New Microsoft Teams Continuous Web Logs Extend the Window for Troubleshooting

Originally posted by Microsoft May 15, 2023 Uncategorized 0 Comments

Debug log files are automatically produced by the Microsoft Teams client, which can aid in monitoring and troubleshooting Teams. Also known as “Web logs”, Debug logs have historically been constrained by a limited memory buffer. If not collected by the user immediately after an issue occurs, the “signature” of the issue may not be present in the Debug logs, making it more difficult to resolve recent and future issues.

This is being addressed with Continuous Web Logs (CWL). With CWL enabled, once the in-memory buffer reaches the limit, log lines will be saved to a file on user’s machine extending the log capturing window up to one business day for an average user, providing a significantly larger window for troubleshooting.

CWL is available to all tenants, but currently disabled by default. Teams’ admins are able to turn it on using either of these methods:

• Assigning TeamsMediaLoggingPolicy via PowerShell cmdlets
• Setting a Feature Flag enableContinuousWebClientLogging to True. This can be done with assistance from Microsoft. As a temp solution, {enableContinuousWebClientLogging: true} can be added to hooks.json locally for the user. This will override the ECS setting for the user and enable CWL.

Soon, Teams admins will have an additional option to enable CWL from the Teams admin center.

When this will happen:

On June 1, 2023, CWL will become the default for Teams users with the following desktop system specifications:

• Intel Core i3 and Core i5 (generation 10 or higher), Core i7 and Core i9 (any generation) excluding the following series: U, Y, G1-G7, UE, UL, M, QM
• Intel Xeon
• AMD Ryzen 5, 7, 9 and TR models excluding U series
• Apple Silicon (all series of M1 and M2 chips)

Admins may use the methods listed above to enable CWL for Teams users with lesser system specifications. CWL will not be enabled by default for all machines to avoid the potential for user impact on lower-end devices.

How this will affect your organization:

Teams users should not experience change in quality or performance with CWL enabled. Teams admins, however, will now have increased flexibility in troubleshooting user issues captured in Debug logs.

What you need to do to prepare:

No action is required from either Teams users or Teams admins. CWL will be enabled for systems with qualifying specifications. Existing Debug logs will remain unchanged for all other Teams users.

• Learn more about how to use Teams log files for monitoring and troubleshooting
• Learn more about how to access and submit the saved CWL Debug logs for Teams users
• For information about troubleshooting specific issues, see Teams Troubleshooting

Message ID: MC555189