Application Logging for large systems
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This document discusses logging best practices for Java applications. It covers how to set up logging frameworks like Log4j and SLF4j, what types of information are useful to log, and how to analyze logs to debug and improve applications. The document provides examples of good logging messages and techniques for querying, aggregating, and learning from log data using tools like grep, awk and scripting languages.
![©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc.
Logging [vs Debugging]
Set up once, always ready to use
Minimum disruption to the flow
Works locally and in the cloud
Faster data collection
Collected data is persisted](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/loggingforfun-hjug03262014-140327131702-phpapp02/85/Application-Logging-for-large-systems-6-320.jpg)
![©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc.
Example layout
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=
%d %5p [%t] (%F:%L) - %m%n
- Date
- Log Level
- Thread name
- File and line (slow to retrieve)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/loggingforfun-hjug03262014-140327131702-phpapp02/85/Application-Logging-for-large-systems-20-320.jpg)
Application Logging for large systems
- 1. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Logging For Fun and Profit Jane Prusakova Jane.Prusakova@ImprovingEnterprises.com http://softwareandotherthings.blogspot.com Improving Enterprises Houston JUG 2014
- 2. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Jane Prusakova Hard-core developer Data science geek Dancer and photographer
- 3. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Why How-to Using the results So lets talk about logging…
- 4. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Peek into the soul Real setup Real data Real users Real work Dev environment Happy path Minimum load Limited data
- 5. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Inside the cloud No programming-by-coincidence Replaces debugging Works on server
- 6. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Logging [vs Debugging] Set up once, always ready to use Minimum disruption to the flow Works locally and in the cloud Faster data collection Collected data is persisted
- 7. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Logging helps with… Integration Multithreading High load
- 8. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. What else? Trace what the users do Features Sequences Data flow
- 9. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. When to use logging? New systems New features Bug fixing
- 10. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Are logs forever? Permanent Errors Extraordinary situations
- 11. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Some are seasonal Very temporary Debugging info Trace bug fixes
- 12. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Others last awhile Medium term Data flow Resource utilization Optimization points
- 13. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. How-to Using the results
- 14. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Yes, I want to setup logging! Pick a framework Configure logging Storage and access Getting value from logs
- 15. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Log4J SLF4J Apache MIT license Logging framework Logging facade Configuration, log levels and categories, rotate log files, thread-safe logging. Support: online documentation, tutorials, online forums.
- 16. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Database Files Easy to parse, hard to evolve Very hard to parse, easy to change Uses DB connections Requires FS access Can cause app crash, loss of logs, slow down app Can fill up space
- 17. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Where to write logs? Console File system DB Queue mechanisms Combination
- 18. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Logging configuration Java properties-style XML Programmatically Hard-coded Takes preference
- 19. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Log Message What to log with the message Importance level Timestamp Where in the code Data being processed System state info
- 20. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Example layout log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern= %d %5p [%t] (%F:%L) - %m%n - Date - Log Level - Thread name - File and line (slow to retrieve)
- 21. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Good log messages Support code Correctness Readability Performance
- 22. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Better log messages Relate to generating point Code Data
- 23. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Best log messages Are formatted for Readability Aggregation
- 24. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Logging objects .toString() org.apache.commons.lang.builder.ToStringBuilder log.info(myDataObject);
- 25. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. What to log Input and output Errors and exceptions Computation results Integration points Thread rendezvous
- 26. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Input and output public int calculateCost(String user, Flight flight) { log.debug(“calculateCost: “ + user + “: “ + flight); int cost = … ; … // cost calculation log.debug((“calculateCost: cost for “ + user + “: “ + flight + “ = “ + cost); return cost; }
- 27. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Errors and exceptions // do dangerous work result = DoDangerousWork(user, flight); } catch (Exception e) { log.error(“methodName: exception in DoDangerousWork for “ + user + “: “ + flight, e); // recover or re-throw }
- 28. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. More Log destination, parameters, outcomes DB calls SOAP calls Wait time Thread joins Available memory Memory-intensive operations Intermediate calculation results For complicated calculations
- 29. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Avoid Little information … // step 1 logger.info(“did something - XXXX”); … // step 2 logger.info(“did more work - YYYY”); foreach (…) { … // useful work logger.info(“working hard”); }
- 30. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Avoid Code cluttering if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) { logger.debug(“Show Views"); logger.debug("Address:n" + view.getAddress()); logger.debug("Email:n" + view.getEmail()); }
- 31. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Watch for logging-caused bugs Side effects Logger.info(count++ + “: did something”); Errors and exceptions Logger.info(m.GetValue());
- 32. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. DRY principle applies
- 33. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Growing, growing… Naming conventions Rotation by size by time
- 34. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. You’ve got logs! Real-time access Deal with space limitations Warning: large datasets
- 35. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Security Absolutely No Sensitive Data
- 36. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Using the results
- 37. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Learning from the logs Never rely on eye-balling WYS is not WYG Distinguish common and rare
- 38. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Code and logs
- 39. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Process log Line by line No need to load entire file Aggregate events Relate to time
- 40. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Tools Utilities grep sort uniq Scripting Perl Awk sed
- 41. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Learning from the logs > grep userName myApplication-MMDDYYYY.log > grep methodName myApplication-MMDDYYYY.log > grep FATAL myApplication-MMDDYYYY.log > tail -2000 myApplication-MMDDYYYY.log | grep Exception
- 42. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Querying logs using Awk GNU Awk www.gnu.org/software/gawk Create histograms Wait times Number of calls Exceptions per time period or per user Compare and relate events Exception stacks traces Outcomes by caller or thread
- 43. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. AWK demo Logs for the demo generously provided by http://42graphy.org/
- 44. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Jane.Prusakova at ImprovingEnterprises.com SoftwareAndOtherThings.blogspot.com @jprusakova Jane Prusakova http://www.slideshare.net/jprusakova
- 45. ©2010 Improving Enterprises, Inc. Logging For Fun and Profit Jane Prusakova Jane.Prusakova@ImprovingEnterprises.com http://softwareandotherthings.blogspot.com Improving Enterprises Houston JUG 2014