FAQs

Installation

What do I need to run Veduta 1.1 ?
At a minimum you will require a Java Runtime version 5. See here for further details. Java runtimes are free and available for most platforms.
If you want to run Veduta 1.1 as a web application, you should have a suitable browser. Veduta 1.1 has been tested and is supported on the following browsers:
- Internet Explorer 6 and above
- Mozilla Firefox
You should enable Javascript and cookies.
You don't need a database or a web server. Everything is contained within the Veduta download. No additional configurations for 3rd party applications are required.
How do I change the webserver port that Veduta runs on ?
Simply run the Veduta server thus:
> java -jar veduta-complete.jar -webserver -port {port number}...
Some OSes will restrict the port numbers that you can run on (depending if you're an admin or not). If Veduta can't connect to the configured port then it will shut down.
How do I change the client/server port that Veduta runs on ?
Veduta gets its client/server configuration from the veduta.xml file in the specified configuration directory (specified using the -d option). Find the <network> section, and change the port as required.
Some OSes will restrict the port numbers that you can run on (depending if you're an admin or not).
See the client/server documentation for more info.
How do I tell a client where to talk to a Veduta server across the network ?
Veduta gets its client/server configuration from the veduta.xml file in the specified configuration directory (specified using the -d option). Find the <network> section, and change the hostname and port as required. Restart the client so it picks up the new configuration.
Some OSes will restrict the port numbers that you can run on (depending if you're an admin or not)
See the client/server documentation for more info.
How can I run Veduta as an NT service ?
See here for full instructions

Common Problems

Veduta takes a long time to start. What's happening ?
If Veduta hasn't reported any problems it's either read all the log files, generated the required reports and is waiting for more activity. Alternatively it is reading a backlog of data. This often occurs when Veduta is first configured and pointed to a set of log files for the first time. Veduta will report when it's read a block of 1000 lines to indicate that it's busy.

Note that if you're running the in-memory database then this can happen each time you start up, and you may wish to move to the SQL database configuration (see the database documentation for more information on these options).

You may want to confirm that Veduta is working by increasing its log output. See below for more details.
Veduta runs out of memory after reading sizable log files. How can I avoid this ?
There are two simple ways to avoid this problem.
The first is to configure Veduta to run with more memory. Simply invoke Veduta in the following fashion:
> java -Xmx512m -jar veduta-complete.jar ...
The -Xmx option is a standard Java virtual machine option to specify the maximum amount of memory that the virtual machine will use. This defaults to 64Mb. The above specifies that Veduta will run using a maximum of 512Mb of memory. Any figure can be used, and should be selected according to your requirements and hardware.
The second way to stop Veduta running out of memory is to configure Veduta to use a SQL database. This is a simple configuration change and documented here, together with a discussion of the pros/cons vs. an in-memory database.
The Veduta database (in-memory or SQL) grows over time. How can I avoid this ?
Veduta can be configured to maintain the database to contain only 'recent' entries, or to maintain no more than a fixed number of log messages. e.g. you can configure Veduta to maintain only the last, say, 7 days of log data, and/or to maintain no more than 20,000 log messages per log file. If running with the in-memory database then it's recommended to set these options to avoid memory issues (see the database documentation for more information on this option.
How can I increase the logging output to see what Veduta is doing ?
Veduta logs relatively little unless it encounters an error. However you can increase the logging level to determine if it's spending time reading log files, generating reports etc. Veduta comes with a number of logging configurations that can be specified on the command line and will increase the logging level.

> java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=conf\log\consumer-log.properties -jar veduta-complete.jar ...
will increase the consumer logging and enable you to determine which log files Veduta is reading, and how long it takes to do this. If operating in client/server mode then this configuration will enable you to determine network traffic quantities between the client and server.
I've changed my consumers.xml configuration, but my reports still look the same.
When changing your consumers.xml configuration, you need to clear the database on your filesystem. This will force Veduta to re-read your log files according to your new configuration. See here for more info.
Veduta on NT/Windows is holding open my log files and I can't move or delete them
By default Veduta will hold log files open whilst monitoring them (for efficiency purposes). This behaviour can be changed so that Veduta will only open the file each time it needs to read it.
In your consumers.xml configuration, set the appropriate mode.
```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<consumers>
  <consumer>
    <file mode="closing">
      <name>System Messages</name>
      ...
      
```
I can read my NT Application and System logs, but not my Security Log. What's happening ?
You must have the appropriate security permissions to read the security log. See the Microsoft support pages for this.
Internet Explorer claims that it's detected a security problem. Is this correct ?
If you're running Internet Explorer v6 (SP2), you may see a message such as:
To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer. Click here for options...
Internet Explorer is querying the presence of certain Javascript operations within the reports. This is nothing to worry about. Select Allow Blocked Operations, and click OK on the subsequent dialog.
To fix the issue permanently, go to Tools->Internet Options... in Internet Explorer. Select the Advanced tab, and enable Allow active content to run in files on My Computer

See the Microsoft knowledge base for more information.

Report Configuration

Where are Veduta's reports visible ?
When running in it's webserver mode, Veduta is available on http://{your host name}:8080/. The port may be changed via the command-line options
How are reports generated ?
In Veduta's file-writing mode, reports are written to a configured directory and given a name. Each report's name is suffixed with a date/timestamp. These reports can be browsed directly using a standard browser, or made available under a webserver for intranet/internet access.
In file-writing mode where do the reports go ?
The report location is defined in report.xml:
```
  <file>
    <name>examples/clientserver/results/system</name>
  <file>
      
```
This defines the base name of the reports, and each report will be suffixed with a date/timestamp. The latest report will always be linked to index.html and so to automatically link to the latest report (and thus all the rest), given the above config, link to:
file:///C:/Program Files/OOPS Consultancy/Veduta/examples/clientserver/results/index.html
or on Unix
file:///home/$USER/Veduta/examples/clientserver/results/index.html
(assuming a standard install)
I want to change the look of the reports. How can I do this ?
Veduta allows many different report formats to be used simultaneously. Changing and adding to these is straightforward. See the reports configuration page for more info.

Performance

How much load does Veduta put on the system being monitored ?
Veduta is designed to minimally impact heavily-loaded and performance-sensitive systems. Veduta's main load-intensive functions are:
- reading log files
- writing report files
The work that Veduta does in reading log files can be reduced in various ways. Firstly, the interval between log file reads can be modified. Secondly, the use of filters can reduce the amount of log messages forwarded to a server. Thirdly, if Veduta is scanning directories for log files matching patterns, then old log files can be archived to a different location, removing Veduta's need to scan these log files needlessly.
Veduta will perform a lot of work on start-up, reading and checkpointing all log files. Once this is complete, Veduta will watch for file modifications at the configured intervals, and only then read the logs and forward data.
See the questions above regarding enabling different log levels. Increasing consumer logging will enable you to determine how often logging occurs, the quantity of information being gathered and, in the case of client/server operation, the amount of network traffic being generated.
Report generation is a more intensive operation, and if performance is an issue, it is recommended that the client/server option is used, and reports are generated on a less sensitive system. See the consumer configuration and client/server configuration page for more info.

Configuration Options - CommandLine Options Examples