How-To: Configure Tomcat 9 to log via Log4j2

Question

How can you redirect Tomcat 9's internal logging (catalina and localhost) to Log4j2?

While there are many guides available for older versions of Tomcat and Log4j, I couldn't find anything "complete" regarding Tomcat 9 and Log4j2; the Apache Tomcat 9 documentation points to "the instructions provided by the alternative logging framework", and the Apache Log4j documentation states (jar names in 2. corrected):

Log4j may be used as the logging framework for Apache Tomcat. This support is implemented automatically by including the log4j-api, log4j-core, and log4j-appserver jars in the boot classpath. A file named log4j2-tomcat.xml, log4j2-tomcat.json, log4j2-tomcat.yaml, log4j2-tomcat.yml, or log4j2-tomcat.properties must also be placed in the boot classpath. This is most easily done by:

1. Creating a set of directories in catalina home named log4j2/lib and log4j2/conf.
2. Placing log4j-api-2.12.0.jar, log4j-core-2.12.0.jar, and log4j-appserver-2.12.0.jar in the log4j2/lib directory.
3. Creating a file named log4j2-tomcat.xml, log4j2-tomcat.json, log4j2-tomcat.yaml, log4j2-tomcat.yml, or log4j2-tomcat.properties in the log4j2/conf directory.
4. Create or modify setenv.sh in the tomcat bin directory to include CLASSPATH=$CATALINA_HOME/log4j2/lib/*:$CATALINA_HOME/log4j2/conf

But what to put in that log4j2-tomcat.* config file?

Answer 1

I found a sample properties file in the Apache Tomcat 7 documentation, but since this is meant for use with Log4j 1.x, I had to adapt it to the Log4j2 properties file syntax. This is the result:

# 'status' refers to log messages from Log4j2 itself
monitorInterval = 30
status = warn

property.loglevel.catalina = info
property.loglevel.localhost = info

property.layoutPattern.catalina = %d %-5p [%t] %-22.22c{1} %m%n
property.layoutPattern.localhost = %d %-5p [%t] %-30.30c{1} %m%n

# Roll-over the logs once per month using CronTriggerPolicy.

property.fileDatePattern.catalina = %d{yyyy-MM}
property.fileDatePattern.localhost = %d{yyyy-MM}

property.cronTriggerSchedule.catalina = 0 0 0 1 * ?
property.cronTriggerSchedule.localhost = 0 0 0 1 * ?

## Appenders

# N.B.: - No need to specify 'appenders = CATALINA, LOCALHOST, CONSOLE'
#         since these identifiers don't contain '.' characters.
#       - The sub-component identifiers 'policies' and 'cron' are arbitrarily
#         chosen; the actual type is specified via the 'type' attribute.
#       - 'DirectWriteRolloverStrategy' is used automatically since no 'fileName' specified.

appender.CATALINA.type = RollingFile
appender.CATALINA.name = RollingFile-CATALINA
appender.CATALINA.filePattern = ${sys:catalina.base}/logs/catalina.${fileDatePattern.catalina}.log
appender.CATALINA.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.CATALINA.layout.pattern = ${layoutPattern.catalina}
appender.CATALINA.policies.type = Policies
appender.CATALINA.policies.cron.type = CronTriggeringPolicy
appender.CATALINA.policies.cron.schedule = ${cronTriggerSchedule.catalina}
appender.CATALINA.policies.cron.evaluateOnStartup = true
appender.CATALINA.filePermissions = rw-r-----
appender.CATALINA.fileOwner = tomcat
appender.CATALINA.fileGroup = adm

appender.LOCALHOST.type = RollingFile
appender.LOCALHOST.name = RollingFile-LOCALHOST
appender.LOCALHOST.filePattern = ${sys:catalina.base}/logs/localhost.${fileDatePattern.localhost}.log
appender.LOCALHOST.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.LOCALHOST.layout.pattern = ${layoutPattern.localhost}
appender.LOCALHOST.policies.type = Policies
appender.LOCALHOST.policies.cron.type = CronTriggeringPolicy
appender.LOCALHOST.policies.cron.schedule = ${cronTriggerSchedule.localhost}
appender.LOCALHOST.policies.cron.evaluateOnStartup = true
appender.LOCALHOST.filePermissions = rw-r-----
appender.LOCALHOST.fileOwner = tomcat
appender.LOCALHOST.fileGroup = adm

# Uncomment if you want to keep logging to catalina.out after Log4j2 takes over.

#appender.CONSOLE.type = Console
#appender.CONSOLE.name = STDOUT
#appender.CONSOLE.layout.type = PatternLayout

## Configure which loggers log to which appenders

rootLogger.level = ${loglevel.catalina}
rootLogger.appenderRef.CATALINA.ref = RollingFile-CATALINA
#rootLogger.appenderRef.stdout.ref = STDOUT

# Here, the identifier does contain '.' characters, so we must specify the list.
loggers = org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost]

logger.org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].name = LOCALHOST
logger.org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].level = ${loglevel.localhost}
logger.org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].appenderRef.LOCALHOST.ref = RollingFile-LOCALHOST

The main reason for me to use Log4j2 was to be able get monthly log rotation, but you can easily adjust everything how you like, even without restarting Tomcat.