We’re always quite interested to see how other peoply try to solve SharePoint issues and thought it would be interesting to share a recent experience with MS support. In a case were list items got corrupted after a migration, MS support was interested in the following:
– An HTTP trace retrieved via Fiddler taken while the issue is reproduced via the browser.
– Relevant ULS log files.
– A memory dump of the SharePoint process retrieved via tttracer taken while the issue is reproduced.
To us, the latter choice is the most interesting one. Tttracer.exe refers to the Microsoft Time Tracel Tracing Tool (see http://www.thewindowsclub.com/microsoft-time-travel-tracing-diagnostic) and is a diagnostic tool that captures trace info and extends the WinDbg tool to load such trace files for further analysis. Tttracer allows you to select a specific process (or more) on your computer and collects info about it. At a later time, MS support is able to use such trace files and go back and forth in time to diagnose SharePoint processes before, during, and after issues.
Unfortunately, tttracer is not available outside Microsoft so of no immediate use to us. However, there were some steps in the trace capturing process that are good practices to follow anyway, such as:
1. If you’re interested in doing a memory dump, isolate a WFE that will be used for testing the issue.
2. If you’re interested in doing a memory dump, edit the host file on that WFE to ensure all SharePoint URL calls are directed to the WFE, and not to a load balancer.
3. Set ULS logging to verbose and put that info in a separate log file (via Set-SPLogLevel -TraceSeverity VerboseEx -EventSeverty Verbose and New-SPLogFile).
4. Reset IIS.
5. Reproduce the issue.
6. If you’re interested in doing a memory dump, find the process id of the application pool that hosts the SharePoint site where the issue occurs (by executing “%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list wps” on a command prompt).
8. Reproduce the issue.
9. Analyze all the info you retrieved.
We suspect your own troubleshooting may not be that different, and most likely will be more extensive than this, but for sure it won’t hurt to compare notes!
