Logging Configuration - JBoss AS 7.1

Overview

The overall server logging configuration is represented by the logging subsystem. It consists of three notable parts: handler configurations, logger and the root logger declarations (aka log categories). Each logger does reference a handler (or set of handlers). Each handler declares the log format and output:

<subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:logging:1.0">
   <console-handler name="CONSOLE" autoflush="true">
       <level name="DEBUG"/>
       <formatter>
           <pattern-formatter pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss,SSS} %-5p [%c] (%t) %s%E%n"/>
       </formatter>
   </console-handler>
   <periodic-rotating-file-handler name="FILE" autoflush="true">
       <formatter>
           <pattern-formatter pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss,SSS} %-5p [%c] (%t) %s%E%n"/>
       </formatter>
       <file relative-to="jboss.server.log.dir" path="server.log"/>
       <suffix value=".yyyy-MM-dd"/>
   </periodic-rotating-file-handler>
   <logger category="com.arjuna">
       <level name="WARN"/>
   </logger>
   [...]
   <root-logger>
       <level name="DEBUG"/>
       <handlers>
           <handler name="CONSOLE"/>
           <handler name="FILE"/>
       </handlers>
   </root-logger>
</subsystem>

Why is there a logging.properties file?

You may have noticed that there is a logging.properties file in the configuration directory. This logging configuration is used when the server boots up until the logging subsystem kicks in. If the logging subsystem is not included in your configuration, then this would act as the logging configuration for the entire server.

In the future this file may go away or be automatically generated from the logging subsystem. For most users this file should not be modified.

Note: If the logging.properties is not available during start there will be no logging until the logging subsystems kicks in, this is also the case if the configuration is damaged, the server might exit without any further message.

Default Log File Locations

Managed Domain

In a managed domain two types of log files do exist: Controller and server logs. The controller components govern the domain as whole. It's their responsibility to start/stop server instances and execute managed operations throughout the domain. Server logs contain the logging information for a particular server instance. They are co-located with the host the server is running on.

For the sake of simplicity we look at the default setup for managed domain. In this case, both the domain controller components and the servers are located on the same host:

Process	Log File
Host Controller	./domain/log/host-controller/boot.log
Process Controller	./domain/log/process-controller/boot.log
"Server One"	./domain/servers/server-one/log/boot.log
"Server One"	./domain/servers/server-one/log/server.log
"Server Three"	./domain/servers/server-three/log/boot.log
"Server Three"	./domain/servers/server-three/log/server.log

The server logs as you know it from previous JBoss AS versions are located in the servers subdirectory: I.e. ./domain/servers/server-three/log/server.log

Standalone Server

The default log files for a standalone server can be found in the log subdirectory of the distribution:

Process	Log File
Server	./standalone/log/boot.log
Server	./standalone/log/server.log

Logging Subsystem Descriptions

root-logger

Defines the root logger for this log context.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
handlers	The Handlers associated with this Logger.	LIST	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any

logger

Defines a logger category.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
handlers	The Handlers associated with this Logger.	LIST	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
use-parent-handlers	Specifies whether or not this logger should send its output to it's parent Logger.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
category	Specifies the category for the logger.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any

async-handler

Defines a handler which writes to the sub-handlers in an asynchronous thread. Used for handlers which introduce a substantial amount of lag.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
name	The handler's name.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
formatter	Defines a formatter.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
queue-length	The queue length to use before flushing writing	INT	false	false	read-write	resource-services	Any
overflow-action	Specify what action to take when the overflowing. The valid options are 'block' and 'discard'	STRING	false	false	read-write	no-services	"BLOCK","DISCARD"
subhandlers	The Handlers associated with this asycn handler.	LIST	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any

console-handler

Defines a handler which writes to the console.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
name	The handler's name.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
encoding	The character encoding used by this Handler.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
formatter	Defines a formatter.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
autoflush	Automatically flush after each write.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
target	Defines the target of the console handler. The value can either be SYSTEM_OUT or SYSTEM_ERR.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"System.out","System.err"

file-handler

Defines a handler which writes to a file.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
name	The handler's name.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
encoding	The character encoding used by this Handler.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
formatter	Defines a formatter.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
autoflush	Automatically flush after each write.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
append	Specify whether to append to the target file.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	resource-services	Any
file	The file description consisting of the path and optional relative to path.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any

periodic-rotating-file-handler

Defines a handler which writes to a file, rotating the log after a time period derived from the given suffix string, which should be in a format understood by java.text.SimpleDateFormat.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
name	The handler's name.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
encoding	The character encoding used by this Handler.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
formatter	Defines a formatter.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
autoflush	Automatically flush after each write.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
append	Specify whether to append to the target file.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	resource-services	Any
file	The file description consisting of the path and optional relative to path.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
suffix	Set the suffix string. The string is in a format which can be understood by java.text.SimpleDateFormat. The period of the rotation is automatically calculated based on the suffix.	STRING	false	false	read-write	no-services	Any

size-rotating-file-handler

Defines a handler which writes to a file, rotating the log after a the size of the file grows beyond a certain point and keeping a fixed number of backups.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
name	The handler's name.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
encoding	The character encoding used by this Handler.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
formatter	Defines a formatter.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
autoflush	Automatically flush after each write.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
append	Specify whether to append to the target file.	BOOLEAN	true	false	read-write	resource-services	Any
file	The file description consisting of the path and optional relative to path.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
rotate-size	The size at which to rotate the log file.	STRING	false	false	read-write	no-services	Any
max-backup-index	The maximum number of backups to keep.	INT	false	false	read-write	no-services	Any

custom-handler

Defines a custom logging handler. The custom handler must extend java.util.logging.Handler.

Attribute	Description	Type	Allow Null	Expression Allowed	Access Type	Restart Required	Allowed Values
name	The handler's name.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
encoding	The character encoding used by this Handler.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
level	The log level specifying which message levels will be logged by this. Message levels lower than this value will be discarded.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	"ALL","CONFIG","DEBUG","ERROR","FATAL","FINE","FINER","FINEST","INFO","OFF","TRACE","WARN","WARNING"
filter	Defines a simple filter type.	OBJECT	true	false	read-write	no-services	"all","any","accept","change-level","deny","level","level-range","match","not","replace"
formatter	Defines a formatter.	STRING	true	false	read-write	no-services	Any
class	The logging handler class to be used.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
module	The module that the logging handler depends on.	STRING	false	false	read-only		Any
properties	Defines the properties used for the logging handler. All properties must be accessible via a setter method.	LIST	false	false	read-write	no-services	Any

What is the %s and %E in the pattern-formatter's pattern?

           <pattern-formatter pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss,SSS} %-5p [%c] (%t) %s%E%n"/>

%s is the message

%E is the exception if one exists