System Diagnostics (Info & Stats)

ABCD includes a built-in diagnostic dashboard that allows administrators to instantly verify the server health, PHP extensions, and the physical integrity of the database files.

Access: Administration > ABCD Configuration > System Info & Stats

1. Server Capabilities (PHP Extensions)

The top section of the report checks if the required PHP extensions are loaded. This is the critical troubleshooting step if a specific feature (like Z39.50 import or LDAP login) fails silently.

Extension	Importance	Function in ABCD
mbstring	CRITICAL	Handles Unicode/UTF-8 characters. If missing, data may appear corrupted.
gd	Required	Used for barcode generation and image processing.
yaz	Optional	Required for the Z39.50 Client (importing records from LoC, Oxford, etc.).
curl	Recommended	Used for checking updates and communicating with external APIs.
ldap	Optional	Required only if you use remote user authentication (Active Directory/OpenLDAP).
xml	Required	Parsing XML configuration files (ABCD Site).

PHP Info

The dashboard usually provides a link to the standard phpinfo() output. This allows you to check:

• The location of php.ini.
• The upload_max_filesize (often needs increasing for digital libraries).
• The max_execution_time.

2. Database Health Check

The tool scans the bases.dat registry and then physically inspects every database folder listed there. It generates a summary table:

• Database: The internal folder name.
• Total Records (MFN): The current count of records in the Master File (.mst).
• Encoding: Detects if the database is configured as ANSI or UTF-8 based on the control files (dr_path.def or .cnv).
• Status: Performs a file existence check.

Interpreting the Status

Status	Meaning	Action Required
OK	All core files (.mst, .xrf, .fdt, etc.) are present.	None.
Missing files	Critical files are missing (e.g., .mst not found).	Check folder permissions or restore from backup.
Writable	Checks if the web server has permission to write to the data folder.	If "No", fix Linux/Windows permissions immediately.

Troubleshooting

If a database appears in the main menu selection but gives an error (e.g., "breaks") when you try to open it, check this report first. It acts as a "sanity check" to ensure the operating system can actually see and touch the database files.

3. Log Viewer

ABCD features a PHP error log viewer that allows for easy system debugging via the interface. The main purpose is to inform the system administrator of what is happening without the need to access the server directly.

How to access

To access the log viewer, click on ‘ABCD Configuration’ -> ‘PHP Error Log’

Enabling the log viewer

To make the Log Viewer functional, you must explicitly define the log path in your main config.php. The system expects logs to be written to bases/log/.

Add the following block to your config.php:

// Sets the path to ABCD's own log folder.
$log_folder = $db_path . "log/";

if (!is_dir($log_folder)) {
    mkdir($log_folder, 0777, true);
}

$php_error_log = $log_folder . "php_error.log";

// Forces PHP to log errors to this specific file
ini_set('log_errors', 1);
ini_set('error_log', $php_error_log);