sort them by Event type (see the instructions for sorting above). This groups them into the various types described above, and allow you to view the Error events first. So the first thing to look for in your Event Logs (if you are unaware of specific problems) is the Error events, followed by the Warning events. Investigating and resolving the cause of these events can keep your Point Data Server running better, longer, and faster.

In the next sections we cover some of the more useful events that our PDS components generate.

PDS FileSync Useful Events
As described in Chapter 5 - PDS FileSync is a Windows service that does not have a user interface. Therefore all of the feedback we get from PDS FileSync comes through the Event Log. This section includes useful events that you should look for when monitoring and managing PDS FileSync:

PDS FileSync always logs the message above when it starts. The PDS FileSync version (which matches your PDS Installer version from Chapter 3 - Installing PDS) is also logged. This includes the major version (in our example 5), the minor version (in our example 3), and the build number (in our example 2336.18296).

When it is started, PDS FileSync takes a few seconds to initialize. This includes reading parameters from the PDS database and its configuration files (see Appendix M - Advanced Configuration for more details), and creating the appropriate objects to monitor PDS data folders. The message above indicates that PDS FileSync has successfully initialized itself and that it is ready to monitor PDS data folders for loan file changes.

PDS Service Useful Events
Chapter 19 - PDS Service covered the PDS Service, a Microsoft IIS Web Service that is responsible for accepting incoming queries from the Point client. You will also find a few useful messages from PDS Service in the Event Log:

Whenever you reboot your PDS Server, stop and start IIS, or change a PDS Service configuration file, the PDS Service stops and restarts. When PDS first starts (or re-starts) successfully, the message above appears. The PDS Service version (which may not match our Installer version from Chapter 3 - Installing PDS) is also logged. This includes the major version (in our example 5), the minor version (in our example 3), and the build number (in our example 2336.18295).

If Point users request a very large number of loans, tasks or Cardex records, you might see a warning from PDS Service in the Event Log. The warning above indicates that you have reached the limit of loans, tasks, or Cardex records and the maximum number of records was returned to the Point users. If you see this warning you must either train your Point users to understand the performance advantages of limiting their searches, or you must increase the limit of records returned (see Appendix M - Advanced Configuration, PDS Service Parameters, for more information). Not only are the above limit warnings logged to the event log, but also warning messages are sent to Point users in real-time. See Appendix J - PDS Service Error Codes for more information.

PDS Administration Useful Events
The PDS Administration site is covered in detail in Chapter 6 - Creating PDS Administration User and Chapter 9 - PDS Administration Detail. All the feedback from this PDS component is generally displayed on your browser as you access the various pages on the PDS Administration site. Although extremely rare, an unhandled exception might cause a "Fatal Error" screen to appear.

If you ever see the error above displayed in one of the PDS Administration pages, check your Event Log for more details.

Other Useful Events
In the above sections we have covered useful events you might find in your Applications Log related to the PDS components (PDS FileSync, PDS Service and PDS Admin). There are other components in your system that can provide valuable information related to your Point Data Server. Look for events from the following applications (look at the "Source", Luke!):

This concludes Appendix L - Event Log. Make sure you check the Event Log on your PDS Server regularly to ensure that you have a healthy system that performs well. Your Point users will thank you. Also don’t forget to check Appendix K - Tools and Resources, Section 6, Event Sentry, for an application that can help you in monitoring and managing your PDS event log.