---
title: "Diagnostic tool"
slug: "diagnostic-tool"
tags: ["Site Administrator", "How-to"]
updated: 2025-07-22T10:52:18Z
published: 2025-07-22T11:18:58Z
canonical: "totara.help/diagnostic-tool"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Diagnostic tool

Totara’s diagnostic tool for Site Administrators can be used to collect non-sensitive information about your site to help Totara Support to troubleshoot issues. The tool provides the Totara Support team with accurate information and data, helping to streamline investigations and identify solutions faster.

This tool provides detailed insights into your Totara site’s configuration, including the following:

- Cache
- Database
- php.ini
- Config
- Plugins
- Totara version information
- Upgrade history
- Enabled features
- Cron run information

For some of this information, only data which is part of the whitelist will be exported. Sensitive information such as login credentials, IP addresses, and personal user information will not be exposed in the diagnostic file.

## Create a diagnostic file in Totara

To configure the tool and create a diagnostic file, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to *Quick-access menu > System information > Diagnostics for support* (/admin/tool/diagnostic/index.php).
2. Check the default settings and set the toggles (![A green and white logo

Description automatically generated](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/image-1723109483789.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-01T13%3A46%3A44Z&se=2026-11-01T14%3A46%3A44Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=a%2FkSzP9cj6GRqxy3B0RY9RkBrUwSFU%2BWMf6taH2u70E%3D)) for each option to determine which information will be included in the file. See [Diagnostic tool data options](/19/docs/diagnostic-tool-data-options) for more information. Review the whitelists for each enabled option to see which data will be included.
3. Click **Generate diagnostic file**.
4. Click **OK**.
5. Click the download icon (![](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/image-1723209687462.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-01T13%3A46%3A44Z&se=2026-11-01T14%3A46%3A44Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=a%2FkSzP9cj6GRqxy3B0RY9RkBrUwSFU%2BWMf6taH2u70E%3D)) to download the file.
6. Provide the diagnostic file to Totara Support via a support request.

Note that the file will be available for download for at least 15 minutes, and up to an hour (assuming the cron runs hourly).

## Create a diagnostic file via the command line

To create a diagnostic file via the command line, first run **php run_diagnostics.php --help** from **admin/tool/diagnostic/cli** to display instructions on how to run the tool. Additional information about changing the configuration via config file is available in the readme file: **admin/tool/diagnostic/cli/readme.md**

Running the script will output a download URL, which you can then copy and paste into your browser. You can then log in as a Site Administrator and download the file.

Finally, provide the diagnostic file to Totara Support by uploading it to the relevant support request.

## Data retention

The task **\tool_diagnostic\task\delete_diagnostic_files_task** ensures that files are kept for a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 60 minutes.

For files provided to Totara Support, all files are automatically deleted from a support request upon closure.

Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara.

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