---
title: General troubleshooting methodology
description: When you detect a problem, use the following general methodology to isolate the problem.
component: pingauthorize
version: 11.0
page_id: pingauthorize:troubleshooting_pingauthorize_server:paz_general_troubleshoot_method
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingauthorize/11.0/troubleshooting_pingauthorize_server/paz_general_troubleshoot_method.html
revdate: August 22, 2023
---

# General troubleshooting methodology

When you detect a problem, use the following general methodology to isolate the problem.

1. Run the `bin/status` tool or look at the server status in the Administrative Console. The `status` tool provides a summary of the server's current state with key metrics and a list of recent alerts.

2. Look in the server logs. In particular, view the following logs:

   * `logs/errors`

   * `logs/failed-ops`

   * `logs/expensive-ops`

3. Use system commands such as `vmstat` and `iostat` to determine if the server is bottlenecked on a system resource like CPU or disk throughput.

4. For server performance issues (especially intermittent ones like spikes in response time), enable the `periodic-stats-logger` to help isolate problems, because it stores important server performance information on a per-second basis. The `periodic-stats-logger` can save the information in a `.csv` file that can be loaded into a spreadsheet.

   The information this logger makes available is very configurable. You can create multiple loggers for different types of information or a different frequency of logging (for example, hourly data in addition to per-second data). For more information, see [About Periodic Stats Loggers](../pingauthorize_server_administration_guide/paz_prof_server_perf_stats.html).

5. For more advanced users, run the `collect-support-data` tool on the system, unzip the archive, and look through the collected information. This is often useful when administrators most familiar with the data platform do not have direct access to the systems where the production servers are running. They can examine the `collect-support-data` archive on a different server. For more information, see [Working with the collect-support-data tool](paz_working_with_collect_support_data.html).

|   |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|   | Run the `collect-support-data` tool whenever you can't easily identify the cause of a problem. You can pass this information to your authorized support provider for assistance in identifying and addressing the root cause of the issue. |