How do I get bluemix logs to include stacktraces?

Question

Our code simply uses java.util.logging to log info, errors etc. I can then view these logs in multiple ways:

1. cf logs command
2. bluemix web console (log aggregator)
3. kibana web ui
4. ssh and cat /home/vcap/logs/messages.log

If I log a message, it shows up everywhere. If I log a message and pass an exception parameter, the message shows up everywhere but the exception only shows up in /home/vcap/logs/messages.log. The exception and stacktrace do not show up in cf logs, bluemix console or kibana. Since the messages.log file has a finite size and is not persisted across re-stages, I can't always look in it to get the information I need.

So how can I can ensure the full log message including the exception is being fully logged?

Answer 1

By default, messages.log will only contain messages that are written or captured by the logging component. The FFDC logs (in the logs directory of each application) should contain full stack traces. See [1] and [2] for more details:

[1] https://console.bluemix.net/docs/runtimes/liberty/loggingAndTracing.html#logging_tracing

[2] https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEQTP_liberty/com.ibm.websphere.wlp.doc/ae/rwlp_logging.html

Answer 2

the following article provides information specific to logging & tracing: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEQTP_liberty/com.ibm.websphere.wlp.doc/ae/rwlp_logging.html

Table 2 provides valid logging levels. Take a look at this table and use the appropriate log level to get the information you need in logs. hope this helps.