Enable WCF Tracing

Problem:

You would like to enable tracing of any WCF service or application, for diagnostic purposes.

Solution:

Every WCF service and application comes with its own CONFIG file. The CONFIG files are located in the same directory as executable files of the service or application.

We strongly recommend that you create a backup copy of all CONFIG files before modifying them.

To enable a diagnostic mode, you have to find an appropriate CONFIG file - its main name is the same as the executable file, e.g. CodeTwo.ER.Engine.Service.exe.config for CodeTwo.ER.Engine.Service.exe. The CONFIG files are usually located in the Program Files directory. Once you find your CONFIG file, follow the steps below:

1. Open the file with Notepad or other text editor.
2. Directly under the <configuration> node, add the following:

   <system.diagnostics>
           <sources>       
               <source name="System.ServiceModel" 
                       switchValue="Information, ActivityTracing"
                       propagateActivity="true">
                   <listeners>
                       <add name="xml" />
                   </listeners>
               </source>
               <source name="System.IO.Log">
                   <listeners>
                       <add name="xml" />
                   </listeners>
               </source>
               <source name="System.Runtime.Serialization">
                   <listeners>
                       <add name="xml" />
                   </listeners>
               </source>
               <source name="System.IdentityModel">
                   <listeners>
                       <add name="xml" />
                   </listeners>
               </source>  
            </sources>
            <sharedListeners>
               <add name="xml"
                    type="System.Diagnostics.XmlWriterTraceListener"
                    initializeData="Traces.svclog" />
           </sharedListeners>
   </system.diagnostics>

   You can change the sources of diagnostic information as per this Microsoft article. In the configuration presented above the output will be the Traces.svclog file - you may change that preference if you need.

3. Save the changes.
4. Open the services.msc console and restart the service whose configuration file(s) you modified.
5. Attempt to repeat your problem a few times.
6. Compress the Traces.svclog file into a .zip file.
7. Use our file upload form to send the files and problem description to CodeTwo.

We recommend to revert the changes once you gathered the diagnostic information, since the size of the log file is increasing very quickly.