Configuring a JBoss Handler which writes in a distinct file logs for a package

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This article shows how to configure a JBoss Logging Handler for a specific package (category) to be written in a separate log file.

Sometimes you need to add verbosity to a specific JBoss/WildFly package but you don’t want to mix it with the application server’s logs. So, in order to do that, you need to perform the following steps:

  • Define a Handler which points to a file path. In most cases, the Periodic Rotating File Handler is the best choice
  • Define a Logger, which contains the package (“category”) to be traced and the level of verbosity
<periodic-rotating-file-handler name="JTA-LOG" autoflush="true">
            <file relative-to="jboss.server.log.dir" path="${jboss.node.name}_jta.log"/>
            <rotate-size value="20000"/>
            <max-backup-index value="3"/>
            <suffix value=".yyyy-MM-dd"/>
            <suffix value=".yyyy-MM-dd"/>
            <append value="true"/>
</periodic-rotating-file-handler>
 
<logger category="com.arjuna.ats.jta" use-parent-handlers="false">
        <level name="TRACE"/>
        <handlers>
                <handler name="JTA-LOG"/>
        </handlers>
</logger>

<root-logger>
        <level name="INFO"/>
        <handlers>
            <handler name="JTA-LOG"/>
            <handler name="CONSOLE"/>
            <handler name="FILE"/>           
        </handlers>
</root-logger>

In this example configuration, we have defined a Perodic Rotating File Handler writing a file named ${jboss.node.name}_jta.log in the standard log dir. This Handler traces the package “com.arjuna.ats.jta” and it is added to the roo-logger. This will help you to keep the logs for a specific package in a separate log file.