Customizing Application Logging in Appian on Kubernetes

Overview

This page details how to customize application logging for Appian on Kubernetes for self-managed customers. It details how to customize Webapp's appian_log4j.properties file, but its steps can easily be adapted to customize Search Server's log4j2.properties file or Service Manager's log.properties and log_db_YY.properties files.

Customizing application logging for the first time

Step 1: Download the file

First, download the example_appian_log4j_override.properties file shipped with the version of Appian on Kubernetes you're running. If you are not yet running Appian on Kubernetes, you can do so via docker container run:

docker container run --rm --entrypoint cat <WEBAPP_DOCKER_IMAGE> -- /usr/local/appian/ae/deployment/web.war/WEB-INF/resources/example_appian_log4j_override.properties > appian_log4j_override.properties

If you are already running Appian on Kubernetes and haven't customized application logging, you can also do so via kubectl cp:

kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> cp <WEBAPP_POD>:/usr/local/appian/ae/deployment/web.war/WEB-INF/resources/example_appian_log4j_override.properties appian_log4j_override.properties

Step 2: Edit the file

Edit the downloaded appian_log4j_override.properties file. For more details on editing the file, see Customizing Application Logging.

Step 3: Create a config map

Create a config map containing the file via kubectl create configmap:

kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> create configmap appian-log4j-override-properties --from-file=appian_log4j_override.properties

Step 4: Configure the Appian custom resource

Configure your Appian custom resource with additional volumes and volume mounts for Webapp such that your edited appian_log4j_override.properties file is mounted to /usr/local/appian/ae/deployment/web.war/WEB-INF/resources/log-override-properties/appian_log4j_override.properties:

apiVersion: crd.k8s.appian.com/v1beta1
kind: Appian
metadata:
  name: appian
spec:
  webapp:
    additionalVolumes:
      - name: appian-log4j-override-properties
        configMap:
          name: appian-log4j-override-properties # The name of the config map
    additionalVolumeMounts:
      - name: appian-log4j-override-properties # The name of the volume
        mountPath: /usr/local/appian/ae/deployment/web.war/WEB-INF/resources/log-override-properties

Caution: You can apply this configuration to an existing Appian custom resource via kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> edit appian <APPIAN>. Doing so will restart Webapp's pod(s).

Updating your customizations

To update your customizations, edit the config map containing the appian_log4j_override.properties file:

kubectl -n <NAMESPACE> edit configmap appian-log4j-override-properties

Note: You can change your default editor by setting the KUBE_EDITOR environment variable.

Handling upgrades

New versions of Appian on Kubernetes may update the shipped appian_log4j.properties file. Your overrides will still take effect, updating values as needed. If you're overriding a specific configuration, you may wish to check it still exists with the same name.

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