Howto: Using the Support Tool

Introduction

Sometimes a ByteBlower Server doesn't behave as expected, because of a bad configuration, or a bug.  When you encounter such problems, the ByteBlower Support Team is ready to help you out !  But sometimes, lots of information about the system is required in order to find the cause of the problem. This is why each ByteBlower server has a Support Tool included. This tool does al the hard work of gathering all information we possibly need to sort the problem out for you.

All gathered information is then compressed and sent to the ByteBlower Support Team.

The new ByteBlower 5100 model (November 2020) has different OS. This system no support-tool yet. Do contact us at support.byteblower@excents.com when you experience issues with this system.

When to use the tool

When problems occur with a ByteBlower server, you can contact us at support.byteblower@excentis.com. If the cause of the problem isn't immediately clear, we will ask you to use the Support Tool.

Running the tool 

• Open a console and log into your ByteBlower Server using the ssh-protocol.
  Default username: root
  Default password: excentis

ssh root@byteblower.example.com
    ____        __       ____  __                       
   / __ )__  __/ /____  / __ )/ /___ _      _____  _____
  / __  / / / / __/ _ \/ __  / / __ \ | /| / / _ \/ ___/
 / /_/ / /_/ / /_/  __/ /_/ / / /_/ / |/ |/ /  __/ /    
/_____/\__, /\__/\___/_____/_/\____/|__/|__/\___/_/     
      /____/                                by Excentis  
root@byteblower.example.com's password: 

• Execute the byteblower-support-tool command

root@byteblower ~# byteblower-support-tool
Welcome to the ByteBlower support tool!

This tool will collect all relevant information
in order to process ByteBlower Server issues.

The collected information will be uploaded to the
ByteBlower support server.

Do you wish to continue (y/n)?

• Press Y to start the gathering of the needed information

Getting ByteBlower username
Collecting core dumps (this may take a while)
Gathering ByteBlower logging
Gathering system information
Gathering network information
Gathering process information
Gathering ByteBlower information
Gathering Napatech support tool data
  napatech not installed
Creating support archive `support_archive.151113-174204.ByteBlower160672342.tar.bz2'
Uploading support archive `support_archive.151113-174204.ByteBlower160672342.tar.bz2'
Support diagnostics have been uploaded
Cleaning up...

What if upload failed

If your ByteBlower can't reach our servers (bbdl.excentis.com) due to lab-restrictions then the upload will fail. The support-information is stored on the disk of the ByteBlower at following location: /mnt/storage/reports/. 
You can copy the report-file ( support_archive.xxxxx-<date>.ByteBlower<serialnumber>.tar.bz2 ) to your laptop using scp/winscp tools. If the file isn't that big you can email it to us at support.byteblower@excentis.com.

If it's to big to email, just write a mail to us ( support.byteblower@excentis.com ) and we will provide you with a link where you can upload your support-report.

Gathered Information

The following information is collected:

• Core dumps
  When a ByteBlower Server crashes, the state of the working memory of the processes is written to a file.  This file also contains memory management information, and other processor and operating system flags and information. These core dump files can then be used to assist in diagnosing and debugging errors.
• ByteBlower logs
  While using the ByteBlower server, usage information and occurred errors are being logged to /var/log/ByteBlower.
• System information
  A number of diagnostic tools is executed to gather information about present hardware : lsusb, lspci, lshw, uname, ethtool.
• Network information
  Some specific commands are executed to get detailed information about the network configuration : ifconfig, route, the content of /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/conf.d/net.
• Process information
  Information is gathered about currently running processes, and the resources they are using : the content of /proc/cpuinfo, ps auxw, the content of /proc/meminfo.
• ByteBlower information
  ByteBlower specific configuration files : port_cfg.xml, byteblower_cfg.xml, username, and license information.
• Napatech support tool data
  If a Napatech network card is present in the system, the Napatech support tool will be activated too.
• ByteBlower Filter and Usage statistics
  Log of the applied filters to get insight in the usage of the ByteBlower system. You can opt-out using the ByteBlower-Configurator->ByteBlower Server configuration -> Preferences -> Collect Statistics .

Follow up

The gathered information can then be investigated by the ByteBlower Support Team.