Weblogic Log4j Loggging Server Logging Bridge throws ClassCastException when starting up - java

With Weblogic 11g I have done the following:
1 Created log4j.xml file where I created a new appender:
<appender name="WEBLOGIC" class="weblogic.logging.log4j.ServerLoggingAppender">
<param name="Threshold" value="ERROR"/>
</appender>
<root>
<priority value="WARN"/>
<appender-ref ref="CONSOLE"/>
<appender-ref ref="FILE"/>
<appender-ref ref="WEBLOGIC"/>
</root>
2 Updated the ${DOMAIN_HOME}/bin/setDomainEnv.sh script with these changes:
LOG4J_CONFIG_FILE="${DOMAIN_HOME}/config/log4j.xml"
if [ "${LOG4J_CONFIG_FILE}" != "" ] ; then
JAVA_PROPERTIES="${JAVA_PROPERTIES} Dlog4j.configuration=file:${LOG4J_CONFIG_FILE}"
export JAVA_PROPERTIES
fi
JAVA_OPTIONS="${JAVA_OPTIONS} ${JAVA_PROPERTIES} -Dweblogic.log.Log4jLoggingEnabled=true -Dwlw.iterativeDev=${iterativeDevFlag} -Dwlw.testConsole=${testConsoleFlag} -Dwlw.logErrorsToConsole=${logErrorsToConsoleFlag}"
3 Copied the log4j jars to the domain/lib
cp ./wlserver_10.3/server/lib/wllog4j.jar user_projects/domains/my_domain/lib/
cp ./wlserver_10.3/server/lib/consoleapp/APP-INF/lib/log4j-1.2.8.jar user_projects/domains/my_domain/lib/
4 Starts the AdminServer, but I get this error:
java.lang.ClassCastException:
weblogic.logging.log4j.ServerLoggingAppender cannot be cast to
org.apache.log4j.Appender

Keep step 1 and remove changes done in other steps.
Now copy the log4j.xml to $DOMAIN_HOME/lib folder. This will keep your log4j.xml in the server's classpath and the server will use this log4j.xml as its log4j configuration. No additional changes are required.

In setDomainEnv.xml file, please add the set log4j.xml location as below:
set LOG4J_CONFIG_FILE=C:\bea\user_projects\domains\dev\lib\log4j.xml
if NOT "%LOG4J_CONFIG_FILE%"=="" (
set JAVA_PROPERTIES=%JAVA_PROPERTIES% -Dlog4j.configuration=file:%LOG4J_CONFIG_FILE%
)

What you have to see is if despite the warning that you get, if the ServerLogging is effectively not working on your appliction on your domain.
Probably not even there since you are only copying the log4j to the domain/lib folder but not the wllog4j.jar.
So your setup looks like is doomed not to work in any case.
To me, It looks to me that you are undergoing Class Loader Vodoo Messup.
(1) You set a global log4j properties file for the entire app server.
(2) it looks like weblogic console app is itself a ear and it bundles its own LOG4J implementation library, which you are copying into your domain.
When the console app runs, it must for sure make use of Log4j and the class loader loading the Log4j Appender definition is most likely a level lower than the class loader that knows about the ServerLoggin bridge adapter.
I am beting its for reason like this that weblogic is geting rid of LOG4j in future gnerations of the product.
They have too many class loader issues - JUL logging you have the APP class loader behind the core classes - such as Handlers/Adapters.
Anyway.
(3) When weblogic runs, namley when it bootstraps the console it probably runs some sort class loader that gives a level of isolation to the libs bundled in the applicaiton and it sees:
Oh! How nice, LOG4j is here, leets initialize it.
Second, LOG4j bootstraps and hits head on your log4j.properties where you put the server logging appender in there - cross cutingly for everybody (including the weblogic application console).
He goes hunting for this library and where does it find it?
One of them, the wllog4j.jar he finds somewhere in the weblogic generic container libraries. While the base core classes of Log4j he finds a level lower in the domain configuration or in the EAR configuraiton of the console applicaiton.
This is not good.
Try the following:
(a) go into the weblogic console app, go to the Meta Inf folder and re-write the weblogi-application.xml
It will have a prefer applicaiton packages that looks like this:
org.apache.log4j.*</package-name--> <---- here I've commented this line.
If you comment the above line, the application class loader will search for log4j libraries in the highest parent that knows about these classes.
So if you put at the same level where your ServerLogger is found you should be fine.
(b) Pug the log4j implementation library at the same level where the wllog4j.jar will be found.
Check if you still get the casting exceptions.
Be very careful when you make server wide cross cuting configurations.
Good luck.

