The UAG Trace Analyser (often used alongside the Forefront UAG Tracing Symbols) is a powerful diagnostics tool used to solve authentication, policy, and application-delivery failures. Because Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) generates high-volume debugging information in a binary format, you must capture, format, and filter these logs to pull actionable insights quickly.
The primary steps to leverage the tool effectively for quick, real-time troubleshooting include: 1. Enable and Capture the Trace Binary
Before parsing logs, you must record the exact failure window on the gateway.
Launch the Tool: Open the UAG Tracing Tool on your gateway server or client endpoint.
Select Components: Choose the specific areas relevant to your problem (e.g., Web Monitor, Active Directory Authentication, or App Publishing). Start Recording: Click Start Tracing.
Reproduce the Bug: Have an affected user replicate the exact error (e.g., a failed portal login or a timed-out session).
Stop Immediately: Click Stop Tracing to lock down the log volume and avoid cluttering the binary file with unrelated system traffic. 2. Convert Binary Data to Human-Readable Text
The captured .etl file is encrypted binary data. You must translate it using trace formatting metadata.
Download the official Forefront UAG Tracing Symbols (.tmf files) from Microsoft.
In the tool, point the TMF Path parameter to your extracted symbols directory.
Execute the conversion command within the UI or CLI to output a standard .txt text file. 3. Filter for Quick Troubleshooting
UAG trace files can easily grow to tens of thousands of lines. To isolate root causes in under five minutes, search for these immediate indicators:
ERROR and WARNING: Filter by severity level to find underlying network drop-offs or bad protocol handshakes.
HRESULT codes: Look for specific hex strings (e.g., 0x800…). These match precise core windows errors like “Access Denied” or “Server Unreachable”.
Session ID / IP Address: Copy the specific test user’s unique session identifier or client IP address and use a “Find All” string match to trace their chronological clickstream behavior. 4. Common Root Causes to Look For
When analyzing the output text, you will typically find three culprits:
Authentication Delays: The trace shows UAG passing a token to the domain controller, but timing out before getting a response.
Endpoint Detection Failures: The log will explicitly state that a user’s machine failed the mandatory antivirus or OS version compliance checks.
URL Inspection Block: Look for requests marked as dropped because the backend published rule didn’t have the explicit public path permitted.
(Note: If you are troubleshooting the more modern VMware / Omnissa Unified Access Gateway instead of the legacy Microsoft Forefront UAG, tracing is handled via the admin browser console under Support Settings > Log Level Settings, where you set components like BLAST or XMLAPI to TRACE or DEBUG, collect the zip bundle, and read the text-based logs directly.) If you are currently diagnosing a specific error, tell me:
Are you running Microsoft Forefront UAG or Omnissa/VMware UAG? What is the specific error message the end-user sees?
Which backend resource (Exchange, Sharepoint, Horizon VDI) are they attempting to reach?
I can help pinpoint exactly what log lines or error codes to scan for.
Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) Tracing Symbols – Microsoft