Enable Pipeline Tracing
Applies to: Exchange Server 2010
You can use the Shell to enable pipeline tracing of e-mail messages as they move through the transport pipeline on computers that have the Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport server role or Edge Transport server role installed. Pipeline tracing generates log files only for e-mail messages sent from the SMTP e-mail address that you specify by using the PipelineTracingSenderAddress parameter on the Set-TransportServer cmdlet. Pipeline tracing doesn't generate log files for messages sent from any other e-mail address. The SMTP e-mail address that you specify can be internal or external to your Exchange organization.
If you want to generate log files for messages generated by e-mail servers, such as automatic replies, delivery status notification (DSN) messages, journal reports, and other system-generated messages, you can specify the value "<>" with the PipelineTracingSenderAddress parameter.
Warning
Setting the value for the PipelineTracingSenderAddress parameter to "<>" captures all e-mail server-generated messages received by the Hub Transport or Edge Transport server that you are configuring. Depending on the amount of e-mail server-generated messages that your organization receives, this may place a significant load on the server and may quickly consume available disk space. Always monitor available disk space when pipeline tracing is enabled.
After you specify the pipeline tracing sender address, you can enable pipeline tracing.
Warning
Pipeline tracing copies the complete contents of e-mail messages sent from the e-mail account configured by using the PipelineTracingSenderAddress parameter on the Set-TransportServer cmdlet. To avoid unwanted exposure of confidential information, you must set appropriate security permissions on the location of the pipeline tracing log file specified by the PipelineTracingPath parameter on the Set-TransportServer cmdlet.
Don't enable pipeline tracing for long periods of time. Pipeline tracing creates verbose log files that can accumulate quickly. Always monitor available disk space when pipeline tracing is enabled.
For more information about the transport pipeline and transport agents, see Understanding Transport Pipeline and Understanding Transport Agents. Looking for other management tasks related to transport agents? Check out Managing Transport Agents.
Step 1: Use the Shell to configure the pipeline tracing sender address
Use the Shell to configure the pipeline tracing sender address to capture messages from a specific SMTP address
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Hub Transport server" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.
Note
You can't use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) to configure the pipeline tracing sender address.
Use the following syntax to configure the pipeline tracing sender address to capture messages from a specific SMTP address.
Set-TransportServer <Identity> -PipelineTracingSenderAddress <SMTPAddress>
This example configures the SMTP address, chris@contoso.com, as the pipeline tracing sender address on the Server1 computer.
Set-TransportServer Server1 -PipelineTracingSenderAddress chris@contoso.com
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-TransportServer.
Use the Shell to configure the pipeline tracing sender address to capture messages generated by e-mail servers
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Hub Transport server" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.
Note
You can't use the EMC to configure the pipeline tracing sender address.
Use the following syntax to configure the pipeline tracing sender address to capture messages generated by e-mail servers.
Set-TransportServer <Identity> -PipelineTracingSenderAddress "<>"
This example configures <> as the pipeline tracing sender address on the Server2 computer.
Set-TransportServer Server2 -PipelineTracingSenderAddress "<>"
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-TransportServer.
Step 2: Use the Shell to configure the location of the pipeline tracing log directory
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Hub Transport server" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.
Note
You can't use the EMC to configure the location of the pipeline tracing log directory.
By default, the pipeline tracing log directory is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\TransportRoles\Logs\PipelineTracing. The directory must be located on the Exchange 2010 computer.
Use the following syntax to configure the pipeline tracing log location.
Set-TransportServer <Identity> -PipelineTracingPath <LocalFilePath>
This example sets the location of the pipeline tracing log directory to C:\Pipeline Tracing Logs.
Set-TransportServer Server1 -PipelineTracingPath "C:\Pipeline Tracing Logs"
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-TransportServer.
Step 3: Use the Shell to enable pipeline tracing
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Hub Transport server" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.
Note
You can't use the EMC to enable pipeline tracing.
By default, pipeline tracing is disabled on computers that run Exchange 2010. You can enable or disable pipeline tracing on each Exchange server.
Configure the pipeline tracing sender address according to the previous procedures earlier in this topic. You must configure the pipeline tracing sender address before you enable pipeline tracing.
Use the following syntax to enable pipeline tracing.
Set-TransportServer <Identity> -PipelineTracingEnabled <$True | $False>
This example enables pipeline tracing on the Server1 computer.
Set-TransportServer Server1 -PipelineTracingEnabled $True
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-TransportServer.