---
title: Start and stop recording (ssoadm)
description: Start AM recording with the ssoadm start-recording command. For example:
component: pingam
version: 8
page_id: pingam:maintenance:recording-start-stop
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingam/8/maintenance/recording-start-stop.html
keywords: ["Troubleshooting"]
page_aliases: ["maintenance-guide:recording-start-stop.adoc"]
---

# Start and stop recording (ssoadm)

Start AM recording with the `ssoadm start-recording` command. For example:

```bash
$ ssoadm \
start-recording \
--servername https://am.example.com:8443/am \
--adminid uid=amAdmin,ou=People,dc=am,dc=example,dc=com \
--password-file /tmp/pwd.txt \
--jsonfile recording.json
{
  "recording": true,
  "record": {
    "issueID": 103572,
    "referenceID": "policyEvalFails",
    "description": "Record everything",
    "zipEnable": false,
    "threadDump": {
      "enable": true,
      "delay": {
        "timeUnit": "SECONDS",
        "value": 5
      }
    },
    "configExport": {
      "enable": true,
      "password": "admin password",
      "sharePassword": true
    },
    "debugLogs": {
      "debugLevel": "message",
      "autoStop": {
        "time": {
          "timeUnit": "MILLISECONDS",
          "value": 15000
        },
        "fileSize": {
          "sizeUnit": "KB",
          "value": 1048576
        }
      }
    },
    "status": "RUNNING",
    "folder": "/path/to/am/var/debug/record/103572/policyEvalFails/"
  }
}
```

|   |                                                                                                                                            |
| - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|   | The `ssoadm` command output in the preceding example is shown in indented format for ease of reading. The actual output is *not* indented. |

In the preceding `ssoadm start-recording` command example, the `recording.json` file specifies the information to be recorded and under what conditions recording automatically terminates.

An active recording event stops when:

* To explicitly tell AM to stop recording, use the `ssoadm stop-recording` command.

  See the [ssoadm](../am-reference/am-cli-ref.html#ssoadm-1) for details about this command.

* Another `ssoadm start-recording` command is sent to AM that specifies an issue ID that differs from the active recording event's issue ID. In this case, the initial recording session terminates and the new recording event starts. Note that you can determine whether an AM recording event is active by using the `ssoadm get-recording-status` command.

* A timer configured in the recording control file determines that the maximum amount of time for the recording event has been reached.

* A file size monitor configured in the recording control file determines that the maximum amount of information in debug logs has been reached.