Configuring the service log

The settings for service logs are typically shared for all servers, but you can configure a separate service log for each server process by overriding the configuration values at the server level.

About this task

The configuration values for the service log are inherited by each server process from the node configuration, but under certain circumstances you might wish to configure the service logs differently for individual servers. You can use the administrative console to change the service log settings from the server level configuration panels.

Note: This topic references one or more of the application server log files. As a recommended alternative, you can configure the server to use the High Performance Extensible Logging (HPEL) log and trace infrastructure instead of using SystemOut.log , SystemErr.log, trace.log, and activity.log files on distributed and IBM® i systems. You can also use HPEL in conjunction with your native z/OS® logging facilities. If you are using HPEL, you can access all of your log and trace information using the LogViewer command-line tool from your server profile bin directory. See the information about using HPEL to troubleshoot applications for more information on using HPEL.

In WebSphere Application Server Version 7 and earlier, the service log is enabled by default. In WebSphere Application Server Version 8x, however, the service log is disabled by default. Configure your servers to use HPEL log and trace mode and use the HPEL API if you need to be able to merge log file content from multiple servers. Use the HPEL log, trace mode and the HPEL LogViewer command if you need to be able to render log content in Common Base Event XML format.

Procedure

Start the administrative console.
Click Troubleshooting > Logs and Trace > server_name > IBM Service Logs.
Select the Enable box to enable the service log, or clear the check box to disable the log.
Set the name for the service log.

The default name is profile_root/logs/activity.log. If the name is changed, the run time requires write access to the new file, and the file must use the .log extension.

The default name is profile_root/logs/activity.log. If the name is changed, the run time requires write access to the new file, and the file must use the .log extension.
Set the maximum file size.

Specifies the number of megabytes to which the file can grow. When the file reaches this size, it wraps, replacing the oldest data with the newest data.
Save the configuration.
Restart the server to apply the configuration changes.