How To Generate A Trace On A Room Alert Monitor (Legacy)

Using the new version of the Room Alert interface? Please click here for the appropriate FAQ.

The tracing feature is a very useful tool that can be used to assist in troubleshooting issues with your Room Alert Monitor.

If you are running a trace on a Room Alert 3 Wi-Fi, please skip to Step 2. Otherwise, start with Step 1 below.

Step 1: Enable trace on your Room Alert.

1. Open your Room Alert Monitor’s web interface. You may open the interface with Device Discovery or Device ManageR or by entering the IP address of the unit directly into the address bar of your web browser.

2. Select the Settings tab a the top of the screen.

3. Select Advanced in the navigation bar to the left.

4. In the Advanced Settings page, scroll down to the Trace Configuration section.

5. In Trace Configuration:

– Select the Enable Tracing check box.

– Typically, leave Trace Port at the default, 143. You do not need to change this port unless you know port 143 is blocked by your network.

6. Select Accept Changes at the bottom of the page to temporarily save your settings

7. Then select Save Settings in the navigation bar to the left. Your Room Alert Monitor will reboot with trace enabled.

Step 2: Generate the trace.

You must have Telnet enabled on your Windows system in order to complete the steps below. Telnet is disabled by default in Windows versions Vista and above. Please see our FAQ How To Enable Telnet In Windows (Versions Vista And Above) for help.

1. Open Windows Command Prompt as an administrator. You must run it as an administrator in order to be able to save the trace to a file on your C:\ drive.

– You may find Windows Command Prompt at the following path:

Windows 7 & 8

Start–> All Programs –> Accessories –> Command Prompt

Windows 10

Start–> All Apps–> Windows System–> Command Prompt

– To run Windows Command Prompt as an administrator:

Windows 7 & 8

Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Windows 10

Right click on Command Prompt, select More and then select Run as administrator.

2. At the prompt, enter the following command:

telnet <IP address of your Room Alert unit> <trace port number> -f c:\tracefile.txt

In the example shown below, the IP address of the Room Alert is 192.168.2.138; the trace port number is the default, 143.

3. Once the trace starts, it is displayed live in Windows Command Prompt and also saved to a text file on your C:\ drive.

– The trace shown live in Windows Command Prompt:

– The trace saved to a txt file in your C:\ drive:

Step 3: Recreate the issue you are experiencing.

1. With the trace running, recreate the issue you are experiencing. (See the example below.)

2. Allow the trace to run long enough to capture all of the data.

3. Once the issue has been captured in the trace, close Windows Command Prompt.

Example: Recreating an issue sending email from your Room Alert Monitor

One use for trace is to diagnose issues with email. In order to get information about what is happening when an email is triggered from your Room Alert Monitor, you would follow these steps:

– With the trace already running, navigate to Settings–>SMTP Email in the Room Alert Monitor’s web interface.

– At the bottom of the Email Settings page, select Send Test Email.

– Watch the trace window, allowing the trace run for at least 10 seconds.

– During that time, you’ll see the attempts by the Room Alert Monitor to connect to the configured mail server and any errors which may indicate what might be causing any issue.

Step 4: Send the trace file to Support@AVTECH.com.

If our Technical Support team has requested a trace file from you, or if you feel it will be helpful before being asked, simply retrieve the .txt trace file, attach it to an email, and send it to us at Support@AVTECH.com.