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Setting Up Structured Logging

InterSystems IRIS supports structured logging.

InterSystems IRIS creates multiple logs, each for different purposes. Customers who have migrated from previous products can take advantage of these logs as in the past, but now it is also possible to channel all the log information into a single, central, machine-readable log file — a structured log. Then you can use this file with third-party analysis tools.

This page provides an overview of the information in the structured log, shows examples of the log, and describes how to configure structured logging.

Information Available in the Structured Log

In InterSystems IRIS, when you enable structured logging, the system writes the same data to the structured log that it also writes to the other log (whichever that is). For example, the system writes the same lines to messages.log and to the structured log.

When you have enabled structured logging, the structured log contains all the following information:

  • The information that is written to messages.log. This includes alerts that require attention, information about the system startup and shutdown, high-level information about journal files and WIJ files, information about configuration changes (the CPF), and information related to licensing. See Monitoring InterSystems IRIS Logs.

  • The information that is written to the audit database. The details depend on which events you are auditing. See Auditing Guide.

Below is a list of all of the data points recorded with structured logging:

  • AuditIndex

  • Authentication

  • ClientExecutableName

  • ClientIPAddress

  • Description

  • Event

  • EventData

  • EventSource

  • EventType

  • Group

  • JobId

  • JobNumber

  • Namespace

  • OSUsername

  • Pid

  • Roles

  • RoutineSpec

  • SessionID

  • StartupClientAddress

  • Status

  • SystemID

  • Userinfo

  • Username

  • UTCTimeStamp

Example Output

This section shows example output from the structured logging utility for name/value pair format and JSON format.

Name/Value Pairs

The following output uses the format option NVP (name/value pairs). This sample was edited for display purposes; in the actual output, each entry takes only a single line, and there are no blank lines between entries.

when="2019-08-01 18:43:02.216" pid=8240 level=SEVERE event=Utility.Event 
text="Previous system shutdown was abnormal, system forced down or crashed"

when="2019-08-01 18:43:05.290" pid=8240 level=SEVERE event=Utility.Event 
text="LMF Error: No valid license key. Local key file not found and LicenseID not defined."

when="2019-08-01 18:43:05.493" pid=8240 level=WARNING event=Generic.Event 
text="Warning: Alternate and primary journal directories are the same"

when="2019-08-01 18:46:10.493" pid=11948 level=WARNING event=System.Monitor 
text="CPUusage Warning: CPUusage = 79 ( Warnvalue is 75)."

In this format, each line in the file contains a set of name/value pairs separated by spaces. Each name/value pair has the form name=value, and if value includes a space character, then value is enclosed in parentheses. The lines in the log file include some or all of the following name/value pairs:

Name Value
host Name of the host on which ^LOGDMN is running, if provided within the pipe command.
instance Name of the instance on which ^LOGDMN is running, if provided within the pipe command.
when Always included. The time stamp of the entry in the format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.sss
pid Always included. The ID of the process that generated the entry
level Always included. The log level of this entry. This has one of the following values:
  • DEBUG2 is used for detailed debug messages (such as hex dumps).

  • DEBUG is used for less detailed debug messages.

  • INFO is used for informational messages, including all audit events.

  • WARNING is used to indicate problems that may need attention but that have not disrupted operations.

  • SEVERE is used for severe errors, which indicate problems that have disrupted operations.

  • FATAL is used for fatal errors, which indicate problems have caused the system not to run.

event Always included. Identifier for the code that generated the entry, typically the class name.
text Always included. Descriptive string that explains the entry.
source The component that is the source of audit event. For InterSystems components, this is always %System. When your application code writes to the event log, source indicates the component in your application code.
type Categorizing information for the audit event.
group Group of the audit event, if any.
namespace Namespace in which the entry was generated. This is useful for examining namespace-specific activity such as application errors and the activity of interoperability productions.

JSON

The following output uses the format option JSON. This sample was edited for display purposes; in the actual output, each entry takes only a single line, and there are no blank lines between entries.

{ "when": "2019-08-07 14:11:04.904", "pid": "8540", "level": "SEVERE", "event": "Utility.Event", 
"text": "Previous system shutdown was abnormal, system forced down or crashed"}

{ "when": "2019-08-07 14:11:08.155", "pid": "8540", "level": "SEVERE", "event": "Utility.Event", 
"text": "LMF Error: No valid license key. Local key file not found and LicenseID not defined."}

{ "when": "2019-08-07 14:11:08.311", "pid": "8540", "level": "WARNING", "event": "Generic.Event", 
"text": "Warning: Alternate and primary journal directories are the same"}

{ "when": "2019-08-07 14:16:13.843", "pid": "10816", "level": "WARNING", "event": "System.Monitor", 
"text": "CPUusage Warning: CPUusage = 84 ( Warnvalue is 75)."}

In this format, each line in the file is a JSON object with a set of properties. The names of the properties (and the values contained in the properties) are the same as listed for the name/value pairs in the previous section.

