Monitoring Audit Logs

Auditing is a primary requirement when it comes to monitoring production servers. For example, DevOps need to have a clear mechanism for identifying who did what, and to filter possible system violations or breaches. Audit logs or audit trails contain a set of log entries that describe a sequence of actions that occurred over a period of time. Audit logs allow you to trace all the actions of a single user or all the actions or changes introduced to a certain module in the system, etc., over a period of time. For example, it captures all the actions of a single user from the first point of logging in to the server. By default, the audit logs that get created when running WSO2 API-M are stored in the audit.log file, which is located in the <API-M_HOME>/repository/logs directory.

Configuring Audit Logs

Audit logs are enabled by default in WSO2 API Manager (WSO2 API-M) via the following configurations, which are in the <API-M-HOME>/repository/conf/log4j2.properties file.

appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.type = RollingFile
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.name = AUDIT_LOGFILE
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.fileName = ${sys:carbon.home}/repository/logs/audit.log
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.filePattern = ${sys:carbon.home}/repository/logs/audit-%d{MM-dd-yyyy}.log
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.layout.pattern = TID: [%tenantId] [%d] %5p {%c} - %m%ex%n
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.policies.type = Policies
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.policies.time.type = TimeBasedTriggeringPolicy
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.policies.time.interval = 1
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.policies.time.modulate = true
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.policies.size.type = SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.policies.size.size=10MB
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.strategy.max = 20
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.filter.threshold.type = ThresholdFilter
appender.AUDIT_LOGFILE.filter.threshold.level = INFO

The log growth of audit logs can be managed by the configurations discussed in Managing log growth guide.

Audit log actions

In WSO2 API-M, audit logs can be enabled for the following user actions in the Publisher and Developer Portal.

Publisher

Action Sample Format
Sign in to the Publisher [2017-06-07 22:26:22,506]  INFO -  '[email protected] [-1234]' logged in at [2017-06-07 22:26:22,501+0530]
Create an API [2017-06-07 22:28:06,027]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"created","typ":"API","info":"{\"provider\":\"admin\",\"name\":\"PhoneVerification\",\"context\":\"\\\/phoneverify\\\/1.0.0\",\"version\":\"1.0.0\"}"}
Update an API [2017-06-08 10:22:49,657]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"updated","typ":"API","info":"{\"provider\":\"admin\",\"name\":\"PhoneVerification\",\"context\":\"\\\/phoneverify\\\/1.0.0\",\"version\":\"1.0.0\"}"}
Delete an API [2017-06-08 10:15:55,369]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"deleted","typ":"API","info":"{\"provider\":\"admin\",\"name\":\"PhoneVerification\",\"version\":\"1.0.0\"}"}

Developer Portal

Action Sample Format
Sign in to the Developer Portal [2017-06-07 22:34:54,684]  INFO -  '[email protected] [-1234]' logged in at [2017-06-07 22:34:54,682+0530]
Sign up via the Developer Portal [2017-06-07 22:55:34,054]  INFO -  Initiator : [email protected] | Action : Update Roles of User | Target : Kimmmy | Data : { Roles : [] } | Result : Success
Create an application [2017-06-07 22:40:17,625]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"created","typ":"Application","info":"{\"tier\":\"20PerMin\",\"name\":\"TestApp\",\"callbackURL\":null}"}
Update an application [2017-06-07 22:44:25,931]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"updated","typ":"Application","info":"{\"tier\":\"20PerMin\",\"name\":\"MobileApp\",\"callbackURL\":\"\",\"status\":\"APPROVED\"}"}
Delete an application [2017-06-07 22:45:59,093]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"deleted","typ":"Application","info":"{\"tier\":\"20PerMin\",\"name\":\"MobileApp\",\"callbackURL\":\"\"}"}
Subscribe to an application [2017-06-07 22:36:48,826]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"created","typ":"Subscription","info":"{\"application_name\":\"DefaultApplication\",\"tier\":\"Gold\",\"provider\":\"admin\",\"api_name\":\"PhoneVerification\",\"application_id\":1}"}
Unsubscribe from an application [2017-06-07 22:38:08,277]  INFO -  {"performedBy":"admin","action":"deleted","typ":"Subscription","info":"{\"application_name\":\"DefaultApplication\",\"provider\":\"admin\",\"api_name\":\"PhoneVerification\",\"application_id\":1}"}
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