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Tracing service

The Tracing service provides a mechanism to capture trace information (information and error messages from the ShareScan Manager, Connectors, and eCopy services) in a log file. You can configure this capturing mechanism by enabling the Tracing service in the Administration Console. Using this functionality helps troubleshoot potential configuration and functional issues.

ShareScan web clients and the ScanStation application also use the Tracing Service.

Since tracing degrades system performance, you typically utilize it:

• when working with customer support
• until you have finished configuring your ShareScan system

How to start/stop Tracing service

Start Tracing service

To start Tracing service, launch the Administration Console and follow these steps:

1. Click the Services tab.
2. Click Tracing under the Common services section of the Configure services pane.
3. Mark the Yes checkbox next to the Configured setting.
4. Configure tracing settings according to your needs as described in the Tracing settings section.
5. Click Save.

Stop Tracing service

To stop Tracing service, launch the Administration Console and follow these steps:

1. Click the Services tab.
2. Click Tracing under the Common services section of the Configure services pane.
3. Unmark the Yes checkbox next to the Configured setting.
4. Click Save.

Tracing settings

Setting	Description
Configured	Enables Tracing service for all devices and connector profiles when selecting the Yes checkbox; or disables the use of the Tracing service for all devices and connector profiles when unmarking the Yes checkbox. Note:  Configuring this service enables non-verbose tracing on all devices and connectors.
Verbose	Enables detailed tracing when selecting the Yes checkbox or disables detailed tracing when left unmarked. By default, the logging is NOT verbose; for troubleshooting purposes, verbose logging is recommended. Note:  Unless the WriteToConsole setting in the Advanced ShareScan settings is set to true, devices are not able to do verbose logging.
RSD Trace	Mark this checkbox if you want ScanStation to create trace logs (RSD is the scanning module of the ScanStation application). To activate this special tracing, you must also ensure that first you mark this checkbox and then save your settings and afterwards you restart ScanStation. Kofax recommends that you only turn RSD trace on for brief periods of investigating possible issues, as RSD tracing is highly verbose and has a significant performance impact.
Trace File options	Options to create the log files.
Trace file lifespan in days	Tracing files older than this can be deleted. Value should be between 1 and 10 days.
Directory size (MB)	Tracing directory size in megabytes. Default value is 1024 MB.
Enable for all devices	Enables the service for all devices when selecting the Yes checkbox; or disables the service for all devices.

Export

Using this option, you can export the internal trace data into a zipped archive. When you click the Export button, you must provide required information in four categories.

Destination

You can specify a location for the Export .zip file in the Zipped package of exported traces and other diagnostic information field. Either leave the default path unmodified or browse for a custom path by clicking the '...' button. Mark the Open in Windows Explorer after creation checkbox to automatically display the containing folder once the archive is created.

Sources

You can select the items you want to include in the exported .zip file.

• Configuration profiles
• Trace in text format
• Event log
• Activity monitor log
• Troubleshooter log
• ShareScan WebClient log

Process dumps

Select the service processes to dump.

• ShareScan.Server.WebAdmin
• ShareScan.WatcherService
• ShareScanAdminConsole
• ShareScanAgent
• ShareScanManager
• ShareScanMonitoringAgent

Devices

Select logs for specific devices you want to include in the Export .zip file.

Delete Trace Files

Click this button to delete all ShareScan trace files from your system. If you create a trace export right after clicking this button, its size will be close to zero.

Note: 

Note that clicking Delete Trace Files does NOT delete RSD trace files.

How to trace a reproducible issue

1. Turn Tracing service on.
2. Make sure Verbose is on and file size is set to 50 MB.
3. If there is tracing data from a previous tracing process, click Delete trace files before reproducing the issue.
4. Reproduce the problem.
5. Export the trace data.
6. Turn Tracing service off (to avoid degrading system performance).

How to trace a single device

Follow these steps to trace only a single device:

1. Turn Tracing service off for all devices: click the Services tab and select Tracing under Common services in the Configure Services window.
2. The Tracing window appears; make sure the Yes checkbox next to Configured is marked under the Tracing category.
3. Unmark the Yes checkbox next to Enabled under the Enable for all Devices category.
4. Click Save.
5. Click Restart local in the Restart manager dialog.
6. Go to the Devices tab and select the device you want to enable Tracing service for.
7. Mark the Enabled checkbox next to Tracing under Services > Common Services in the Settings window.
8. Click Save in the Configure Connectors for Device window.

When enabling verbose tracing for troubleshooting a specific issue, you may want to consider applying this tracing mode only for the device in question; this way, you can safely have verbose tracing on up until you have finished configuring your ShareScan system before overwriting the old tracing information. Use the Device Settings, or Device Group Settings to regulate tracing for specific devices.

Note: 

When verbose tracing is enabled, it applies to all devices of a device group by default; therefore, if you want to switch tracing to verbose for only a specific device of the group, you have to lift that device from the group for the duration of the tracing process.