Administering the Logging Features

Xpress Insight supports a change log, a job log, an audit log, and a server log.

The server log is the general-purpose log that can be used to monitor the health of the server.
The change log records all edits made to scenario input data by all system users and is disabled by default.
The audit log captures all changes to the Xpress Insight user database including the creation, modification, assignment and deletion of users, authorities and authority groups. It is enabled by default.
The job log records the jobs submitted and gives timings for each stage of each job execution.

Log Folder Location

By default, all logs are located at:

<XPRESSINSTALL>/insight/server/wildfly-x.y.z/standalone/log/

where

<XPRESSINSTALL> is the installation location of Xpress Insight (by default c:/xpressmp/)
x.y.z are the Wildfly version, subversion, and patch numbers.

Automatic Log Retention

Xpress Insight logs are monitored by a size-rotating-file-handler. When a log reaches a pre-configured size, it will be renamed, and a new log started. Any existing log file with the same name will be renamed with the next number in the sequence. For example, server.log.1 will be renamed server.log.2, server.log.2 becomes server.log.3, and so on up to a maximum of entries. When the folder contains the maximum number of back up files, the oldest will not be renamed, and will be deleted.

Log Default Settings

The following defaults are applied to the log files. These settings are configurable. For more, see the later topic Configuring Logging.

Log	Size	Naming Convention		Default Rotation
		Current Log	Backup Files
Server log	50MB	server.log	server.log.N	19 files (current +18)
Change Log	5MB	insight-data-changes.log	insight-data-changes.N.log	7 files (current +6)
Audit Log	5MB	insight-audit.log	insight-audit.N.log	7 files (current +6)
Job Log	5MB	insight-jobs.log	insight-jobs.N.log	7 files (current +6)

You should verify the default maximum sizes and maximum number of back-ups are suitable for your requirements.

Note Xpress Insight 4.56 revised the file handling method used to store these logs. Prior to Insight 4.56, a periodic rotating file handler would create a new log file named server.log, and rename the previous log by suffixing the filename with the date. These files were not automatically deleted and could eventually impair the server performance.

The system administrator should periodically check and store the oldest logs in an alternative location if they need to be retained. For example, your company may require you retain the audit logs for a set period of time.

Log files written to the wildfly-x.y.z\standalone\log directory can also be downloaded from the LOGS page within the Xpress Admin pages, as well as zip archives of all the logs from the last 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days (Those zip files will not include any files that have been deleted due to the size constraints).

Note Xpress Insight also supports a periodic-size-rotating-file-handler, which could be configured to start a new file at midnight and at any point during the day if the log file reaches a certain size. For more, see Alternative Logging Triggers.

Server Log

This file contains general-purpose information that can be used to monitor the health of the server.

This log is stored in the log folder as server.log. For more, see Log Folder Location.

Change Log

When enabled, change logging writes changes made by users to a WildFly log file on the server.

This log is stored in the log folder as insight-data-changes.log. For more, see Log Folder Location.

Log file records are written in the following format:

<timestamp> <scenario guid>
<path to scenario> <user> entity-update <entities
updated>

Because of data dependencies relating to shared indexing, when a new row is added to an entity, some extra and unexpected records may be written to the change log.

Audit Log

The audit log records when users with administrative privileges log in to the administration interface (the Xpress Insight web client) and the actions they perform while logged in. Audit log data is added to the WildFly system log file.

Audit log records are formatted according to the following pattern:

<timestamp> <operation> <initiation>

Each audit log record will match one in the following list:

<timestamp> ADMIN_LOGIN admin
<timestamp> ADMIN_LOGOUT admin

<timestamp> USER_CREATE admin <user>
<timestamp> USER_NAME admin <user> <firstname> <lastname>
<timestamp> USER_EMAIL admin <user> <email>
<timestamp> USER_LOCAL_ACCOUNT admin <user> false
<timestamp> USER_LOCKED admin <user>
<timestamp> USER_UNLOCKED admin <user>
<timestamp> USER_ENABLE admin <user>
<timestamp> USER_DISABLE admin <user>
<timestamp> USER_PASSWORD admin <user>
<timestmap> USER_TABLEAU_ENABLED admin <user> true
<timestamp> USER_TABLEAU_USERNAME admin <user> <tableauUsername>

