PDI logging

You can troubleshoot issues without having to examine the comprehensive log of server executions using PDI logging. PDI logging contains transformation and job logs for both PDI client and Pentaho Server executions, which are separate from the comprehensive logging data.

For information on comprehensive logging, see Logging and performance monitoring in the Pentaho Data Integration publication.

Set up the log file

Transformation and job logging is enabled by default. Logging levels and rotations are configured separately for the PDI client and Pentaho Server, while the date formatting configures both log outputs. Perform the following steps to configure logging for the Pentaho Server or PDI client:

1. Stop all relevant servers or exit the PDI client.

2. Navigate to the following directory and open the log4j2.xml file with any text editor:

Pentaho Server	server/pentaho-server/tomcat/webapps/pentaho/WEB-INF/classes
PDI client	design-tools/data-integration/classes

3. Set your desired logging levels in the XML <Logger> elements for `org.pentaho.di.trans.Trans` and `org.pentaho.di.job.Job`. You can set different logging levels for transformations than for jobs. The following table maps PDI logging levels to the corresponding Apache log4j2 levels:

|PDI Log Level|Log4j Log Level|
|-------------|---------------|
|BASIC|INFO|
|DETAILED|INFO|
|MINIMAL|WARN|
|DEBUG|DEBUG|
|ERROR|ERROR|
|ROWLEVEL|TRACE|

4. Set your desired log file rotation (rollingPolicy) value by editing the FileNamePattern parameter in the log4j2.xml file for the pdi-execution-appender. The parameters are:

|Parameter|Description|
|---------|-----------|
|**yyyy-MM-dd**|Specify a daily rotation. \(Default\)|
|**yyyy-MM**|Specify a monthly rotation.|
|**yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm**|Specify a rotation every minute.|

5. Navigate to the design-tools/data-integration/classes directory and open the log4j2.xml file with any text editor.

1. Set your desired log file date and timestamp (RollingFile) format by editing the Pattern parameter in the log4j2.xml file for the pdi-execution-appender.

   You can use the default format or define a custom format as shown using the examples in the following table.

   Parameter	Example
   {yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}	2012-11-02-14:34:02.123 (Default)
   {HH:mm:ss,SSS}	14:34:02,123
   {dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss,SSS}	02 Nov 2012 14:34:02,123
   {MMM dd,yyyy HH:mm:ss}	Nov 02,2012 14:34:02

   Note: See Java’s SimpleDateFormat for a definition of the parameter variables. If you set a date format that cannot be parsed by SimpleDateFormat, then the hard-coded default format (yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss) is used for the pdi.log and PDI console log.

2. Optionally, you can set a localized time in the date format by adding a second set of braces and a time zone id value in the (RollingFile) format of the Pattern parameter for the pdi-execution-appender, as shown in the table below. If not set, your current time is used.

   Note: See java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone for time zone value details.

   Parameter	Example
   {yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}{GMT-5}	2012-11-02 05:34:02.123
   {HH:mm:ss}{GMT+0}	10:34:02

3. Save and close the file, then start all affected servers or the PDI client to test the configuration.

Use the log file

The log files are located in the following directories:

Pentaho Server	server/pentaho-server/logs/pdi.log
PDI client	design-tools/data-integration/logs/pdi.log

Navigate to a log file and open the file to view the contents. The log entry fields in the log files are:

Field	Description
DateTimeStamp	Date and time of the log
LogThreshold	Logging level (INFO, ERROR, DEBUG, WARN, or TRACE)
ThreadID	Unique key for the job or transformation execution
Filepath	Absolute path of the transformation or job
Message	Log message

The following is an example of a log entry:

2018-03-07 11:40:36.290 INFO <Launch transformation UUID: 1246b616-a845-4cbc-9f4c-8a4a2cbfb4f1> [C:\build\pdi-ee-client-8.1.0.0-267\data-integration\samples\jobs\run_all\Run all sample transformations.kjb file:///C:/build/pdi-ee-client-8.1.0.0-267/data-integration/samples/jobs/run_all/Define FILENAME Variable and execute.kjb] Starting entry

This entry contains these values for the following fields:

Field	Description
DateTimeStamp	2018-03-07 11:40:36.290
LogThreshold	INFO
ThreadID	<Launch transformation UUID: 1246b616-a845-4cbc-9f4c-8a4a2cbfb4f1>
Filepath	[C:\build\pdi-ee-client-8.1.0.0-267\data-integration\samples\jobs\run_all\Run all sample transformations.kjb file:///C:/build/pdi-ee-client-8.1.0...run_all/DefineFILENAME Variable and execute.kjb]
Message	Starting entry