Prerequisites for the Nodinite WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature

This page describes the prerequisites for installing, configuring and running the Nodinite WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature.

The Logging solutions involves 2 parts:

1. WCF Diagnostics (involves changes on server with WCF Applications)
2. Pickup Log Events Service Logging Agent (must be installed and have access to folders)

Log Events and Payload

You must have at least one existing IIS/WCF based solution that you must eventually configure to emit JSON formatted Log Events to a file folder for pickup by the Nodinite Pickup Log Events Service Logging Agent.

Software Requirements

You need the following components:

1. Your WCF Application
2. Windows Server
3. .NET Framework
4. Pickup Service

Supported Versions

The Nodinite WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature can be used on the following list of Windows Server/ IIS versions

• Windows Server 2008 R2 (IIS 7.5)
• Windows Server 2012 (IIS 8.0)
• Windows Server 2012 R2 (IIS 8.5)
• Windows Server 2016 R2 (IIS 10)

All Windows Server editions are supported:

• Enterprise
• Standard
• Developer (which is Enterprise)
• Trial (which is Enterprise)

.NET Framework

• .NET Framework 4.5 or later

Pickup Service

The Pickup Log Events Service Logging Agent must be installed and configured to pickup the log files from configured WCF Solutions. The Windows Service may be installed on any other Windows Server, as long as the emitted log files can be consumed (logged).

See Prerequisites for Pickup Service for additional details

Log API

The LogAPI must be installed and accessible from the Pickup Log Events Service Logging Agent.

See Prerequisites for Log API for additional details

What Windows User Rights does the WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature require?

The AppPool On the Windows Server hosting the WCF Application runs with some Windows Identity. The WCF Diagnostics Logging feature requires the AppPool account to have the right to write files to configured destination folder (local or remote).

You must also have the rights to change .config files on the server hosting your WCF Applications.

We at Nodinite strongly recommends that you log to a local folder or a highly available file share to avoid any problems within your WCF Application. Local access is more likely to be available and performs faster writes which means less overhead within your solution

What firewall settings does the Nodinite WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature require?

The Nodinite WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature writes trace files to configured destination folders. Firewall requirements depend on whether the target folder is local or remote.

Server types: WCF Server (IIS hosting WCF Application), File Server (SMB file share for trace files), Pickup Server (Pickup Log Events Service).

Local Destination Folder

No firewall changes required when the WCF Application writes trace files to a local folder on the same server.

Tip

Local Folder Recommended: Nodinite strongly recommends logging to a local folder or highly available file share to avoid problems within your WCF Application. Local access is more likely to be available and performs faster writes, reducing overhead.

Note

Pickup Service Access: The Pickup Log Events Service Logging Agent must have access to the trace file folder(s). If the Pickup Service runs on a different server, see the Remote SMB File Share section below and Prerequisites for Pickup Service for additional details.

Remote SMB File Share

If the WCF Application writes trace files to a remote SMB file share, the following firewall rules are required.

SMB Connection (WCF Server → File Server)

The WCF Application writes trace files to a remote file share using SMB protocol.

Tip

SMB Versions: Port 445 is used by SMB 2.0 and SMB 3.0 (recommended for security and performance). Ports 135-139 support older SMB 1.0/CIFS for legacy compatibility. Consider disabling SMB 1.0 for security.

Tip

AppPool Identity: The WCF Application's IIS AppPool account must have Write permissions on the destination folder (local or remote). Configure the AppPool identity with appropriate file share permissions.

Tip

Pickup Service SMB Access: If the Pickup Log Events Service runs on a different server than the file share, ensure the Pickup Server also has SMB connectivity (ports 135-139, 445) to the File Server to read trace files.

Note

DNS Resolution: All servers (WCF Server, File Server, Pickup Server) require outbound access to DNS on TCP/UDP port 53 for name resolution. You can optionally solve this using entries in the local hosts file on each server.

Important

Stateful Firewalls: Most modern Windows Firewall implementations are stateful, meaning inbound response traffic for established outbound connections is automatically allowed. The inbound rules listed above are primarily for reference and troubleshooting scenarios where stateful inspection may be disabled or restricted.

Frequently asked questions

Additional solutions to common problems and the FAQ for the Nodinite WCF Diagnostics Tracing Feature exist in the Troubleshooting user guide.

Next Step

Complete these steps to enable WCF Diagnostics Tracing with business intelligence:

1. Install WCF Diagnostics Feature - Download and install the feature
2. Configuration - Configure DefaultMessageType and MessageTypeFromBody properties
3. Message Types - Define business transaction types (Critical first step)
4. Search Field Expressions - Configure extraction of business data

Related Topics

• Message Types (Mandatory) - Define business transaction types for Search Field extraction
• Search Field Expressions - Extract business data from WCF messages
• Log Views - Manage user access to WCF diagnostic data
• Non-Events Monitoring - Track message volumes and detect data outages
• Business Process Modeling (BPM) - Correlate transactions end-to-end
• Pickup Service - Fetches WCF trace files asynchronously
• Log Agents - Manage Log Agents
• LogAPI - Log API overview
• Administration - Nodinite Administration
• Release Notes