<timestamp> GROUP_MEMBER_ADD admin <user> <group>
<timestamp> GROUP_MEMBER_REMOVE admin <user> <group>

<timestamp> PROJECT_MEMBER_ADD admin <user> <projectId> <projectName>
<timestamp> PROJECT_MEMBER_REMOVE admin <user> <projectId> <projectName>

<timestamp> GROUP_AUTHORITY_ADD admin <group> <authority>
<timestamp> GROUP_AUTHORITY_REMOVE admin <group> <authority>

<timestamp> AUTHORITY_CREATE admin <authority>
<timestamp> AUTHORITY_DELETE admin <authority>

<timestamp> AUTHORITY_GROUP_CREATE admin <group>
<timestamp> AUTHORITY_GROUP_DELETE admin <group>

<timestamp> DATABASE_USER_PASSWORD admin <databaseUser>

Note When a username, or an app/project name contains spaces, they are escaped with a backslash, so an app called Facility location would appear as Facility\ location. Similarly, if needed, a backslash is escaped with a backslash.

Example Audit Log Activity Records

Administrative user logs in:

2017-12-05 10:22:45,023 ADMIN_LOGIN admin

Admin creates a new user - JSmith:

2017-12-05 10:53:04,130 USER_CREATE admin JSmith

Admin sets the new user's first and last names - note the escaped space:

2017-12-05 10:53:04,130 USER_NAME admin JSmith John\ Smith

Admin enables Tableau and sets the Tableau user name for the new user:

2017-12-05 10:53:04,130 USER_TABLEAU_ENABLED admin JSmith true
2017-12-05 10:53:04,131 USER_TABLEAU_USERNAME admin JSmith JSmith

Admin adds the new user's email address:

2017-12-05 10:53:04,131 USER_EMAIL admin JSmith jsmith@gmail.com

Admin adds the new user to an app/project - note the escaped space in the name of the project (Quick Start):

2017-12-05 10:53:04,210 PROJECT_MEMBER_ADD admin JSmith 31af2483-571e-40d1-83a8-9e2bd95ab9e8 Quick\ Start

Implicit Audit Log Entries

Some administrative activities generate implicit audit log entries.

In the following table, apps and projects are synonymous.

Audit log activity	Generated entries
Deleting a project/app	PROJECT_MEMBER_REMOVE
Creating a project/app	PROJECT_MEMBER_ADD: Logging the assignment of the owner as a member
Importing a project/app	PROJECT_MEMBER_ADD: When a new app is created, this entry assigns the owner as a member
Importing a repository	PROJECT_MEMBER_ADD: If a new app is imported, this entry assigns the owner as a membere AUTHORITY_CREATE: If a new authority is imported AUTHORITY_GROUP_CREATE: If a new authority group is created
Changing the Tableau data source password	DATABASE_USER_PASSWORD: If the password was successfully applied to the database server specified as the Tableau data source.

Job Log

The Job Log captures timings for each stage of each job execution. This log is stored in the log folder as insight-jobs.log. For more, see Log Folder Location.

Job log records are formatted according to the following pattern:

<id> <model_name> <scenario_name> <execution_state> <executionMode> <executionServiceName> <executionWorkerName> <numberOfThreads> <failureCount> <safeMode> <timeSinceLastMessage> <message>

An example execution cycle resembles the following:

2021-02-23 10:05:52	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	LOAD	0	false	0	CREATED
2021-02-23 10:05:52	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	PREPARING		LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	128	STARTING
2021-02-23 10:05:52	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	CONNECTING	LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	54		CONNECTING
2021-02-23 10:05:52	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	PREPARING		LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	282	PREPARING
2021-02-23 10:05:53	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	EXECUTING		LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	623	EXECUTING
2021-02-23 10:05:53	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	COMPLETING	LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	318	COMPLETING
2021-02-23 10:05:54	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	COMPLETING	LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	354	MIRRORING
2021-02-23 10:05:54	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	COMPLETING	LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	63		STOPPING
2021-02-23 10:05:54	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	COMPLETING	LOAD	PRIMARY	localhost	0	false	2			COMPLETED
2021-02-23 10:05:54	128	 Test model	Scenario 1	LOAD				0	false	0	REMOVED

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