Configure log4net

Before you begin, you’ll need:

  • log4net 2.0.8 or higher
  • .NET Core SDK version 2.0 or higher
  • .NET Framework version 4.6.1 or higher
Add the dependency to your project

If you’re on Windows, navigate to your project’s folder in the command line, and run this command to install the dependency.

Install-Package Logzio.DotNet.Log4net

If you’re on a Mac or Linux machine, you can install the package using Visual Studio. Select Project > Add NuGet Packages..., and then search for Logzio.DotNet.Log4net.

Configure the appender

You can configure the appender in a configuration file or directly in the code. Use the samples in the code blocks below as a starting point, and replace them with a configuration that matches your needs. See log4net documentation 🔗 to learn more about configuration options.

For a complete list of options, see the configuration parameters below the code blocks.👇

Option 1: In a configuration file
<log4net>
  <appender name="LogzioAppender" type="Logzio.DotNet.Log4net.LogzioAppender, Logzio.DotNet.Log4net">

    <!-- Replace these parameters with your configuration -->
    <token><<LOG-SHIPPING-TOKEN>></token>
    <type>log4net</type>
    <listenerUrl>https://<<LISTENER-HOST>>:8071</listenerUrl>
    <bufferSize>100</bufferSize>
    <bufferTimeout>00:00:05</bufferTimeout>
    <retriesMaxAttempts>3</retriesMaxAttempts>
    <retriesInterval>00:00:02</retriesInterval>
    <gzip>true</gzip>
    <debug>false</debug>
    <jsonKeysCamelCase>false</jsonKeysCamelCase>
    <!--<parseJsonMessage>true</parseJsonMessage>-->
    
  </appender>

  <root>
    <level value="INFO" />
    <appender-ref ref="LogzioAppender" />
  </root>
</log4net>

Add a reference to the configuration file in your code, as shown in the example here.

Option 2: In the code
var hierarchy = (Hierarchy)LogManager.GetRepository();
var logzioAppender = new LogzioAppender();

// Replace these parameters with your configuration
logzioAppender.AddToken("<<LOG-SHIPPING-TOKEN>>");
logzioAppender.AddType("log4net");
logzioAppender.AddListenerUrl("https://<<LISTENER-HOST>>:8071");
logzioAppender.AddBufferSize(100);
logzioAppender.AddBufferTimeout(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
logzioAppender.AddRetriesMaxAttempts(3);
logzioAppender.AddRetriesInterval(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
logzioAppender.AddDebug(false);
logzioAppender.AddGzip(true);
logzioAppender.JsonKeysCamelCase(false);
// <-- Uncomment and edit this line to enable proxy routing: --> 
// logzioAppender.AddProxyAddress("http://your.proxy.com:port");
// <-- Uncomment this to parse messages as JSON -->  
// logzioAppender.ParseJsonMessage(true);
hierarchy.Root.AddAppender(logzioAppender);
hierarchy.Configured = true;
Parameters
Parameter Description Default/Required
token Your Layerlog log shipping token securely directs the data to your Layerlog account. Replace <<LOG-SHIPPING-TOKEN>> with the token of the account you want to ship to. Required
listenerUrl Listener URL and port. Replace <<LISTENER-HOST>> with the host for your region. For example, listener.layerlog.com if your account is hosted on AWS US East, or listener-nl.layerlog.com if hosted on Azure West Europe. https://listener.layerlog.com:8071
type The log type, shipped as type field. Used by Layerlog for consistent parsing. Can’t contain spaces. log4net
bufferSize Maximum number of messages the logger will accumulate before sending them all as a bulk. 100
bufferTimeout Maximum time to wait for more log lines, as hh:mm:ss.fff. 00:00:05
retriesMaxAttempts Maximum number of attempts to connect to Layerlog. 3
retriesInterval Time to wait between retries, as hh:mm:ss.fff. 00:00:02
gzip To compress the data before shipping, true. Otherwise, false. false
debug To print debug messages to the console and trace log, true. Otherwise, false. false
parseJsonMessage To parse your message as JSON format, add this field and set it to true. false
proxyAddress Proxy address to route your logs through. None
jsonKeysCamelCase If you have custom fields keys that start with a capital letter and want to see the fields with a capital letter in Layerlog, set this field to true. false
Code sample
using System.IO;
using log4net;
using log4net.Config;
using System.Reflection;

namespace dotnet_log4net
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      var logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Program));
      var logRepository = LogManager.GetRepository(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly());

      // Replace "App.config" with the config file that holds your log4net configuration
      XmlConfigurator.Configure(logRepository, new FileInfo("App.config"));

      logger.Info("Now I don't blame him 'cause he run and hid");
      logger.Info("But the meanest thing he ever did");
      logger.Info("Before he left was he went and named me Sue");

      LogManager.Shutdown();
    }
  }
}

Custom fields

You can add static keys and values to be added to all log messages. These custom fields must be children of <appender>, as shown here.

<appender name="LogzioAppender" type="Logzio.DotNet.Log4net.LogzioAppender, Logzio.DotNet.Log4net">
  <customField>
    <key>Environment</key>
    <value>Production</value>
  </customField>
  <customField>
    <key>Location</key>
    <value>New Jerseay B1</value>
  </customField>
</appender>

Extending the appender

To change or add fields to your logs, inherit the appender and override the ExtendValues method.

public class MyAppLogzioAppender : LogzioAppender
{
  protected override void ExtendValues(LoggingEvent loggingEvent, Dictionary<string, string> values)
  {
    values["logger"] = "MyPrefix." + values["logger"];
    values["myAppClientId"] = new ClientIdProvider().Get();
  }
}

Change your configuration to use your new appender name. For the example above, you’d use MyAppLogzioAppender.