Using Log History

Dashboards 2.0 and Visualizer provide access to both the raw system logs and to the BQL query logs.

These logs can help you discover:

  • What queries were run in order to render the dashboard?
  • Did the queries run against the cache or against the database?
  • How long did it take to get results?

This information can help you optimize your reports and queries. For more information, see the Query Log Viewer tutorial. You might also enjoy the Cache and Query Optimization video. This video discusses discuses data Vs display filters and their impact on performance. The Birst Community also has many discussions about how to optimize query performance.

To use Log History in Dashboards 2.0, your user account must belong to a group that has Edit Dashboard privileges. To use Log History in Visualizer, your user account must belong to a group that has Visualizer Access privileges. See Creating Groups and Adding Users to Groups.

In Log History you can:

  • Set a start and end date for the time frame of the logs you want to view.
  • Sort by:
    • Timestamp: newest to oldest or vice versa.
    • Source: what is tracked in the logs, such as a Visualizer report, KPI, etc.
    • Runtime: the duration in milliseconds of how long it took the submitted report query to return results.
    • Cache Hit: whether or not the query was run against the cache, or against the database. In some cases the report or filter was changed, and those results are in cache. Subsequent queries may be executed against the cached results. See Clearing Query and Dashboard Caches.
  • Search by type of source or report name.
  • View the BQL query definition.
  • View the raw DEBUG and INFO log files.
  • Refresh the log list to see the most recent logs.

 

To access the logs

  1. Either:
    1. Click Logs in Dashboards 2.0.

      Or:
    2. Click Advanced Tools - Log History in Visualizer.


      A new tab opens showing the Log History application.

  2. Sort the logs by Start and End dates.
  3. Click Refresh to get the latest logs.

 

To view BQL query logs

Click Queries to see the logical query log.

To view raw logs

Click the raw button to see the DEBUG and INFO logs for a particular row.