Enable access logging

Use access logs to get information from HTTP transport channel requests. We can enable access logging with the WebSphere Application Server administrative console.

Tasks

1. Enable access logging for National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) on the NCSA access and HTTP error logging page.

   An NCSA access log contains a record of all inbound client requests an HTTP transport channel handles. All messages in the log are in NCSA format.

   (ZOS) An FRCA log is a specialized NCSA access log that can be created only if we are running the product on z/OS . An FRCA log contains a record of all inbound client requests that the Fast Response Cache Accelerator handles. All messages in an FRCA log are in NCSA format.

   1. Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server > NCSA access and HTTP error logging.

   2. Select Enable logging service at server start-up.

   3. Ensure that Enable access logging is selected.

   4. Optional: Increase the maximum number of historical files. A suggested number is 3.

   5. Save changes.

   For information about the console page, see HTTP error, FRCA, and NCSA access log settings.

2. Configure an accessLogFormat custom property for an HTTPQueueInboundDefault web container transport chain.

   1. Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server > Web Container Settings > Web container transport chains > HTTPQueueInboundDefault > HTTP inbound channel (HTTP_2) > Custom properties.

   2. Create a property.

      1. Set Name to accessLogFormat.

      2. Set Value to %h %i %u %t "%r" %s %b %D.

      3. Save changes.

      For variable descriptions, see HTTP transport channel custom properties.

3. Configure an accessLogFormat custom property for a WCInboundAdminSecure web container transport chain.

   1. Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server > Web Container Settings > Web container transport chains > WCInboundAdminSecure > HTTP inbound channel (HTTP_3) > Custom properties.

   2. Create a property.

      1. Set Name to accessLogFormat.

      2. Set Value to %h %i %u %t "%r" %s %b %D.

      3. Save changes.

      For variable descriptions, see HTTP transport channel custom properties.

4. Enable access logging for an HTTPQueueInboundDefault web container transport chain.

   1. Click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server > Web Container Settings > Web container transport chains > HTTPQueueInboundDefault > HTTP inbound channel (HTTP_2).

   2. Under Logging, configure NCSA access logging.

      1. Select Enable logging.

      2. Under NCSA Access logging, select Use chain-specific logging.

      3. Ensure that Enable access logging is selected.

      4. For Access log file path, specify the file path to the http_access.log file.

      5. For Access log maximum size, specify the maximum size of the NCSA log in megabytes. 500 MB is suggested.

      6. For Maximum number of historical files, specify the maximum number of historical files to keep. 3 is suggested.

      7. Save changes directly to the master configurations.

5. Restart the server.

Subtopics

• HTTP error, FRCA, and NCSA access log settings
  Configure the global HTTP error log, and National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) access log settings for an HTTP inbound channel. If we are running the product on z/OS, we can also use this page to configure the global Fast Response Cache Accelerator (FRCA) log settings for an HTTP inbound channel. A FRCA log is a specialized form of a NCSA log and can only be created in a z/OS environment.