LoggerAmqpBackend

Elixir Logger backend to send logs to an AMQP broker (eg: RabbitMQ). Based largely on logger_file_backend. LoggerAmqpBackend is a custom backend for the elixir :logger application. The :logger application should be started prior to using this backend.

Configuration

LoggerAmqpBackend is a custom backend for the elixir :logger application. As such, it relies on the :logger application to start the relevant processes. However, unlike the default :console backend, we may want to configure multiple log files, each with different log levels formats, etc. Also, we want :logger to be responsible for starting and stopping each of our logging processes for us. Because of these considerations, there must be one :logger backend configured for each log file we need. Each backend has a name like {LoggerAmqpBackend, id}, where id is an atom.

For example, let's say we want to log error messages to an AMQP broker (eg: RabbitMQ) amqp://1.2.3.4/logs. To do that, we will need to configure a backend. Let's call it {LoggerAmqpBackend, :error_log}.

Our config.exs would have an entry similar to this:

# tell logger to load a LoggerAmqpBackend processes
config :logger,
  backends: [{LoggerAmqpBackend, :amqp_error_log}]

With this configuration, the :logger application will start one LoggerAmqpBackend named {LoggerAmqpBackend, :amqp_error_log}. We still need to set the parameters for the AMQP broker and log levels for the backend, though. To do that, we add another config stanza. Together with the stanza above, we'll have something like this:

# tell logger to load a LoggerAmqpBackend processes
config :logger,
  backends: [{LoggerAmqpBackend, :error_log}]

# configuration for the {LoggerAmqpBackend, :amqp_error_log} backend
config :logger, :amqp_error_log,
  amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs",
  routing_key: "logs_queue",  
  level: :error

Check out the examples below for runtime configuration and configuration for multiple log files.

LoggerAmqpBackend supports the following configuration values:

• amqp_url - URL for AMQP (ie: RabbitMQ) broker. Eg: amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs"
• routing_key - Used as routing key when publishing, typically the queue name if using the default "" exchange
• exchange - Usually the default ("") exchange, but can modified (Default: "")
• declare_queue - Set to true to declare the queue when starting up. (Default: true)
• durable - Set to true or false and used as the durable when declaring the queue. (Default: true)
• queue_args - Keyword list or arguments passed to amqp when declaring the queue. (Default: [])
• level - the logging level for the backend
• format - the logging format for the backend (Default: "{\"time\": \"$time $date\", \"level\": \"$level\", \"message\": \"$message\", \"metadata\":\"$metadata\"}")
• metadata - the metadata to include (Default: [])
• metadata_filter - metadata terms which must be present in order to log (Default: nil (ie: no filter))

Examples

Runtime configuration

Logger.add_backend {LoggerAmqpBackend, :debug}
Logger.configure_backend {LoggerAmqpBackend, :debug},
  amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs",
  routing_key: "logs_queue",  
  format: ...,
  metadata: ...,
  metadata_filter: ...

Application config for multiple log files

config :logger,
  backends: [{LoggerAmqpBackend, :info},
             {LoggerAmqpBackend, :error}]

config :logger, :info,
  amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs",
  routing_key: "info_logs",  
  level: :info

config :logger, :error,
  amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs",
  routing_key: "error_logs",  
  level: :error

Filtering specific metadata terms

This example only logs :info statements originating from the :ui OTP app; the :application metadata key is auto-populated by Logger.

config :logger,
  backends: [{LoggerAmqpBackend, :ui}]

config :logger, :ui,
amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs",
  routing_key: "error_logs",  
  level: :info,
  metadata_filter: [application: :ui]

This example only writes log statements with a custom metadata key to the file.

# in a config file:
config :logger,
  backends: [{LoggerAmqpBackend, :device_1}]

config :logger, :device_1
amqp_url: "amqp://1.2.3.4/logs",
  routing_key: "error_logs",  
  level: :debug,
  metadata_filter: [device: 1]

# Usage:
# anywhere in the code:
Logger.info("statement", device: 1)

# or, for a single process, e.g., a GenServer:
# in init/1:
Logger.metadata(device: 1)
# ^ sets device: 1 for all subsequent log statements from this process.

# Later, in other code (handle_cast/2, etc.)
Logger.info("statement") # <= already tagged with the device_1 metadata