Feature Usage Logging

To gather information on the features that are being used by all configured caches, NCache provides Feature Usage Logging that records all feature-related information on node level, including the profile status of the user, hardware in use, caching environment, connected client info, and the features in use by the nodes in those caches, allowing efficient monitoring of cache performance.

The ncache-feature-usage.xml file placed at %NCHOME%\log-files logs all this information in an easy-to-analyze format.

  <feature-usage edition="ENT|PROF|OSS" version="5.3 SP5" platform=".NET Framework,.NET Core" update-time="[TIMESTAMP]" last-posting-time="[TIMESTAMP]">
    <profile>
      <user-profile first-name="John" last-name="Smith" email="john_smith@alachisoft.com" company="Alachisoft"/>
      <hardware-profile cores="4" memory="11" os="Windows" activation-status="Eval|Active" environment-name="production" machine-id="GUID" machine-name="Production-Server1" other-servers="[Machine-id],[Machine-id]"/>
      <caching-profile>
        <topology name="partitioned-replica" no-of-caches="1" max-cluster-size="1"/>
      </caching-profile>
      <client-profile maximum-connected-clients="20" max-cores="32" min-cores="16" max-memory="24" min-memory="16" os="windows,linux" platform=".net,.netcore,java"/>
    </profile>
    <feature-details>
        <feature name="backing-source" last-used-on="DD:MM:YYYY" creation-date="DD:MM:YYYY">
            <feature name="Write-behind" last-used-on="DD:MM:YYYY" creation-date="DD:MM:YYYY"/>
        </feature>
    </feature-details>
  </feature-usage>

The following section explains the purpose of each XML tag used in the feature usage log.

Feature Usage

The is the root tag in the feature usage log XML. It contains key attributes that specify the overall context of the logged data.

Tag Name	Description
`edition`	Specifies the edition of the NCache being used.
`version`	Specifies the version of the NCache being used.
`platform`	Specifies the platform(s) of the application being used.
`update-time`	Specifies the last updated time of the file.
`last-posting-time`	Specifies the latest time at which the log file was posted to the database.

Profile

This feature usage file contains various profile information. These profiles are categorized as follows:

User Profile

Specifies the information of the registered user on the node level.

Tag Name	Description
`first-name`	Specifies the first name of the registered user.
`last-name`	Specifies the last name of the registered user.
`email`	Specifies the email address of the registered user.
`company`	Specifies the company of the registered user.

Hardware Profile

Specifies all the hardware-related information concerned with a node.

Tag Name	Description
`cores`	Specifies the number of cores being used by a node.
`memory`	Specifies the total memory being used by a node.
`os`	Specifies the operating system that the specified node is using. (Comma separated in case of multiple operating systems.)
`activation-status`	Specifies the activation status of the node. For example, is NCache on the node activated or in the evaluation phase.
`environment-name`	Specifies the environment name provided at the time of activation confirmation.
`machine-id`	Specifies a machine ID that is unique to a node.
`machine-name`	Specifies the IP/name of the machine.
`other-servers`	Specifies a list of all server nodes connected to the specified node in all clusters.

Caching Profile

Specifies the caches registered with the specified node.

Tag Name	Description
`name`	Specifies the topology used in the cache.
`store-type`	Specifies the store type of the specified topology.
`no-of-caches`	Specifies the number of caches of the specified topology.
`max-cluster-size`	Specifies the maximum cluster size among all the clusters of the same topology.

Client Profile

Specifies the information of all connected clients.

Tag Name	Description
`max-connected-clients`	Specifies the maximum (current) number of client nodes connected at that instant.
`max-cores`	Specifies the maximum number of cores used by the connected clients.
`min-cores`	Specifies the minimum number of cores used by the connected clients.
`max-memory`	Specifies the maximum memory used by the connected clients.
`min-memory`	Specifies the minimum memory used by the connected clients.
`os`	Specifies the operating systems of all connected clients. (Comma separated in case of multiple operating systems).
`platform`	Specifies the platform of the connected client. (Comma separated in case of multiple platforms).

Feature Details

This section comprises all the features that are being used by all the configured caches.

Tag Name	Description
`name`	Specifies the name of the feature that is being used.
`store-type`	Specifies the store type of the specified topology.
`last-used-on`	Specifies the last time that feature was called/used/enabled.
`creation-date`	Specifies the creation date of that feature.

Note

To enable/disable Feature Usage Logging, refer to the NCache Service Config