SharePoint Dragons

Finally, after a bit of head slamming and crying: “why does this simple WCF service keeps having an empty WCF call history?” we found the answer.

First, we studied the web.config file of the service:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<configuration>

  <system.web>
    <compilation debug=”true” />
    <customErrors mode=”Off” />
  </system.web>

  <system.serviceModel>

<services>
   <service name=”NikWasService.Service1″ behaviorConfiguration=”BC”>
     <endpoint address=”” binding=”wsHttpBinding” contract=”NikWasService.IService1″ />

     <endpoint address=”mex” binding=”mexHttpBinding” name=”mexHttpEndpoint” contract=”IMetadataExchange” />

   </service>
</services>

  <behaviors>
    <serviceBehaviors>
      <behavior name=”BC”>
        <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled=”true” />
        <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults=”true” />
      </behavior>
                <behavior name=””>
                    <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled=”true” />
                    <etwTracking profileName=”Troubleshooting Tracking Profile” />
                </behavior>
    </serviceBehaviors>
  </behaviors>
  <serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled=”true” />
        <diagnostics etwProviderId=”435613c0-3c9f-4a1e-aafe-7a314fbd9b0a”>
            <endToEndTracing propagateActivity=”true” messageFlowTracing=”true” />
        </diagnostics>
 
</system.serviceModel>

    <microsoft.applicationServer>
        <monitoring>
            <default enabled=”true” connectionStringName=”ApplicationServerMonitoringConnectionString” monitoringLevel=”Troubleshooting” />
        </monitoring>
    </microsoft.applicationServer>
 
</configuration>

Nothing wrong with that in particular. Double-checked that monitoring was enabled in the config file. We invoked the WCF service using the WCF Test Client. Nothing… Waited 10 seconds and tried again… Still nothing. Then, it hit us: the AppFabric Event Collection Service and Windows Event Collector services weren’t started. If nothing else, this is a note to self to insure we won’t make this mistake again!