Burroughs MCP - Logging

Logging

All actions in the system are logged, for example all messages displayed to the operator, and all operator actions. All significant program actions are optionally logged in a system log and a program log, for example BOJ for beginning of a WFL job, BOT for beginning of a task within a WFL job, EOT and EOJ for end of tasks and jobs. As well, all file and database open and closes can be logged. Logging many events contributes to an apparent slowness of the MCP operating environment compared to systems like Unix, since everything is logged with forced physical writes to the program log after every record, which is what systems like Unix don’t do, even though they too keep many things in the system logs.

The logs can be used for forensics to find out why programs or systems may have failed, or for detecting attempts to compromise system security. System logs are automatically closed after a system-settable period and a new one opened. System logs contain a huge amount of information, which can be filtered and analyzed with programs such as LOGANALYZER.

The DUMPANALYZER analyzes memory dumps that were originally written to tape. As all compilers added LINEINFO into the code-files the DUMPANALYZER is able to pinpoint exactly which source statement was being executed at the time of error.

Also a normal program dump, where just one program was dumped, contains information on source-code sequence number and variable names.

The two analyzers are major diagnostic tools for all kinds of purposes.