Settings and log output

The way in which the logger writes text to log files and to the web interface depends on the settings in log4j which were discussed above.

The logger refers to an appender entered before the logger, and specifies that all messages of a certain class as defined in the DME code (for instance smimeWarnings) and any subclasses should be processed by the appender in question. The additivity keyword specifies if the messages will be processed further (by the default root logger) - false specifies that no further processing will be done (for instance by the internal DME logger that writes to the Log tab in the DME web interface). This can be illustrated in the following way:

The rows in this schematic have the following meaning:

1. Standard, with Server configuration > Data > Only show info messages disabled in DME means that the output goes to the file server.log and to the Log tab.
2. The appender has been added to the log4j file. The parameter additivity is true, meaning that the log messages of the type defined by the appender are also picked up by the root appender and added to the server.log file as well as the separate file.
3. Same as 2, but the messages are not shown in the Log tab.
4. Additivity is now set to false, and the messages are only appended to the separate log file. Note that when additivity is false, the warnings will never be shown in the web interface.
5. As 4 above.

After changing the log configuration, remember to back up the file. The log4j configuration file is reset during upgrades to new service packs of DME if changes have been made to the file. In this case, you need to reenter your modifications.

When changing the log level, you should restart DME.

Note that the examples in the preceding sections concern S/MIME and Surveillance messages. Other classes can be logged separately, for instance for debugging purposes. For more information, contact your DME partner (or Soliton Systems if you are a DME partner).