Related

Log4j doesn't log INFO Level

I have the following log4j.properties file, for an application deployed in WebSphere Portal:
log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, InfoAppender, DebugAppender
log4j.appender.InfoAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.InfoAppender.Threshold=INFO
log4j.appender.InfoAppender.File=C:/info.log
log4j.appender.InfoAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.InfoAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=%d %p [%c] - %m%n
log4j.appender.DebugAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.DebugAppender.Threshold=DEBUG
log4j.appender.DebugAppender.File=C:/debug.log
log4j.appender.DebugAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.DebugAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=%d %p [%c] - %m%n
When I code, I define the logger at class level:
private static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(IWannaLogThis.class);
And I log INFO messages with this:
logger.info(theObjectToLog);
When I deploy my application, the debug.log file gets everything I log with logger.debug() but ignores everything I write with logger.info(). On the other side, the info.log file keeps empty.
The weirdest thing is that in debug.log and info.log appears some INFO and DEBUG messages made by some JARS (like Hibernate Validator) I had in the classpath, but just ignores everything I try to log in my code.
Any ideas?
This is most likely a classloading-related problem. WebSphere Portal uses Log4J internally, so I'm guessing that you end up using WebSphere Portal's provided Log4J JAR file as well as its own Log4J properties.
You can verify that by adding the following to the JVM arguments of the server instance:
-Dlog4j.debug=true
And then inspect the SystemOut.log file. Log4J will spit out lots of tracing information about the configuration file(s) it reads.
The best way to avoid this is to do the following:
Bundle the Log4J JAR file with your application.
Associate a Shared Library with the server. In that Shared Library, place your Log4J configuration file.
As an alternative to step 2, you can bundle your Log4J configuration file with the application itself, however that would carry its own drawbacks (for example, having to repackage your application whenever you perform a Log4J configuration change).
Another common problem is that the JARs you have in your classpath also use log4j and also have their own appenders set. So depending on the settings that they use, and the packages that your classes reside in, this may lead to the problem you describe.
So:
Make sure that your package names are unique and not used by any of the third party libraries.
Check the log4j settings in all libraries in your classpath. They should not contain general settings which override yours.
Make sure your loggers use your log4j.properties (you can be sure if changes you make in your file affect your loggers as expected).
If you can, make sure that your log4j stuff loads last, in case any of the third party libs reset the configuration. They shouldn't, but who can stop them.
Normally, it should be one of these things. Post more explicit example if it doesn't work.
Good luck!
What I have done in the past is set specific logs for the classes I want to log. It sounds like you can try setting your root logger to INFO and see if that gets you the messages you want. Here's a little bit of my log4j property file. I set a logger for each class and assign it to my "data" appender, which defines the log layout. In the loggers I specify specific classes I want to log and set their Log level individually. Any class that logs that is not defined in the Loggers I have use the default log level for the rootCategory.
log4j.rootCategory=INFO, rollingFile, stdout
#GetData Loggers
log4j.logger.com.myapp.data=INFO, data
log4j.logger.com.myapp.data.SybaseConnection=DEBUG, data
log4j.logger.com.myapp.data.GetData=ERROR, data
# data appender
log4j.appender.data=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.data.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.data.File=c\:\\Program Files\\MyApp\\logs\\MyApp-data.log
log4j.appender.data.Append=true
log4j.appender.data.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d{ISO8601}]%5p%6.6r[%t]%x - %C.%M(%F:%L) - %m%n
you root logger opens the log properties in the debug mode,
use INFO instead of DEbug in the first line of your properties file.

How to control the log console output in log4j

I am new to JavaEE SSH environment, and currently I use log4j as my application's log system. But the problem is that if I set the log output level at DEBUG there are too many console output in MyEclipse, switch the output level to WARN will reduce the amount of the messages but also lost some information I interested in. So my question is how to let the log4j ONLY output ALL the log message generated by the Java file I am editing and DO NOT output ANY messages generated by others.
Assuming you are configuring log4j with a log4j.properties file, you can set a specific class or package to a different level like this:
log4j.logger.com.foo.MyClass=DEBUG
See http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/manual.html for more introductory log4j stuff.
http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/manual.html
You can configure the log-level of every Logger you created via Logger.getLogger("org.springframework") . You must search the configuration file for log4j.
Example for XML (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log4j):
...
<logger name="org.springframework">
<level value="info"/>
</logger>
<!--
everything of spring was set to "info" but for class
PropertyEditorRegistrySupport we want "debug" logging
-->
<logger name="org.springframework.beans.PropertyEditorRegistrySupport">
<level value="debug"/>
</logger>
Hope that helps.
if you are running in the unix/linux environment, you can tail and grep the log file what exactly you are looking for. this is more flexible than modifying log4j configuration and much more powerful
I had the same issue whereby my log4j debug logging was being overwhelmed by Spring debugging in my JUnit unit tests (in Eclipse). I got around this by adding the following to my log4j properties file.
log4j.logger.org.springframework=FATAL

