WebSphere Application Server log files

WebSphere Application Server has a variety of logs to which messages are written. For example, system messages, which can be written by any application server component or application are written to general-purposes logs such as the JVM logs and the IBM service, or activity, log. Other logs are very specific in nature and are scoped to a particular component or activity. For example, the HTTP server plugin maintains a component-specific plugin log.

In general, the general purpose logs such as the JVM logs and the IBM service, or activity, log are used to monitor the health of the application server and are used in most problem determination procedures. However, the problem determination procedure for a specific component may direct you to examine the contents of a component or product specific log.

The topics below describe the log files available for WebSphere Application Server, and how you can configure and view the files.

JVM log files
This topic describes the JVM log files. All WebSphere Application Server message events go to these files as well as System.out and System.err print statements for your applications. This topic also provides information on how to configure and view the JVM log files.

Process log files
This topic describes the process log files. Any output for the native code supporting the java virtual machine or native code for an application is written to these files. This topic also provides information on how to configure and view the process log files.

IBM Service log file
This topic describes the IBM service, or activity.log, file. The IBM Service log file is a binary file to which WebSphere Application Server writes the message events for any servers running under an instance (node). This topic also provides information on how to configure and view the IBM Service log file.

Check HTTP server logs for troubleshooting information: Web server plug-in log
This topic describes the plug-in log. The plug-in log records HTTP server-side processing and servlet request routing between the HTTP server and WebSphere Application Server.