Configure Structured Logging

You can configure structured logging using the management portal, the ^LOGDMN routine, or the class-based API SYS.LogDmnOpens in a new tab in the %SYS namespace.

Using the Management Portal

The management portal lets you manage structured logging on the System > Configuration > System Configuration > Log Daemon Configuration page. On this page you can see the current status of the log daemon. This status updates every 500 ms. You can also edit the log daemon settings for the instance. The available settings are detailed below:

Enabled

Determines whether the log daemon is enabled or not. YES if enabled or NO if not enabled.

Child Process Launch Command

The pipe command, which specifies where the system will send the structured log. Enter a response of the following form:

irislogd -f c:/myfilename.log

But replace c:/myfilename.log with the fully qualified path name of the destination log file. In this command, irislogd is the name of an InterSystems executable file that will receive the log data and write it to the specified file (via the -f option).

For the pipe command, the easiest option is to use the executable mentioned here (irislogd.exe), but you can substitute a different target. For other options for irislogd.exe, see the last section.

Level

The minimum log level, one of the following:

  • DEBUG2 — detailed debug messages (such as hex dumps).

  • DEBUG— less detailed debug messages.

  • INFO — informational messages, including all audit events.

  • WARN (the default) — warnings, which indicate problems that may need attention but that have not disrupted operations.

  • SEVERE — severe errors, which indicate problems that have disrupted operations.

  • FATAL — fatal errors, which indicate problems have caused the system not to run.

Format

The format of the data sent to the pipe. Can be NVP or JSON.

Interval

The interval in seconds between successive calls to the pipe command. The default is 10 seconds.

Using the ^LOGDMN

The ^LOGDMN routine lets you manage structured logging.

To use ^LOGDMN to enable structured logging:

  1. Open the Terminal and enter the following commands:

    set $namespace="%sys"
    do ^LOGDMN
    

    This starts a routine with the following prompts:

     
    1) Enable logging
    2) Disable logging
    3) Display configuration
    4) Edit configuration
    5) Set default configuration
    6) Display logging status
    7) Start logging
    8) Stop logging
    9) Restart logging
     
    LOGDMN option?
    
  2. Press 4 so that you can specify the configuration details. The routine then prompts you for the following items:

    1. The minimum log level, one of the following:

      • DEBUG2 — detailed debug messages (such as hex dumps).

      • DEBUG— less detailed debug messages.

      • INFO — informational messages, including all audit events.

      • WARN (the default) — warnings, which indicate problems that may need attention but that have not disrupted operations.

      • SEVERE — severe errors, which indicate problems that have disrupted operations.

      • FATAL — fatal errors, which indicate problems have caused the system not to run.

    2. The pipe command, which specifies where the system will send the structured log. Enter a response of the following form:

      irislogd -f c:/myfilename.log
      

      But replace c:/myfilename.log with the fully qualified path name of the destination log file. In this command, irislogd is the name of an InterSystems executable file that will receive the log data and write it to the specified file (via the -f option).

      For the pipe command, the easiest option is to use the executable mentioned here (irislogd.exe), but you can substitute a different target. For other options for irislogd.exe, see the last section.

    3. The format of the data sent to the pipe. Specify either NVP (the default) or JSON. The option NVP sends data that consists of name-value pairs, separated by spaces. The option JSON sends data in JSON output. For examples, see Example Output earlier in this page.

    4. The interval in seconds between successive calls to the pipe command. The default is 10 seconds.

  3. When the routine displays the main prompt again (LOGDMN option?), press 1 to enable logging.

  4. Press 7 to start logging.

Using the Class-Based API

To manage structured logging, you can use the class SYS.LogDmnOpens in a new tab in the %SYS namespace instead of using the management portal or the ^LOGDMN routine. For details, see the class reference.

Other Options of irislogd

When you invoke the irislogd.exe executable via the management portal or the ^LOGDMN, you can pass the following arguments to the executable:

Argument Purpose
-d Emit diagnostic and error messages
-e errfilename Write errors and diagnostic messages to the given file.
-f logfilename Write log messages to the given file.
-h hostname Includes the given host name in the structured log file.
-i irisinstance Includes the given instance name in the structured log file.
-s Write log messages to the Unix® syslog facility (Unix® only)

Also, you can write the output to stdout. To do on Unix, omit both -f and -s arguments. To do so on Windows, omit the -s argument.

See Also

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