Software Architect's Handbook

Routing log entries

Many logging frameworks provide functionality that allows you to configure routing rules for log entries. These may be based on the log level, the source, or some combination of criteria. Log entries can then be set up to target different destinations. Some examples of destinations for log entries include the console, text files, databases, email, and the Windows Event Log.

Writing logs to text files on local disks has been a common practice, but when your application is running on many different servers, it becomes difficult to search through all of the files without the use of tools. This issue is further exacerbated when your application is running in the cloud. Given the elasticity provided by hosting your application ...