Log Levels – Configure Logging Verbosity

Overview

Log levels control the amount of detail written to log files. MideyeServer uses Logback's standard log levels, ranging from most verbose (TRACE) to least verbose (ERROR).

Log Levels (in order of verbosity):

| Level | Purpose | Typical Use | |-------|---------|------------| | TRACE | Extremely detailed diagnostic information | Deep troubleshooting only | | DEBUG | Detailed information for debugging | Development and troubleshooting | | INFO | General informational messages | Normal operation monitoring | | WARN | Warning messages for potentially harmful situations | Identify potential issues | | ERROR | Error events that might still allow the app to continue | Critical problems |

When you set a logger to a specific level, it will log that level and all higher-severity levels. For example, setting a logger to INFO will log INFO, WARN, and ERROR messages, but not DEBUG or TRACE.

Default log levels

MideyeServer's packaged configurations use these default log levels:

MideyeServer application

| Logger | Level | Coverage | |--------|-------|----------| | com.mideye.mideyeserver | DEBUG | All MideyeServer application code | | se.mideye.radius | WARN | RADIUS protocol library |

Spring Framework & third-party libraries

| Logger | Level | Notes | |--------|-------|-------| | org.springframework | WARN | Spring Framework core | | org.springframework.web | WARN | Spring MVC and web layer | | org.springframework.security | WARN | Spring Security | | org.hibernate | WARN | JPA/Hibernate ORM | | org.hibernate.validator | WARN | Bean validation | | liquibase | WARN | Database migrations | | org.apache | WARN | Apache libraries | | io.undertow | WARN | Embedded web server | | com.zaxxer | WARN | HikariCP connection pool |

Suppressed loggers

| Logger | Level | Reason | |--------|-------|--------| | org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence | OFF | Noisy startup messages | | org.apache.catalina.startup.DigesterFactory | OFF | Unnecessary warnings | | org.zalando | OFF | Problem library |

Changing log levels

There are two ways to change log levels:

Web UI (temporary)
logback.xml (permanent)

Use the web interface to change log levels at runtime without restarting MideyeServer. Changes are temporary and revert after a restart.

Access: Server Settings → Log Configuration

See the Log Configuration page for detailed instructions on using the web UI to adjust log levels and enable trace logging.

Edit the logback.xml file to make permanent log level changes that persist across restarts.

Location: See Overview for platform-specific paths.

Example: Change MideyeServer application logging from DEBUG to INFO:

<!-- Find this line near the end of the file -->
<logger name="com.mideye.mideyeserver" level="DEBUG"/>

<!-- Change to: -->
<logger name="com.mideye.mideyeserver" level="INFO"/>

Example: Enable DEBUG logging for Spring Security:

<!-- Find this line -->
<logger name="org.springframework.security" level="WARN"/>

<!-- Change to: -->
<logger name="org.springframework.security" level="DEBUG"/>

Example: Add a new logger for a specific class:

<!-- Add before the closing </configuration> tag -->
<logger name="com.mideye.mideyeserver.service.UserService" level="TRACE"/>

Root logger levels

The root logger level controls the baseline logging level for all loggers not explicitly configured. MideyeServer uses different root logger levels for different appenders:

<!-- File appender (mideyeserver.log) logs INFO and higher -->
<root level="INFO">
    <appender-ref ref="FILE"/>
</root>

<!-- Error file appender (mideyeserver.error) logs ERROR and higher -->
<root level="ERROR">
    <appender-ref ref="FILE-ERROR"/>
</root>

<!-- Console (STDOUT) logs DEBUG and higher -->
<root level="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="STDOUT"/>
</root>

This configuration means:

The main log file gets INFO and higher messages
The error log gets ERROR messages only from com.mideye.* loggers (due to filter)
Console output gets DEBUG and higher messages

Trace logging

MideyeServer includes a built-in trace logging feature that creates a separate mideyeserver.trace file at the TRACE level for deep diagnostic troubleshooting.

Features:

Enabled via the web UI (Server Settings → Log Configuration)
Creates mideyeserver.trace in the same directory as other log files
Maximum file size: 100 MB
Very verbose output — use only for short-term debugging
Automatically disables after investigation

See Log Configuration → Trace Logging for details on enabling and using trace logs.

Common use cases

Troubleshooting authentication issues

Enable DEBUG logging for the authentication service:

<logger name="com.mideye.mideyeserver.service.AuthenticationService" level="DEBUG"/>

Debugging RADIUS communication

Enable DEBUG logging for RADIUS components:

<logger name="se.mideye.radius" level="DEBUG"/>
<logger name="com.mideye.mideyeserver.service.core.radius" level="DEBUG"/>

Investigating database queries

Enable DEBUG logging for Hibernate SQL:

<logger name="org.hibernate.SQL" level="DEBUG"/>
<logger name="org.hibernate.type" level="TRACE"/>

Monitoring HTTP requests

Enable DEBUG logging for Spring Web:

<logger name="org.springframework.web" level="DEBUG"/>

Reducing log verbosity

If logs are too verbose in production, increase the MideyeServer log level to INFO or WARN:

<logger name="com.mideye.mideyeserver" level="INFO"/>

Verifying changes

After editing logback.xml:

Save the file — Logback will detect changes within 60 seconds
Watch the log file — You should see a message indicating the configuration was reloaded:
```
INFO  [logback-scanner] ReconfigReloadingAction: Configuration reload triggered
```
Verify new log level — New log messages should appear (or disappear) based on your changes

If changes don't take effect:

Check for XML syntax errors in logback.xml
Look for error messages in the console output (STDOUT)
Verify the scan="true" attribute is present in the <configuration> tag
Restart MideyeServer if needed

Log Configuration: Runtime log level management via web UI
Overview: Logback configuration file locations and structure
Log Files: Web-based log viewer for reviewing log output