View Trace Data

Updated: April 11, 2008

In the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC), you run the Msdtcvtr.bat file to view the data that a trace log file contains. Msdtcvtr.bat converts the binary trace file to a text file that you can read. You can use these procedures to view trace data that results from background tracing or from tracing an individual transaction.

noteNote
You must include Tracefmt.exe in the path when you run Msdtcvtr.bat. Tracefmt.exe is located in the \Bin folder in the directory in which you installed the Platform SDK. Msdtcvtr.bat is located in the WINDOWS\system32\MsDtc\Trace folder.

Before you view trace data, we recommend that you flush the data from its memory buffers to the file on disk. Otherwise, the data in your view might be incomplete.

Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

To view trace data that results from background tracing

  • At a command prompt, type the following command:

    msdtcvtr {-MODE 1 | -tracelog tracelogfilename } [options]

    The following tables show the possible parameter and option values.

     

    Parameter Description

    -MODE 1

    Displays background trace data.

    -tracelog <file>

    Specifies the name of the binary trace file that you want to view.

     

    Option Description

    -H or ?

    Displays Help at the command prompt.

    -o <filename>

    Specifies the name of the ASCII output file, without a file name extension.

    -MOF <filename>

    Displays the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) file.

To view trace data that results from tracing an individual transaction

  • At the command prompt, type the following command: 

    msdtcvtr {-MODE 2 | -tracelog tracelogfilename } [options]

    The following tables show the possible parameter and option values.

     

    Parameter Description

    -MODE 2

    Displays trace data that is generated from the user interface (UI).

    -tracelog <file>

    Specifies the name of the binary trace file that you want to view.

     

    Option Description

    -H or ?

    Displays Help at the command prompt.

    -o <filename>

    Specifies the name of the ASCII output file, without a file name extension.

    -MOF <filename>

    Displays the MOF file.

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jslew
Cannot view log
<p>NOTE: If you are suffering from the problem below and have a 64 bit server, make sure to use the 64 bit version of TraceFmt.exe, from the "x64" subdirectory of the SDK install.<br /></p> <p> <br /> </p> <p>On our Windows 2008 server I tried two copies of Tracefmt.exe - one from the the Windows XP Support Tools, and one from the Windows 2008 Platform SDK. </p> <p>When I put the Windows 2008 platform sdk version of Tracefmt.exe in the C:\Windows\System32\Msdtc\Trace directory, and then run "msdtcvtr -tracelog dtctrace.log" (after first having flushed data), or "msdtcvtr -tracelog tracetx.log" (having dumped a transaction via the transaction list), I always get the following error:<br /><br /> Failed to convert the binary trace data to text format.<br /> Following reasons can cause this to happen:<br /> 1) The utility TraceFmt.exe is missing<br /> 2) The file dtctrace.log is either missing or corrupted<br /> 3) The file C:\Windows\system32\msdtc\trace\msdtctr.mof is either missing or corrupted<br /> The exact error message can be found in the file 'C:\Windows\system32\msdtc\trace\errortrace.txt'<br /><br /> If I attempt to run tracefmt directly using "tracefmt tracetx.log -trace -displayonly -tmf msdtctr.mof" I get:<br /><br /> Setting log file to: C:\Windows\System32\Msdtc\Trace\tracetx.log<br /> Cannot open logfile for reading<br /> Processing completed Buffers: 0, Events: 0, EventsLost: 0 :: Format Errors: 0, Unknowns: 0</p> <p>If I use the Windows XP version of Tracefmt.exe it throws an error saying it cannot find a required DLL.</p> <p>So my transactions are still failing, and I still have no idea why.</p> <p>[tfl - 09 Aug 08] You should post questions like this to the Technet Forums at http://forums.microsoft.com/technet or the MSDN Newsgroups at http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/. You are much more likely get a quick response using the forums than through the Community Content. Also, you might look at http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.inetserver.iis/topics?lnk and post there.<br /><br /> [DW - 15-JUN-2009] And if you get an error asking for a required DLL, try finding the DLL. It was probably asking for traceprt.dll, which is in the same directory where you found tracefmt.exe. Copy it to where you put tracefmt.exe, and you should be okay.<br /><b>ContentBug note</b> - it would be nice if the note on the need for tracefmt.exe also mentioned the need for traceprt.dll.</p>

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