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WCF Diagnostics Tracing, FAQ, Troubleshooting, Common Questions WCF Diagnostics Tracing, FAQ, troubleshooting, common questions 7. How does activity propagation work for end-to-end WCF correlation?

7. How does activity propagation work for end-to-end WCF correlation?

7. How does activity propagation work for end-to-end WCF correlation?

WCF <system.serviceModel> setting propagateActivity="true" enables activity tracing. Each client WCF call generates unique activity ID (GUID), propagated via SOAP headers (<ActivityId> in WS-Addressing). Downstream WCF services inherit activity ID, emit traces with same GUID. Nodinite [Business Process Modeling (BPM)][] correlates all events with matching activity ID → visualizes complete transaction flow across 6+ WCF services + external systems (HL7 interfaces, databases, REST APIs) in single BPM view. Color-coded steps show success/failure/timeout. Root cause analysis time reduced 2-3 hours → 3 minutes.


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