Tomcat and logback.xml

I am starting up a Seam + Hibernate + Logback project deployed to Tomcat 6. I use Eclipse as an IDE. Hibernate prints many debug statements, so I have put the level to ERROR, so I don't see them.
<logger name="org.hibernate">
<level value="ERROR" />
</logger>
I don't paste my whole logback.xml, because the problem I have, is not connected with its contents.
I have the following classpath problem - If I put the logback.xml in WEB-INF\classesof my project, it is not found by the classloader and I see all debug statements. On the other hand, if I move the logback.xml to the lib directory of Tomcat, everything works perfect and the debug statements are not printed.
But I want to have my logback.xml inside my project, not in the root lib directory of Tomcat.
And here is my question - isn't the WEB-INF\classes a correct place for logback.xml? Why isn't it found?
I have always known that the files under the WEB-INF\classes directory of the project, are put to the classpath. Thank you for any ideas you have.
All the best, Petar
It looks like your logback.jar is also under ${catalina.home}\lib.
If you want to put your logback.xml to \WEB-INF\classes, the logback.jar should be only under \WEB-INF\lib. The ${catalina.home}\lib\logback.jar should be removed.

two log4j files for EAR with two modules

I have an EAR that is made up of two modules. Both expose services and share common code.
Imagine that the ear has a common.jar shared by a webservices.war and webapp.war.
I use log4j to log the activities. I would like to be able to have two log files (webservices.log and webapp.log) capturing the events that are specific to each of them plus all the stuff that is handled by the common.jar.
How should I configure my categories and my appenders to achieve this?
At the moment I have the following packages:
com.myapp for shared stuff
com.myapp.webservices for the webservices and
com.myapp.webapp for the webapp.
My problem is that I don't know how I can capture the com.myapp (common stuff) in both log files by using a single log4j configuration file.
I have tried setting up multiple configuration files but when JBoss would work OK Websphere would break and the other way round...
Thank you
You can keep log4j configuration anywhere you like, just make sure Logger is able to initialize the engine from the configuration file. I don't see any reason why one configuration file is not working for both Jboss and WebSphere. Could you be more specific on what is breaking?
You need to configure two file appenders named webservices and webapp in same log4j configuration files and using the package names redirect to the relevant appender.
<logger name="com.myapp.webservices">
<appender-ref ref="webservices" />
</logger>
<logger name="com.myapp.webapp">
<appender-ref ref="webapp" />
</logger>

Tomcat App says "Unable to configure the logging system. No log.properties was found."

I have an embedded tomcat app and whenever I start it up I see this error printed to the console twice:
Unable to configure the logging system. No log.properties was found.
It seems stupid, but I've done some googling and searched stackoverflow and can't seem to find someone experiencing this problem.
My main class Looks roughly like this:
public class AuthServerEntryPoint {
static {
org.apache.log4j.PropertyConfigurator.configure("conf/log4j.properties");
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
// ...
}
"conf/log4j.properties" contains a seemingly valid configuration:
log4j.appender.mainAppend=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.mainAppend.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.mainAppend.layout.ConversionPattern=%d %p [%t] %c -- %m%n
log4j.appender.fileAppend=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.fileAppend.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.fileAppend.layout.ConversionPattern=%d %p [%t] %c - %m%n
log4j.appender.fileAppend.file=logs/myservice.log
log4j.rootLogger = info, fileAppend
log4j.logger.com.mycompany.myservice = debug, fileAppend
And the logging actually does work - i.e., logs are correctly written to myservice.log. So what gives?
Thanks!
-Carl
By embedded Tomcat app, do you mean that you are starting Tomcat from Java code and are using the class org.apache.catalina.startup.Embedded?
If yes, my guess is that Tomcat might not be able to find its logging configuration file that is set up in catalina.sh (or equivalent) when using the scripts:
LOGGING_CONFIG="-Djava.util.logging.config.file=$CATALINA_BASE/conf/logging.properties"
The odd part is that this file is called logging.properties, not log.properties, so I'm really not sure. I didn't check Tomcat sources though, maybe they are doing some kind of black magic in there.
Could you just try to rename $CATALINA_BASE/conf/logging.properties into log.properties (or not) and to put it on the classpath of your app (or to set -Djava.util.logging.config.file)?
By default, log4j will look for a logging properties file on the classpath. Put your webapp's logging properties config file into its WEB-INF/classes directory; e.g.
$CATALINA_HOME/webapps/<yourApp>/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties
This is the simple approach to getting a webapp to use Log4j is recommended by the referenced documentation. And it is the approach I use myself for webapp logging.
There are various other ways to configure Log4j logging on Tomcat as well. It is possible that your Tomcat has been (partly) configured to use one of them, but something has not been done quite right.
Configuring Tomcat' log4j logging via the system properties is an option that avoids figuring out where log4j is looking ... and what is going wrong. But you are then stuck with creating/using a custom launch script or having to remember to set environment variables before launching Tomcat.
References:
Configuring logging on Tomcat 5.5
Configuring logging on Tomcat 6
The "Default Initialization under Tomcat" section of the Log4j Manual

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