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Diagnose problems after deployment using IntelliTrace (C#, Visual Basic)

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This article provides recommendations for diagnosing problems after deployment.

Azure DevOps, Visual Studio, and Team Foundation Server 2017

Visual Studio 2017 and later versions do not include the BuildInfo.config file, which was deprecated and then removed. This file was required to use IntelliTrace with deployed ASP.NET apps. To debug apps after deployment, use one of the following methods:

  • For deployment to Azure, use Application Insights.

  • If you need to use IntelliTrace, open the project in Visual Studio and load the symbol files from the matching build. You can load symbol files from the Modules window or by configuring symbols in Tools > Options > Debugging > Symbols.

    You can also collect IntelliTrace diagnostic and method data for web, SharePoint, WPF, and Windows Form apps on remote machines without changing the target environment by using the IntelliTrace stand-alone collector. However, the stand-alone collector can have a significant performance impact. See Using the IntelliTrace stand-alone collector.

Older versions of Team Foundation Server (ASP.NET)

For ASP.NET apps, you can set up your build process to create a build manifest (BuildInfo.config file) for your web project and include this manifest with your release. This manifest contains information about the project, source control, and build system that were used to create a specific build. This information helps Visual Studio find the matching source and symbols after you open the IntelliTrace log to review the recorded events.

For more information, see Diagnose problems after deployment (Visual Studio 2015).

Important

Use of Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA) with IntelliTrace is no longer supported when Microsoft Monitoring Agent reaches end-of-life on August 31, 2024. For more information, see Migrate to Azure Monitor Agent from Log Analytics agent.

Find the problem using IntelliTrace

You'll need Visual Studio Enterprise on your development computer or another computer to review the recorded events and debug your code using IntelliTrace. You can also use tools like CodeLens, debugger maps, and code maps to help you diagnose the problem.

If you do use IntelliTrace to investigate issues, see Find the problem for more in-depth instructions.