You can enable debug mode in Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner (SIOS) to help troubleshoot Oracle scanning issues. This mode logs the SQL commands sent to the database and the responses received. However, debug mode only works after a successful connection to the database has been established.

This article explains how to enable debug mode, when it is useful, what logs are generated, and common issues it won’t help with.

IMPORTANT:
• Debug mode significantly increases the size of the snowpack due to additional files.
• Do not enable debug mode during normal operations unless actively troubleshooting.

How to enable debug mode

To enable debug mode for Oracle scanning, update the Oracle section of the agent configuration file:

<Oracle enabled="true" debug="true">

See the full configuration reference

This setting is disabled by default (debug="false").

What debug mode does

When enabled and a successful connection is made, debug mode provides:

• A log of the SQL scripts sent to the Oracle database
• Responses returned by the database
• Session details (like container switches, date formatting, etc.)

These logs appear in sios.rotation1.log and also generate additional output files stored in the snowpack under /sios/debug/. Each file corresponds to a script executed against a specific database instance and contains the raw SQL output.

Example sios.rotation1.log debug log showing SQL scripts and session configuration sent to the Oracle database:

Sample script output collected in /sios/debug/ folder when debug mode is active:

Example of useful debug output:

ALTER SESSION SET CONTAINER = <CONTAINER_NAME>;

@oracledb_run_LMS.sql ORCLCDB EBS_DISABLED

Example output file:
sios/debug/ORCLCDB.123456.sql.log

How to use the debug output

Use the logs and /sios/debug/ files to:

• Confirm that the correct Oracle scripts are being executed.
• Identify permission or configuration issues (like missing privileges, incorrect environment variables).
• Compare expected vs. actual script behavior.
• Share the output with Flexera Support for further troubleshooting.

Expect some harmless ORA-00942: table or view does not exist errors in output. These are normal if certain Oracle features (like ODM) are not used in the target database.

An example of a harmless ORA-00942 error:

These are common if certain Oracle options are not installed.

When debug mode won’t help

Debug mode only activates after a successful database connection. If the connection fails, debug output will not be generated.

Examples of failed connections:

• Invalid password or user:
  ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied
• Missing or encrypted password error:
  java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Can't decrypt this kind of password.

These errors appear in the SIOS logs, but enabling debug mode won’t provide further detail in these cases.

Troubleshooting tips

If debug logs are missing even after a successful connection:

• Check that the Oracle user has the correct permissions
• Recreate the Oracle user using the scripts from Flexera documentation:
  Required Oracle permissions