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SharePoint Central Admin Troubleshooting: HTTP error -Enable Failed Request Trace Logging

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Introduction

This is a common problem in SharePoint a lot of SharePoint administrators face on a routine basis. Specifically, when you get a generic error i.e. The page can’t be displayed with the HTTP 500 error, but no clue from the logs, etc. In that case, we should take advantage of the IIS feature of Failed Request Tracing. With tracing for failed requests, you can capture an XML-formatted log of a problem when it occurs so that you do not have to reproduce the problem before you start troubleshooting. This process consists of two steps.

  • Enable logging for the Failed Request Tracing
  • Create a Tracing Rule for Failed Requests

Enable Failed Request Tracing

In order to perform this step, one should be a server administrator.

  1. Open IIS Manager.
  2. In Connections View, select Site (SharePoint Central Admin). You can select any site on which you want to enable the logging and in the Actions pane, under Configure, click Failed Request Tracing.
    http://i1.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h19_11.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C529
  3.  In the Edit Web Site Failed Request Tracing Settings dialog box, select Enable to enable logging for this site. In the Directory text box, type the path where you want to store the log files or click the browse button (…) to find a location on the computer. The default is %SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\FailedReqLogFiles.http://i1.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h24_36.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C410

Now Failed Request Tracing is enabled for the SharePoint Central Admin Site. Next step is to create the Failed Tracing Rule.

Create a Tracing Rule for Failed Requests

  1. Select the Central Admin from Connections Pane and in Features View, double-click Failed Request Tracing Rules.
    http://i1.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h25_36.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C434
  2. On the Failed Request Tracing Rules page, click Add in the Actions pane.http://i1.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h25_58.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C432
  3. In the Specify Content to Trace area of the Add Failed Request Tracing Rule dialog box, select All Content. (*)http://i2.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h26_15.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C546
    • All content (*) – when you want to track all files in a directory.
    • ASP.NET (*.aspx) – when you want to track all .aspx files in a directory.
    • ASP (*.asp) – when you want to track all .asp files in a directory.
    • Custom – when you want to define a failure for a custom set of content, such as “xyz.exe” or “*.jpg”. This can contain, at most, one wildcard and must be local to the directory where the failed request definition is set.
  4. Click Next
  5. In the Define Trace Conditions area of the Add Failed Request Tracing Rule dialog box. Check the Status Code(s) and enter the Http Error 500.http://i2.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h26_36.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C546
  6. Click Next
  7. In the Select Trace Providers area of the Add Failed Request Tracing Rule dialog box, select All.http://i0.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h26_54.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C542
  8. Click Finish
  9. Now, in Feature Pane, you will see a new rule.
    http://i0.wp.com/krossfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-25_21h28_04.png?zoom=3&resize=720%2C229

After this, you have to browse the site and an XML log file will be generated in the location which you defined above.