Manual Chapter :
Using the Request Logging Profile
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP AAM
- 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
Using the Request Logging Profile
Overview: Configuring a Request Logging profile
The Request Logging profile gives you the ability to configure data within a log file for HTTP requests and responses, in accordance with specified parameters.
Task summary
Perform these tasks to log HTTP request and response data.About the Request Logging profile
Many sites perform traffic analysis against the HTTP log files that their web servers generate. With the Request Logging profile, you can specify the data and the format for HTTP requests and responses that you want to include in a log file. If you prefer, you can tailor the information that appears in the logs so that the logs work seamlessly with whatever analysis tools you use for your origin web server's HTTP log files.
Standard log formats
Log headers appear in the lines at the top of a log file. You can use log headers to identify the type and order of the information written to each line in the log file. Some log analysis software also uses log headers to determine how to parse a log file.
There are three common conventions for log headers shown here.
| Convention | Description |
|---|---|
| No header line | Apache™ web servers use this option. By default, Apache web servers write access logs in a format that is identical to the NCSA Common format. |
| NCSA Common or Combined headers | Netscape® servers, and their descendants (such as the iPlanet™ Enterprise Server) write a log header line that is unique to this
family of servers. These servers generally use either the NCSA Common or Combined log format,
and the log header lines are composed of keywords. For example:
#format=%Ses->client.ip% - %Req->vars.auth-user% [%SYSDATE%] .... |
| W3C headers | Most Microsoft® Internet Information Services (IIS) web servers write log files in the extended log file format, which is defined by a W3C working draft. |
The logging information that is commonly used by origin web servers consists of the following conventions:
- NCSA Common (no log header)
- NCSA Common (Netscape log header)
- NCSA Combined (no log header)
- NCSA Combined (Netscape log header)
- W3C Extended
NCSA Common log format example
This is the NCSA Common log format syntax:
host rfc931 username [date:time UTC_offset] "method URI?query_parameters protocol" status bytes
Here is an example that uses this syntax:
125.125.125.2 - - [03/Apr/2011:23:44:03 -0600] "GET /apps/example.jsp?sessionID=34h76 HTTP/1.1" 200 3045
NCSA Combined log format example
This is the NCSA Combined log format syntax:
host rfc931 username [date:time UTC_offset] "method URI?query_parameters protocol" status bytes "referrer" "user_agent" "cookie"
Here is an example that uses this syntax:
125.125.125.2 - - [03/Apr/2011:23:44:03 -0600] "GET /apps/example.jsp?sessionID=34h76 HTTP/1.1" 200 3045 "http://www.siterequest.com" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0)" "UserID=ssarette;Category=PDA;Selection=Various"
W3C Extended log format example
This is the W3C extended log format syntax:
date time rfc931 username host method URI query_parameters status bytes request_length time_taken protocol user_agent cookie referrer
Following is an example that uses this syntax:
2011-04-03 23:44:03 205.47.62.112 - 125.125.125.2 GET /apps/example.jsp sessionID=34h76 200 3045 124 138 HTTP/1.1 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.0 UserID=ssarette;Category=PDA;Selection=Various http://www.siterequest.com
Request Logging profile settings
With the Request Logging profile, you can specify the data and the format for HTTP requests and responses that you want to include in a log file.
General Properties
| Setting | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | No default | Specifies the name of the profile. |
| Parent Profile | Selected predefined or user-defined profile | Specifies the selected predefined or user-defined profile. |
Request Settings
| Setting | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Request Logging | Disabled | Enables logging for requests. |
| Template | Specifies the directives and entries to be logged. | |
| HSL Protocol | UDP | Specifies the protocol to be used for high-speed logging of requests. |
| Pool Name | None | Defines the pool associated with the virtual server that is logged. |
| Respond On Error | Disabled | Enables the ability to respond when an error occurs. |
| Error Response | None | Specifies the response text to be used when an error occurs.
For example, the following response text provides content for a 503 error.
<html>
<head>
<title>ERROR</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>503 ERROR-Service Unavailable</p>
</body>
</html>
|
| Close On Error | Disabled | When enabled, and logging fails, drops the request and closes the connection. |
| Log Logging Errors | Disabled | Enables the ability to log any errors when logging requests. |
| Error Template | None | Defines the format for requests in an error log. |
| HSL Error Protocol | UDP | Defines the protocol to be used for high-speed logging of request errors. |
| Error Pool Name | None | Specifies the name of the error logging pool for requests. |
Response Settings
| Setting | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Response Logging | Disabled | Enables logging for responses. |
| Log By Default | Enabled | Defines whether to log the specified settings for responses by default. |
| Template | None | Specifies the directives and entries to be logged. |
| HSL Protocol | UDP | Specifies the protocol to be used for high-speed logging of responses. |
| Pool Name | None | Defines the pool name associated with the virtual server that is logged. |
| Log Logging Errors | Disabled | