KB442425: Troubleshooting the MicroStrategy PDF Export Engine

Starting with the release of Strategy ONE (March 2024), dossiers are also known as dashboards.
The Export Engine (EE) runs as an independent micro-service to export dossiers to PDF that comes with its own logging and troubleshooting steps. When working with Technical Support, there are multiple logs that may be requested when experiencing problems:

1. The exported PDF file (if available)
   
• In some cases, the EE may print error messages on problematic PDF pages.
• PDF files also include some properties which can be extracted by licensed Adobe software, and might be helpful for investigating.
2. The EE log file: 

   NewExportEngine.log

   
   
1. Contains detailed logging information for the micro-service
2. If you're using Kafka, specify the log file name by setting the logging.kafka.filename property in 

   PDFExportService/application.properties

   . For example, if you set "

   logging.kafka.filename=NEE.log

   " then the log file will be called

   NEE.log.

   
   If the log file name is not changed, the default value

   NewExportEngine.log

   will be used.
   Default paths:
   
• Linux
  Using Kafka:

  Strategy/log/DSSErrors/NewExportEngine.log

  
  Without Kafka:

  Strategy/log/NewExportEngine.log

  
  
• Windows
  Using Kafka:

  \Common Files\MicroStrategy\Log\DSSErrors\NewExportEngine.log

  
  Without Kafka:

  \MicroStrategy\Intelligence Server\PDFExporterService\NewExportEngine.log

  
  
3. Intelligence Server

   DSSErrors.log

   
   
• If one EE is being shared across multiple Intelligence Servers, gather all

  DSSErrors.log

4. Intelligence Server Export Engine trace
   
• Only requested by Technical Support when advanced logging is necessary
• Enable Component > Export Engine > Trace. Be sure to have the results go to a separate log file rather than the

  DSSErrors.log

  for ease of reading. 
5. For further information on how to enable this trace, refer to
   
• KB423865: How to enable an Export Engine trace when using the Strategy Messaging Service and the New Export Engine in Strategy 10.6 and later
• KB439121: How to enable the Export Engine trace on the CastorServer instance level in the Strategy Diagnostics and Performance Logging Tool on a Windows machine with Strategy version 10.x.
6. Exported .mstr file of the dossier being exported
   
• Download the dossier as a .mstr file. 
• If the .mstr file is very large, make a copy of the dossier and try to reduce the amount of data used.