Talkback

Data Migrator allows you to collect environment details and log files for troubleshooting using the talkback script (talkback.sh).

Script details

You can find talkback.sh in opt/wandisco/livedata-migrator. The table below lists optional flags available to use with the script.

Flag	Label	Description
-h	help	Display help information for the talkback script.
-o	output path	Specify where to save the .tar files. Default: The current directory.
-d	minimum days	Specify the number of days before today to stop collecting logs. For example, ./talkback.sh -d 2 collects logs up to two days ago and doesn't include logs for the past two days. Default: 0
-D	maximum days	Specify the number of days before today to start collecting logs. For example, ./talkback.sh -D 21 collects logs from 21 days ago up to today. Default: 14
-s	file size	Split the output file into smaller chunks. You can specify a file size in megabytes, for example, 35M (35 megabytes). If you don't specify a unit, the script uses bytes. Default: 1024MB
-e	environment file	If you're using basic authentication, provide the path of an environment file containing your basic authentication passwords in the format LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR_PASSWORD=<example_password> and HIVEMIGRATOR_PASSWORD=<example_password>. For example, ./talkback.sh -e /exampleEnvFilepath/filename.env
-c	hivemigrator_server_conf_dir	Set to the directory containing the Hive Migrator server configuration files. Default: /etc/wandisco/hivemigrator
-R	hivemigrator_remote_server_conf_dir	Set to the directory containing the Hive Migrator remote server configuration files. Default: /etc/wandisco/hivemigrator-remote-server
-u	ui_server_conf_dir	Set to the directory containing the livedata-ui server configuration files. Default: /etc/wandisco/ui
-l	livedata_migrator_timeout	Specify the timeout for API calls in seconds. Default: 120 seconds
-r	REST APIs	Skip collecting information using REST APIs.
-t	thread dumps	Include thread dumps.
-H	heap dumps	Include heap dumps.

info

If you're using basic authentication, you must provide the path of an environment file containing your basic authentication passwords in the format LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR_PASSWORD=<example_password> and HIVEMIGRATOR_PASSWORD=<example_password>.

If you don't provide this path, the talkback script continues without API data and notifies you that it failed to connect to the Data Migrator and Hive Migrator REST endpoints.

If you don't have Hive Migrator installed or you don't have basic authentication configured for it, you don't need to provide Hive Migrator credentials.

note

The talkback script outputs all available environment details. Date limits only apply to log collection.

Run the talkback script

info

Run the talkback script with root permissions for the best results.

1. Go to the directory where you want to save your talkback files:

   cd /example/directory
2. Run the following command:

   /opt/wandisco/livedata-migrator/talkback.sh
3. Send your files to Support by attaching them to your support case or uploading using SFTP.

View files

You can list all files in archive.tar using the following command:

tar -tvf <talkback_file_name>

Examples

This example outputs logs for the last 14 days as a single .tar file to the current directory:

Run the talkback script with default values

./talkback.sh 

This example outputs logs for the last 14 days as 1024MB .tar files to the current directory:

Run the talkback script with optional flags

./talkback.sh -s 

This example outputs logs for the last 14 days as 1000B .tar files to the current directory:

Run the talkback script with optional flags

./talkback.sh -s 1000

This example outputs logs for the 14 days between 21 and 7 days before today as 500MB .tar files to a specified directory (/exampleOutputDirectory):

Run the talkback script with optional flags

./talkback.sh -o /exampleOutputDirectory -d 7 -D 21 -s 500M 

Use environment variables

To set an environment variable, enter the following into your terminal:

export <VARIABLE_NAME>=<variable_value>

For example:

export TALKBACK_OUTPUT_LOCATION=/tmp

You can configure the following variables before running the talkback script instead of using command flags:

Variable	Description
TALKBACK_OUTPUT_LOCATION	Specify where to save the .tar files. Default: The current directory.
LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR_LOG_PERIOD_MIN	Specify the number of days before today to stop collecting logs. For example, ./talkback.sh -d 2 collects logs up to two days ago and doesn't include logs for the past two days. Default: 0
LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR_LOG_PERIOD_MAX	Specify the number of days before today to start collecting logs. For example, ./talkback.sh -D 21 collects logs from 21 days ago up to today. Default: 14
SHOULD_SPLIT	Set to true to split the output file into smaller chunks of 1024Mb in size. You can set a custom chunk size using SPLIT_SIZE.
SPLIT_SIZE	Set a custom file size for the split output files. For example, 35M (35 megabytes).
BASIC_AUTH_ENV_FILE	If you're using basic authentication, provide an environment file containing your basic authentication passwords in the format LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR_PASSWORD=<example_password> and HIVEMIGRATOR_PASSWORD=<example_password>.
LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR_TIMEOUT	Specify the timeout for API calls in seconds. Default: 120 seconds
SKIP_REST_API	Set to true to skip collecting information using REST APIs.
INCLUDE_THREAD_DUMPS	Set to true to include thread dumps.
INCLUDE_HEAP_DUMP	Set to true to include heap dumps.
HIVEMIGRATOR_SERVER_CONF_DIR	Set to the directory containing the Hive Migrator server configuration files. Default: /etc/wandisco/hivemigrator
HIVEMIGRATOR_REMOTE_SERVER_CONF_DIR:	Set to the directory containing the Hive Migrator remote server configuration files. Default: /etc/wandisco/hivemigrator-remote-server
HVM_SERVER_INSTALL_DIR	Set to the directory containing the Hive Migrator server install location. Default: /opt/wandisco/hivemigrator
UI_SERVER_CONF_DIR	Set to the directory containing the livedata-ui server configuration files. Default: /etc/wandisco/ui

info

If you set environment variables and then use command flags when running the script, the command flag values override the environment variables.

Reconstruct split files

You can reconstruct split output files for your own diagnostics by using the cat command:

cat /root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-<timestamp>-<dm-hostname>.tar.gz_splits_* > /root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-<timestamp>-<dm-hostname>.tar.gz

For example, if your output files are named:

/root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-20230209095142-example-hostname.com.tar.gz_splits_001
/root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-20230209095142-example-hostname.com.tar.gz_splits_002
/root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-20230209095142-example-hostname.com.tar.gz_splits_003

You can use the following command to reconstruct them:

cat /root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-20230209095142-example-hostname.com.tar.gz_splits_* > /root/talkback-LIVEDATA_MIGRATOR-20230209095142-example-hostname.com.tar.gz