Runtime Logging (log4j) Plugin

This plugin allows you to easily control log4j logging at runtime, using a simple GUI interface, without the need to restart your application.

NOTE: This is still an alpha release, and should be treated as such. Specifically, beware of releasing it into production as-is, because there is currently no authentication/protection around the function. But see the "Authentication" section below.

Plugin features:

• Simple GUI interface for controlling log4j settings
• Dynamically change log4j settings without need to restart
• Separately control common parts of the application such as Controllers, Services, SQL etc.
• Uses intuitive names like "SQL", "Services", "Controllers" (rather than class names) to make it easier for newbies.
• Displays the equivalent closure to add to Config.groovy to get the same effect permanently

Full source code is included in the plugin.

Setup

grails install-plugin runtime-logging

Alternatively download the latest grails-runtime-logging.jar from http://svn.codehaus.org/grails-plugins/grails-runtime-logging/trunk/ and then:

grails install-plugin /path-to/grails-runtime-logging-xx.jar

After install test it by going to this page:

http://localhost:8080/app/runtimeLogging

Try setting "SQL" to "DEBUG" and click Submit. All SQL statements should now be logged. You will also see some "Groovy Equivalent" code - cut/paste this into Config.groovy to achieve the same effect permanently.

Authentication

The plugin comes with no authentication or security out-of-the-box. Do not use it in production as-is because anyone could switch on logging to maximum and eat all your disk space and probably crash the server.

However, you can easily protect it yourself by adding a filter that checks for valid users before allowing access to any functions in the LoggingController:

class MyFilters 
{
  def filters =
  {
    authFilter(controller:"runtimeLogging",action:"*")
    {
      before =
      {
        if(!session.user?.isAdmin()) // Define your own isAdmin() logic
        {
          render "You Are Not Authorised"
          return false;
        }
        return true;
      }
    }
  }
}

Authentication with the Acegi/Spring-Security Plugin

When using the Acegi/Spring-Security Plugin, it is very easy to secure the plugin. Just update your SecurityConfig.groovy with the URL path where the runtime-logging-plugin will display its content. If you use database-driven requestmaps, then you need to add a new record for the runtimeLogging URL there. In that case there is no need to update the SeurityConfig.groovy, but you should e.g. add a new record inside Bootstrap.groovy (new RequestMap(.....).save() ).The following sample assumes that you have a role named "ROLE_ADMIN" defined:

requestMapString = """
	CONVERT_URL_TO_LOWERCASE_BEFORE_COMPARISON
	PATTERN_TYPE_APACHE_ANT
	[...]
	/runtimelogging/**=ROLE_ADMIN
	[...]
	"""

Not only will this enforce authentication on the URL, it will also disallow access to the URL to any user that does not have the ROLE_ADMIN authorities.

Note: You need to write "runtimelogging" although you will see "runtimeLogging" in your browser. If you use the capital letter "L", Spring-Security will complain because you then used an uppercase despite the first line ("LOWERCASE_BEFORE_COMPARISON") in the requestmap String.

Future plans

• Add to official SVN repository
• Add authentication
• Display equivalent code that can be cut/paste into Config.groovy to achieve the same effect permanently.
• Add configuration to allow user-controlled categories
• Add environment-specific config so function can be enabled/disabled for production

Release Notes

Questions