You cannot change database logging dynamically using the Log Settings task of your application's Administrator user interface. To change database log settings, including the logging level for the audit log category, you must modify the config/Parameters.table file and then restart your Ariba Spend Management application.

Database logging should not be used as a replacement for logging to the main log file(s). Logging to the main log file(s) should always be enabled.

You can search the database log to monitor operation of your Ariba Spend Management application and keep track of changes to the system. The DB Audit Activity and My Audit Activity tasks let you filter log messages in the audit log category, which monitors actions performed in your application's Administrator user interface and changes made using the command-line administration tool (for example, the servermonitor command in Ariba Buyer). The DB Log Activity and My Log Activity tasks let you filter non-audit log messages in the database, for example, to monitor the success or failure of common administrative tasks such as running integration events and scheduled tasks.

When you search the database log, you can specify the following search filters:

• any keyword (displayed in bold) in the log message description (for example, the user on whose behalf an action was performed)
• the date an action occurred
• the user who performed an action
• the user's logon session ID
• the logical node where an action occurred

The DatabaseLog log listener must be enabled in the config/Parameters.table file in order to log messages to the database. By default, this log listener is enabled and listens only for log messages in the audit log category. To listen for other log messages, you need to modify config/Parameters.table to add non-audit log categories to the Categories parameter of the DatabaseLog log listener.

To enable the DB Audit Activity and My Audit Activity links in your application's Administrator user interface, the Categories parameter must include the audit log category. To enable the DB Log Activity and My Log Activity links, the Categories parameter must include at least one non-audit log category. Otherwise, these links are not displayed.

Debug messages are not logged to the database and cannot be viewed using DB Audit Activity or DB Log Activity. Note also that database logging commences during startup of your Ariba Spend Management application and therefore cannot be used to debug the startup process. To view debug messages, you should refer to the main log file(s) instead.

For more information on enabling logging to the database and adding log categories, see the Ariba Buyer Configuration Guide.