This article describes how to enable continuous CDF tracing in Citrix Provisioning, formerly Provisioning Services, 7.x.

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Instructions

Update: There is a new way to collect PVS diagnostic data. Refer to Citrix Documentation - CIS Problem Reporting for more details.

Requirements

CDFMonitor

Background

With the introduction of Provisioning Services 7.x, the Provisioning Services logging mechanism has changed from persistent log files to CDF tracing. Provisioning Services no longer logs streaming event to a log file. You must configure CDF tracing to capture persistent logging for determining the root cause of a problem.

Procedure

To enable continuous CDF tracing in Provisioning Services 7.x, complete the following procedure:

1. Download CDFMonitor.
2. Download the Provisioning Services specific configuration file from this article for your version of PVS. (Refer to the "Configuration File (Cdfmonitor.exe.config)" section of CTX129537 - CDFMonitor for more details).
3. Extract the  appropriate Cdfmonitor.exe.config file to the C:\cdfmonitor folder.  Use the configuration file from the subfolder that applies to your installed version of PVS.
4. Replace the CDFMonitor.exe.config that comes with CDFMonitor with the one downloaded from this article.
5. Open a command line interface and open the C:\cdfmonitor folder.
6. Run the following command: cdfmonitor.exe /installservice​

CDFMonitor runs as a service that persists even after the server restarts. Continuous CDF trace is then captured on all modules. The trace file will grow to 100 MB in size and will rotate between five files. The moment the CDFMonitor service is restarted, a new CDF trace file is created.

Gathering Log Files

To collect the log files, complete the following procedure:

1. Stop the CDFMonitor service from the Services applet.
2. Copy trace files from the c:\windows\cdfmonitor folder.
3. Start the CDFMonitor service from the Services applet, as shown in the following screen shot: 

Uninstalling the CDFMonitor Service

To uninstall the CDFMonitor service, complete the following procedure:

1. Open a command line interface and open the C:\cdfmonitor folder.
2. Run the following command: cdfmonitor.exe /uninstallservice

NOTE: If any changes are made to the Cdfmonitor.exe.config file after installing the Cdfmonitor service then for the changes to take effect the Cdfmonitor service needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled.
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This article describes how to enable continuous CDF tracing in Provisioning Services 7.x.

Provisioning Services 7.x Data Collection : https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX208592

Provisioning Services 7.x: How To Collect Logs On PVS Server And Target Devices : https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX236308

CDFMonitor : https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX129537