Azure WebJob Logging/Emailing

0
votes

I've converted a console app into a scheduled WebJob. All is working well, but I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to accomplish the error logging/emailing I'd like to have.

1.) I am using Console.WriteLine and Console.Error.WriteLine to create log messages. I see these displayed in the portal when I go to WebJob Run Details. Is there any way to have these logs saved to files somewhere? I added my storage account connection string as AzureWebJobsDashboard and AzureWebJobsStorage. But this appears to have just created an "azure-webjobs-dashboard" blob container that only has a "version" file in it.

2.) Is there a way to get line numbers to show up for exceptions in the WebJob log?

3.) What is the best way to send emails from within the WebJob console app? For example, if a certain condition occurs, I may want to have it send me and/or someone else (depending on what the condition is) an email along with logging the condition using Console.WriteLine or Console.Error.WriteLine. I've seen info on triggering emails via a queue or triggering emails on job failure, but what is the best way to just send an email directly in your console app code when it's running as a WebJob?

2
emailloggingazure-webjobs

2 Answers

3
votes

How is your job being scheduled? It sounds like you're using the WebJobs SDK - are you using the TimerTrigger for scheduling (from the Extensions library)? That extensions library also contains a new SendGrid binding that you can use to send emails from your job functions. We plan on expanding on that to also facilitate failure notifications like you describe, but it's not there yet. Nothing stops you from building something yourself however, using the new JobHostConfiguration.Tracing.Trace to plug in your own TraceWriter that you can use to catch errors/warnings and act as you see fit. All of this is in the beta1 pre-release.

Using that approach of plugging in a custom TraceWriter, I've been thinking of writing one that allows you to specify an error threshold/sliding window, and if the error rate exceeds, an email or other notification will be sent. All the pieces are there for this, just haven't done it yet :)

Regarding logging, the job logs (including your Console.WriteLines) are actually written to disk in your Web App (details here). You should be able to see them if you browse your site log directory. However, if you're using the SDK and Dashboard, you can also use the TextWriter/TraceWriter bindings for logging. These logs will be written to your storage account and will show up in the Dashboard Functions page per invocation. Here's an example.

0
votes

  1. Logs to files: You can use a custom TraceWriter https://gist.github.com/aaronhoffman/3e319cf519eb8bf76c8f3e4fa6f1b4ae

  2. Exception Stack Trace Line Numbers: You will need to make sure your project is built with debug info set to "full" (more info http://aaron-hoffman.blogspot.com/2016/07/get-line-numbers-in-exception-stack.html)

  3. SendGrid, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), etc.