Tomcat logging

The core Progress Application Server (PAS) uses the standard logging technology employed by the Apache Tomcat Web server. For system logging, Tomcat uses an implementation of the Apache Commons Logging library based on the java.util.logging(JULI) framework. JULI is implemented in $CATALINA_HOME/bin/tomcat-juli.jar.

Note: This topic only applies to the standard JULI-based logging implemented for the core Tomcat Web server Web application logging may be based on a different framework (Log4j for example).

Log files are written to the /logs directory of a running instance ($CATALINA_BASE/logs). The default log files for PAS are:

catalina.out, a log for system output and standard error messages

localhost.log, a log file for tracking Web application activity

localhost_access.log, a log for tracking requests processed by the server

host_manager.log, a log for Tomcat's host-manager.war Web application

Log files, with the exception of catalina.out, are saved daily with the date appended to the filename (MM-DD_YYYY). catalina.out persists while the server is running. You can delete or archive all of the log files with the TCMAN clean action.

The default log files and logging levels are defined in /conf/logging.properties. For example, the following entry from logging.properties instantiates the catalina.log file:

1catalina.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.level = INFO
1catalina.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.directory = ${catalina.base}/logs
1catalina.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.prefix = catalina.

Notice that the logging level is set to INFO which is the default for all log files in PAS. The following is a list of the JULI logging levels that apply to Tomcat.

Table 2. JULI logging levels for Tomcat
Level	Log content
SEVERE	Serious failures
WARNING	Potential problems
INFO	Informational messages
CONFIG	Static configuration messages
FINE	Trace messages
FINER	Detailed trace messages
FINEST	Highly detailed trace messages

The list is arranged in order by level of detail from the least (SEVERE) to the greatest (FINEST). Note that a level includes all the content of previous levels. For example, INFO specifies that the log should include informational messages, potential problems (WARNING), and serious failures (SEVERE).