When something goes wrong in OpCon, knowing where to look is more than half the battle. OpCon generates a set of internal system logs, each covering a specific part of the platform. This article gives you a plain-language overview of what each log does, so you can get to the right place quickly when you need to troubleshoot.
The Logs at a Glance
SAM Log (SAM.log)
The SAM (Schedule Activity Monitor) log is your starting point for almost any troubleshooting scenario. SAM is the core process that handles all scheduling, automation, and agent communication in OpCon. It records successful processing information including schedule and job starts, schedule and job completions, event processing, and configuration information on startup or regeneration. If you are not sure where to begin, start here.
Critical Log (Critical.log)
The Critical log is a focused subset of the SAM log that captures only errors and failures. Specifically, it records machine communication failures, database connection problems, event processing failures, license expiration notifications, and similar issues. If the SAM.log is locked when SAM starts up, SAM writes to the Critical log and the Windows Application Event Log, and then terminates immediately — making the Critical log important not just for daily troubleshooting but also for diagnosing startup failures.
SMA NetCom Log (SMANetCom.log)
NetCom (Network Communications) manages all TCP/IP communication between the OpCon SAM process and the agents running on your machines. The NetCom log records agent configuration parameters, basic communication information, and the configuration for each agent machine. If a configuration parameter has been changed from its default, the default value is shown in parentheses next to it in the log.
SMA NetCom Trace Log (SMANetComTrace.log)
The NetCom trace log captures all TX messages and socket connection errors between SMANetCom and agents, including detailed TCP/IP messages. This log is on by default and is controlled by the TraceSAMMessages setting in the SMANetCom.ini file. There are additional trace settings (DumpInputBuffer, DumpOutputBuffer) that capture raw message buffers and should only be enabled when directed by SMA Support.
SMA Notify Handler Log (SMANotifyHandler.log)
This log records all notification processing in OpCon. If someone is expecting an alert that never arrived, or if you want to trace where a notification originated, this is your log.
SMA ServMan Log (SMAServMan.log)
ServMan (SMA Service Manager) acts as a watchdog process for the other OpCon services. It monitors SAM, NetCom, and other processes and will restart them automatically if they crash or stop responding. The ServMan log records all of that management activity. You will not check this one often, but it is invaluable if you are dealing with a SAM or NetCom crash.
SMA Request Router Log (SMARequestRouter.log)
The Request Router handles direct database communication and logs all request routing information. If you suspect a database communication issue, this is your starting point.
SMA OpCon REST API Log
Solution Manager communicates with OpCon through the REST API, and this log captures all of those API calls. As OpCon continues to move toward REST API-based interactions, this log will become increasingly important for troubleshooting Solution Manager actions and any integrations that use the OpCon API.
Reporting Service Log
Introduced in OpCon version 26, this log covers the new reporting service, which runs as a separate process with its own database. It records what reports were run, how long they took, and whether they completed successfully.