How to inject Log4j2 ThreadContext values into Jersey's LoggingFeature

Question

I want to log Request/Response of my server in log files. I am using Springboot + jersey 2.x + log4j2. I registered jersey's LoggingFeature like this -

jerseyConfig.register(
    new LoggingFeature(
          java.util.logging.Logger.getLogger(
                     LoggingFeature.DEFAULT_LOGGER_NAME),
          java.util.logging.Level.SEVERE,
          LoggingFeature.Verbosity.PAYLOAD_ANY,
          Integer.MAX_VALUE)
);

log4j2.xml

<!-- Jersey logger -->
<AsyncLogger name="org.glassfish" level="all" additivity="false">
    <AppenderRef ref="Console" level="off" />
    <AppenderRef ref="RollingFileIO" level="error" />
</AsyncLogger>

In pattern, I am injecting transaction-id with help of log4j2's ThreadContext. I have log4j-jul 2.1 in my pom.xml, and I am running it with

-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.logging.log4j.jul.LogManager .

Things are working fine, only problem is, in jersey's logs, I am unable to insert transaction id. I tried utils logging with my custom code, and I am able to put transaction-id in it. But by the time jersey writes these logs, ThreadContext gets cleared and transaction-id values comes empty.

What do you mean "unable to insert transaction id"? Error? Unclear on what API to use (or whether API exists)? — Remko Popma
I meant, by the time jersey writes these logs, ThreadContext gets cleared by my code. For any http request, I generate transaction-id and put it in ThreadContext and clear it when response goes out. Jersey writes before and after of these events. I tried java.util.logging by my own logging, and it successfully puts transaction-id in logs. — theGamblerRises

jmehrens jmehrens · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-20T13:39:57

If the log flow is JUL->log4j2->FooAppender->Layout->ThreadContext.pop then

Per Including the ThreadContext when writing logs:

The PatternLayout provides mechanisms to print the contents of the ThreadContext Map and Stack.

Use %X by itself to include the full contents of the Map.

Use %X{key} to include the specified key.

Use %x to include the full contents of the Stack.

If the flow is log4j2->JUL->FooHandler->Formatter->ThreadContext.pop then you have to install or create a formatter that is aware of the ThreadContext. You also have make sure in this configuration that log4j2->ThreadContext.pop->JUL->FooHandler->Formatter is not happening as that would forget all of the information before it gets to JUL.

All of the examples in the documentation show the ThreadContext is set prior to invoking the logger. Which means you have to set the ThreadContext prior to any Jersey code execution.

How to inject Log4j2 ThreadContext values into Jersey's LoggingFeature

2 Answers