Administering Logging for SAS Servers

About Server Logging

The SAS 9.2 Intelligence Platform uses a standard logging facility to perform logging for SAS servers. The facility supports problem diagnosis and resolution, performance and capacity management, and auditing and regulatory compliance. The logging facility provides the following capabilities for servers:

Log events are categorized using a hierarchical naming system that enables you to configure logging at a broad or a fine-grained level.
Log events can be directed to multiple output destinations, including files, operating system facilities, and client applications. For each output destination, you can specify the following logging facility components:
- the categories and levels of log events to report
- the message layout, including the types of data to be included, the order of the data, and the format of the data
- filters based on criteria such as diagnostic levels and message content
Performance-related log events can be generated for processing by the Application Response Measurement (ARM) 4.0 server.
You can use SAS Management Console and third party monitoring tools to view the contents of logs.
You can adjust logging levels dynamically by using the Server Management features of SAS Management Console.

Each server has a logging configuration file that controls the destination, contents, and format of the log for that server. The configuration file specifies options for the following components of the logging facility:

appenders

are named entities that represent a specific output destination for messages. Destinations include fixed files, rolling files, operating system facilities, and client applications. You can configure appenders by specifying thresholds, filters, log directories and filenames, pattern layouts, and other parameters that control how messages are written to the destination.

loggers

are named entities that identify message categories. Loggers are named using a hierarchical system that enables you to configure logging at a broad or a fine-grained level.

The logging facility includes a set of high-level loggers for SAS servers, including Audit, Admin, App, IOM, and Perf. Some loggers are subdivided into lower-level (child) loggers. For example, the Audit logger has descendant loggers called Audit.Meta and Audit.Authentication, and Audit.Meta has descendant loggers called Audit.Meta.Security and Audit.Meta.Mgmt. The Root logger is the highest-level logger and does not represent a specific message category.

Loggers inherit settings from their higher-level (ancestor) loggers.

pattern layouts

are templates that you create to format messages. The pattern layout identifies the types of data, the order of the data, and the format of the data that is generated in a log event and is delivered as output.

For each logger and appender that you specify, you can specify a threshold level that limits the events that will be created or written. Logging levels, from lowest to highest, are ALL, TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL, and OFF. For example:

If you specify a threshold level of INFO for a logger, then the logger only creates events with levels of INFO, WARN, ERROR, and FATAL.
If you specify a threshold level of ERROR for an appender, then events are written to the appender only if they have a level of ERROR or FATAL.

The SAS Deployment Wizard provides default logging configuration files for your SAS servers. You can modify these files as needed to adjust your logging configuration. You can also adjust logging levels dynamically by using the Server Management features of SAS Management Console (see Using SAS Management Console to Monitor SAS Servers).

The following topics describe the initial logging configuration for SAS servers and provide high-level instructions for administering server logging. For detailed information about the logging facility, see the SAS Logging: Configuration and Programming Reference.

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