So far we have learned in previous recipes how to use various GoldenGate commands to manage GoldenGate processes and scan the logs. If there is an issue in the replication and the processes have abended, you can always restart them. But if the processes abended due to some data error, then a restart will not resolve the issue and you would then need to drill down further to find the exact cause of the data error. GoldenGate uses a proprietary format to write data to the trail files. Because of this you cannot just open the trail file in an editor and see its contents.

In this recipe we will learn how to use a tool called logdump using which you can view the contents of a trail file. If the replication abends due to a particular record, you can evaluate the values of the failing record and then understand why it is failing. This will help you to decide the further course of action to fix the replication.