Default Custom Fields in Log Files <customFields>
The <customFields>
element of the <logFile>
element specifies the configuration settings for a collection of default custom fields in a W3C log.
IIS 8.5 enables you to log custom fields in addition to the standard logged set. These custom fields can include data from request headers, response headers, or server variables. To log these fields, you can simply set configuration properties rather than creating a custom logging module. This feature is available only at the site level. The log file format must be W3C to add custom fields.
When a custom field has been added to the standard set, "_x" will be appended to the file name to show that the log file contains a custom field. The total amount of data added in custom fields cannot exceed 65,536 bytes. IIS will truncate the data if the custom logged data exceeds that amount. The maximum amount of data that can be added to a log file in any one custom field is specified by the maxCustomFieldLength attribute.
To configure a custom field, specify the field name, the source name, and the source type. You can put custom information into a server variable, and log the server variable. Once you have selected the source type, you can either select an existing source name or enter a new source name.
Custom fields enable you to collect useful data about the process and aggregate it to the IIS logs. In a system containing a load balancer, you might see the load balancer's IP address in the log, but you could log the X-Forwarded-For header in a custom field, so you can know the original requester. You could log process uptime to see how many times the process restarted during the day. If memory starts being used excessively, you can determine at which time it started to consume memory, which page was requested, and what was the ID of the client (which would be especially useful if they were doing something malicious).
Version | Notes |
---|---|
IIS 10.0 | The <customFields> element was not modified in IIS 10.0. |
IIS 8.5 | The <customFields> element was introduced in IIS 8.5. |
IIS 8.0 | N/A |
IIS 7.5 | N/A |
IIS 7.0 | N/A |
IIS 6.0 | N/A |
The <customFields>
element is included in the default installation of IIS 8.5 and later.
Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager:
If you are using Windows Server 2012 R2:
- On the taskbar, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
If you are using Windows 8.1:
- Hold down the Windows key, press the letter X, and then click Control Panel.
- Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
In the Connections pane, select the server.
Double-click Logging in the IIS section.
In the Logging home page, for Format, select W3C.
Click Select Fields.
In the W3C Logging Fields dialog box, click Add Field.
In the Add Custom Field dialog box, enter a name in Field name (without spaces), and select one of the following for the Source Type: Request Header, Response Header, or Server Variable.
In Source, select a source from the list, or enter the name of a custom source.
Click OK, then click OK again.
In the Action pane, click Apply.
Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager:
If you are using Windows Server 2012 R2:
- On the taskbar, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
If you are using Windows 8.1:
- Hold down the Windows key, press the letter X, and then click Control Panel.
- Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
In the Connections pane, select the server, and then in the Management area, double-click Configuration Editor.
In the Configuration Editor, for the section, select system.applicationHost, and then select sites.
Click siteDefaults.
Select the site, expand logFile, expand customFields, and then click maxCustomFieldLength.
For maxCustomFieldLength, enter the maximum amount of data that can be added to a log file in any one custom field, in bytes.
Close the Collection Editor, and then in the Action pane, click Apply.
The <customFields>
element for default settings is configured at the server level.
Attribute | Description |
---|---|
maxCustomFieldLength |
Optional uint attribute. The maximum amount of data, in bytes, that can be added to a log file in any one custom field. The range is 2 to 65,536. The default value is 4096 . |
Element | Description |
---|---|
add |
Optional element. Specifies the configuration settings for default custom fields in a W3C log. |
The following configuration example uses the customFields
element and its add
child element to specify the default custom field settings for W3C logs.
<siteDefaults>
<logFile logFormat="W3C" directory="%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles" flushByEntryCountW3CLog="0">
<customFields>
<clear />
<add logFieldName="ContosoField" sourceName="ContosoSource" sourceType="ServerVariable" />
</customFields>
</logFile>
</siteDefaults>
The following examples configure default custom fields for a W3C log.
