log4j2.yml in custom module not being pickup by Wildfly

[tom]

Hi

The application is deployed as EAR file and it is looking up a custom module in wildlfy to load up the properties file, including log4j2.yml.

The log4j2.yml is in a subfolder, say under config folder.

Wildfly does not seem to read the file in the config folder although the web.xml has configured it via web.xml

<context-param>
<param-name>log4jConfiguration</param-name>
<param-value>classpath:/config/log4j2.yml</param-value>
</context-param>

<listener>
<listener-class>org.apache.logging.log4j.web.Log4jServletContextListener</listener-class>
</listener>

If I put the log4j2.yml in the root of the module, then it works fine.

[James Perkins]

What version of WildFly are you using? Also can you post your jboss-deployment-structure.xml.

[tom]

I was testing on Wildlfly 21.

Here's my jboss-deployment-structure.xml in myapp.ear\META-INF\

<jboss-deployment-structure xmlns="urn:jboss:deployment-structure:1.2">

    <deployment>

        <exclude-subsystems>

            <subsystem name="webservices" />

        </exclude-subsystems>

                <dependencies>

            <system export="true">

                <paths>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/soap"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/spi"/>

<path name="javax/xml/ws/spi/http"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/handler"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/wsaddressing"/>

                    

                    <path name="javax/jws"/>

                    <path name="javax/jws/soap"/>

                    <path name="com/sun/org/apache/xerces/internal/dom"/>

                    <path name="com/sun/org/apache/xerces/internal/jaxp"/>

                </paths>

            </system>

        </dependencies>

    </deployment>

</jboss-deployment-structure>

Please note that I do have the following in WEB-INF\lib

log4j-api-2.14.1.jar

log4j-core-2.14.1.jar

log4j-web-2.14.1.jar

P.S. When I run my app in Tomcat as a war, it seems to be fine too.

[James Perkins]

You need to add a dependency on the module you created as well. Modules are not automatically added to your deployments modular class loader. Also note with WildFly 22+ you'll need to exclude the `org.apache.logging.log4j.api` module in order to use log4j-core and a log4j2 configuration.

[tom]

Hi, 
I did not create a separate module for log4j2. I am using the jars in the lib folder. Would you please show me the changes that I need in jboss-deployment-structure.xml?

[tom]

Would you please help? I believe log4j2 module was loaded just unable to look for the log4j2 configuration.

[tom]

FYI, I tried the same application in Wildfly 25. The issue is the same. Log4j2 could only be loaded if the log4j2.xml file is in the root folder of the custom module. It is ignoring the log4jconfiguration setting in web.xml

[James Perkins]

What are you referring to as the "custom module"?

[tom]

I created a module under the wildfly modules folder, for example wildfly-25.0.0.Final\modules\com\test\main

It has a subfolder "config" which contains the log4j2.yml

and the module.xml is as follows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<module name="com.test" xmlns="urn:jboss:module:1.9">

    <resources>

        <resource-root path="."/>

    </resources>

</module>

[James Perkins]

Then you ned to add the `com.test` module to your deployment. Modules are not loaded as dependencies to a deployment by default.

[tom]

Hi 

It seems to be working only for WAR deployment. Is it the same the EAR?

[James Perkins]

What part does not seem to be working? For an EAR you'd need to add the module to the EAR and each sub-deployment.

[tom]

I added the sub-deployment in jboss-deployment-structure.xml. It created a rolling file in the folder that I specified in the config/log4j2.xml. However, the file is just empty. The log were still written to server.log for some reason.

[James Perkins]

You also need to exclude the org.apache.logging.log4j.api module from each sub-deployment too.

[tom]

I added the following but still not seeing entries in my log file

<sub-deployment name="my.war">

<dependencies>

<module name="com.test" />

</dependencies>

<exclusions>

<module name="org.apache.logging.log4j.api" />

</ exclusions>

</sub-deployment>

[tom]

This is in the server.log. 

108575 [default task-1] INFO stdout  - 16:07:09.109 [default task-1] ERROR com.xxx my error

[James Perkins]

Ah okay. That's because you're using a ConsoleAppender. If you removed the ConsoleAppender from your configuration then it would not go to the server.log.

[tom]

I removed the console appender but still seeing only the entry in server.log

Here's my log4j2.yml. Did I miss anything?

Configuration:

  status: warn

  appenders:

    Console:

      name: LogToConsole

      PatternLayout:

        Pattern: "[%-5level] %d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %c{1} - %msg%n"

    #File:

    #  name: File

    #  fileName: logs/app.log

    #  PatternLayout:

    #    Pattern: "%d %p %C{1.} [%t] %m%n"

    RollingFile:

      - name: LogToRollingFile

        fileName: c:/logs/app.log

        filePattern: "logs/$${date:yyyy-MM}/app-%d{MM-dd-yyyy}-%i.log.gz"

        PatternLayout:

          pattern: "[%-5level] %d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %c{1} - %msg%n"

        Policies:

          SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy:

            size: 10MB

        DefaultRollOverStrategy:

          max: 10

  Loggers:

    logger:

      - name: com.xxx

        level: debug

        additivity: false

        AppenderRef:

#          - ref: LogToConsole

          - ref: LogToRollingFile

    Root:

      level: error

      AppenderRef:

        ref: LogToRollingFile

[James Perkins]

What does your jboss-deployment-structure.xml look like and where is it located?

[tom]

in EAR/META-INF/

<jboss-deployment-structure xmlns="urn:jboss:deployment-structure:1.2">

    <deployment>

        <exclude-subsystems>

            <subsystem name="webservices" />

        </exclude-subsystems>

                <dependencies>

<module name="com.test" />

            <system export="true">

                <paths>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/soap"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/spi"/>

<path name="javax/xml/ws/spi/http"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/handler"/>

                    <path name="javax/xml/ws/wsaddressing"/>

                    

                    <path name="javax/jws"/>

                    <path name="javax/jws/soap"/>

                    <path name="com/sun/org/apache/xerces/internal/dom"/>

                    <path name="com/sun/org/apache/xerces/internal/jaxp"/>

                </paths>

            </system>

        </dependencies>

    </deployment>

<sub-deployment name="my.war">

<dependencies>

<module name="com.test" />

</dependencies>

    <exclusions>

      <module name="org.apache.logging.log4j.api" />

    </exclusions>

</sub-deployment>

</jboss-deployment-structure>

[James Perkins]

One thing is you'll need to exclude the org.apache.logging.log4j.api module on your main (EAR) deployment too. Do you have any other modules besides the web module in your EAR? If so those would need to be listed too. I'm not sure how it will work with servlet initializer either. It might work though. I did a test locally and it did seem to work, but I'm not sure that is guaranteed. 

[tom]

I added the exclusions for module org.apache.logging.log4j.api in main EAR but still did not work. I only have one war file in the ear.

[James Perkins]

Hmm... ...without seeing a specific example I'm not too sure. My test with an EJB and a WAR in an EAR worked. If there is just a WAR in the EAR you could just try using the WAR only as there is no real advantage to the EAR.