Diagnostics: Console Flashcards
What type of log messsage appears without a colored dot in the “Type” column?
Default messages
What type of Console log messages are marked with a RED dot in the “Type” column?
Faults
What type of Console log messages are marked with a YELLOW dot in the “Type” column?
Errors
Yellow dots mark error messages that are important, but not critical
What type of Console log messages are marked with a DARK GRAY dot in the “Type” column?
Debug
What type of Console log messages are marked with a LIGHT GRAY dot in the “Type” column?
Info.
What type of Console log messages are marked WITHOUT A dot in the “Type” column?
Default log messages
In Console, what button do you click to begin viewing log messages?
“Start Streaming”
What should you do to prepare your Mac for a Console logging session?
Connect it to a power source (message streaming is battery intensive) and close non-critical apps.
What is the quickest way to filter log messages containing mentions of a specific string?
Type the string in the Search field, then press Return.
Note that this searches for any log message containing the search string, and not just the Application you may have typed in the search field.
How do you refine log messages search results for a specific app?
Click the arrow beside “Any” in the search field and from the pop-up menu, choose “Process”.
Only log messages specific to the Process now appear.
How to do you view Log Reports on Console?
Click on “Log Reports” in the sidebar.
System and user-related log files appear.
Which log file contains messages related to macOS installation, software updates, and the Installer app (PKG files)?
install.log
What type of user is required to view System log files and Log Reports?
System log files and reports are available only to Administrator accounts.
Standard accounts can access only logs and reports that belong to them.
What button do you click to stop the streaming of log messages?
Click the “Pause” button
What are the five different levels of log messages
Fault
Error
Default
Info
Debug
How can you view only messages related to Errors and Faults?
Click the “Start” button to start message streaming, then click on “Errors and Faults” in the Favorites bar at the top of the messages window (next to the “All Messages” button)
From the list of log messages, click a fault message, then review the log details.
If the log details don’t appear, click the Info button in the toolbar.
What Terminal command allows you to emulate quitting an application while also generating a crash report?
killall -3 ProcessName
Or if you know the process ID:
killall -3 pid
How do you view crash reports in Console?
Click on Crash Reports in the Console sidebar.
What are the differences between the two sections of a crash report?
A crash report contains two sections: a translated report most users can easily understand and a full report that contains raw data that’s helpful to developers and Apple.
In Console, how do you group log messages by the system activity they’re associated with?
Click the “Activities” button on the Console’s main toolbar.
(If the Activities button is dimmed, click Start in the toolbar.)
Select the activity.
Log messages for that activity appear at the bottom of the window.
How do you view child activities within a specific Activity?
Click the Expand button (+) next to the activity.
What are the 6 types of Reports that you can view using Console?
- Crash Reports: System and user reports about apps or processes that crash. Crash report names have the .ips extension.
- Spin Reports: System and user reports with details about app or process issues. Spin report names have a .spin extension.
- Log Reports: System and user reports with information about events that occur when the system or specific apps are processing. Log report names have an extension such as .log, ._log, or .its.
- Diagnostic Reports: System and user reports with information about hardware resources, system response times, and more. Diagnostic report names have an extension such as .diag or .dpsub.
- Mac Analytics Data: Contents of the Message Tracer Store data found at /var/log/DiagnosticMessages.
- system.log: Contents of the legacy system log file at /private/var/log/system.log.
How do you view ALL details of an Activity?
Click Details in the activity details in the lower half of the Console window.
If you don’t see the activity details, click the Info button in the toolbar
How do you search log messages for a specific device, instead of globally?
Select the device in the Console sidebar before you start a search.
How do you hide a specific property from the message log output?
- Right-click (or control-click) a log messages or Activity
- In the contextual menu, select the specific property to hide/show (such as a Process, Thread ID, or Message Type).
- After you select an option, it’s added to the Search field, and the search results are updated with the log messages or activities that fit the search criteria
How can you add multiple search filters to a log messages search?
- Change which property to search: Click the arrow next to a search filter, then choose a property. For example, search within the process or the message.
- Place the pointer after the first filter, start typing search text, press Return, then change the search filter if desired. Repeat as needed; the search field scrolls as you add more filters.
How do you exclude search terms for a Property from the Console log messages view?
- Click the down-arrow on the existing search filter property
- Then select either “Does not contain” or “Does not equal” at the bottom of the contextual menu.
Other than clicking on the down-arrow in a Search Filter, what’s a faster way to define what properties to search for in the console logs, and particularly multiple search properties?
Use Property Shortcuts.
For example, to limit your search to specific Processes, eg Safari,, you can type “p: Safari”, or “process: Safari”
Reference: https://support.apple.com/guide/console/use-property-shortcuts-cnsl707fe51a/mac
What’s a method of reducing the effort of executing frequently repeated search criteria in the Console logs?
Use a Saved Search.
- Click Save below the search field.
- Enter a name for the search.
- Click Save.
The saved search appears in the Favorites bar.
To remove the Saved Search, right-click on its name in the Favorites bar.
How do you configure Console to always scroll to show the most recent messages?
Click the Now button in the toolbar (looks like an arrow pointing upwards and to the left)
OR choose Action > Enable Now Mode.
The log messages automatically scroll to always show the most recent message.
NOTE: The Now button isn’t available if you’re browsing a log archive—it’s only available when you’re viewing the live stream of log messages.
How do you show previously hidden messages or activities?
Click the Reload button in the toolbar.
OR select Action > Reload from the Console menu
How do you enable/disable Info and Debug messages from appearing in the message log view?
From the Console menu, select either:
Action > Include Info Messages
Action > Include Debug Messages
Note: These options are only available in the Console live stream and aren’t available when you’re browsing a log archive, because info and debug log messages are automatically included in a log archive.