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"siteDefaults.logFile.customFields.[logFieldName='ContosoField',sourceName='ContosoSource',sourceType='ServerVariable']" /commit:apphost
Note
You must be sure to set the commit parameter to apphost
when you use AppCmd.exe to configure these settings. This commits the configuration settings to the appropriate location section in the ApplicationHost.config file.
using System;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Web.Administration;
internal static class Sample
{
private static void Main()
{
using(ServerManager serverManager = new ServerManager())
{
Configuration config = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration();
ConfigurationSection sitesSection = config.GetSection("system.applicationHost/sites");
ConfigurationElement siteDefaultsElement = sitesSection.GetChildElement("siteDefaults");
ConfigurationElement logFileElement = siteDefaultsElement.GetChildElement("logFile");
ConfigurationElement customFieldsElement = logFileElement.GetChildElement("customFields");
ConfigurationElementCollection customFieldsCollection = customFieldsElement.GetCollection();
ConfigurationElement addElement = customFieldsCollection.CreateElement("add");
addElement["logFieldName"] = @"ContosoField";
addElement["sourceName"] = @"ContosoSource";
addElement["sourceType"] = @"ServerVariable";
customFieldsCollection.Add(addElement);
serverManager.CommitChanges();
}
}
}
Imports System
Imports System.Text
Imports Microsoft.Web.Administration
Module Sample
Sub Main()
Dim serverManager As ServerManager = New ServerManager
Dim config As Configuration = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration
Dim sitesSection As ConfigurationSection = config.GetSection("system.applicationHost/sites")
Dim siteDefaultsElement As ConfigurationElement = sitesSection.GetChildElement("siteDefaults")
Dim logFileElement As ConfigurationElement = siteDefaultsElement.GetChildElement("logFile")
Dim customFieldsElement As ConfigurationElement = logFileElement.GetChildElement("customFields")
Dim customFieldsCollection As ConfigurationElementCollection = customFieldsElement.GetCollection
Dim addElement As ConfigurationElement = customFieldsCollection.CreateElement("add")
addElement("logFieldName") = "ContosoField"
addElement("sourceName") = "ContosoSource"
addElement("sourceType") = "ServerVariable"
customFieldsCollection.Add(addElement)
serverManager.CommitChanges
End Sub
End Module
var adminManager = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.ApplicationHost.WritableAdminManager');
adminManager.CommitPath = "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST";
var sitesSection = adminManager.GetAdminSection("system.applicationHost/sites", "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST");
var siteDefaultsElement = sitesSection.ChildElements.Item("siteDefaults");
var logFileElement = siteDefaultsElement.ChildElements.Item("logFile");
var customFieldsElement = logFileElement.ChildElements.Item("customFields");
var customFieldsCollection = customFieldsElement.Collection;
var addElement = customFieldsCollection.CreateNewElement("add");
addElement.Properties.Item("logFieldName").Value = "ContosoField";
addElement.Properties.Item("sourceName").Value = "ContosoSource";
addElement.Properties.Item("sourceType").Value = "ServerVariable";
customFieldsCollection.AddElement(addElement);
adminManager.CommitChanges();
Set adminManager = CreateObject("Microsoft.ApplicationHost.WritableAdminManager")
adminManager.CommitPath = "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST"
Set sitesSection = adminManager.GetAdminSection("system.applicationHost/sites", "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST")
Set siteDefaultsElement = sitesSection.ChildElements.Item("siteDefaults")
Set logFileElement = siteDefaultsElement.ChildElements.Item("logFile")
Set customFieldsElement = logFileElement.ChildElements.Item("customFields")
Set customFieldsCollection = customFieldsElement.Collection
Set addElement = customFieldsCollection.CreateNewElement("add")
addElement.Properties.Item("logFieldName").Value = "ContosoField"
addElement.Properties.Item("sourceName").Value = "ContosoSource"
addElement.Properties.Item("sourceType").Value = "ServerVariable"
customFieldsCollection.AddElement(addElement)
adminManager.CommitChanges()
Add-WebConfigurationProperty -pspath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST' -filter "system.applicationHost/sites/siteDefaults/logFile/customFields" -name "." -value @{logFieldName='ContosoField';sourceName='ContosoSource';sourceType='ServerVariable'}