logback-syslog4j

A Logback appender that leverages syslog4j to send log messages to remote systems via syslog.

Why?

The existing syslog appender for Logback only provides the ability to send messages via UDP. Using syslog4j allows us to send messages via TCP and optionally to encrypt them by sending over TCP with TLS.

How?

Add this to your pom.xml:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.papertrailapp</groupId>
      <artifactId>logback-syslog4j</artifactId>
      <version>1.0.0</version>
    </dependency>

Then add the appender to your logback.xml.

If not using Maven, download logback-syslog4j-1.0.0.jar and the latest syslog4j JAR. Place these files in the classpath, in addition to Logback itself.

Logging via TCP with TLS (recommended)

  <appender name="SYSLOG-TLS" class="com.papertrailapp.logback.Syslog4jAppender">
    <layout class="ch.qos.logback.classic.PatternLayout">
      <pattern>%-5level %logger{35}: %m%n%xEx</pattern>
    </layout>

    <syslogConfig class="org.productivity.java.syslog4j.impl.net.tcp.ssl.SSLTCPNetSyslogConfig">
      <!-- remote system to log to -->
      <host>localhost</host>
      <!-- remote port to log to -->
      <port>514</port>
      <!-- program name to log as -->
      <ident>java-app</ident>
      <!-- max log message length in bytes -->
      <maxMessageLength>128000</maxMessageLength>
    </syslogConfig>
  </appender>

  <root level="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="SYSLOG-TLS" />
  </root>

Logging via TCP

  <appender name="SYSLOG-TCP" class="com.papertrailapp.logback.Syslog4jAppender">
    <layout class="ch.qos.logback.classic.PatternLayout">
      <pattern>%-5level %logger{35}: %m%n%xEx</pattern>
    </layout>

    <syslogConfig class="org.productivity.java.syslog4j.impl.net.tcp.TCPNetSyslogConfig">
      <!-- remote system to log to -->
      <host>localhost</host>
      <!-- remote port to log to -->
      <port>514</port>
      <!-- program name to log as -->
      <ident>java-app</ident>
      <!-- max log message length in bytes -->
      <maxMessageLength>128000</maxMessageLength>
    </syslogConfig>
  </appender>

  <root level="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="SYSLOG-TCP" />
  </root>

Logging via UDP

  <appender name="SYSLOG-UDP" class="com.papertrailapp.logback.Syslog4jAppender">
    <layout class="ch.qos.logback.classic.PatternLayout">
      <pattern>%-5level %logger{35}: %m%n%xEx</pattern>
    </layout>

    <syslogConfig class="org.productivity.java.syslog4j.impl.net.udp.UDPNetSyslogConfig">
      <!-- remote system to log to -->
      <host>localhost</host>
      <!-- remote port to log to -->
      <port>514</port>
      <!-- program name to log as -->
      <ident>java-app</ident>
    </syslogConfig>
  </appender>

  <root level="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="SYSLOG-UDP" />
  </root>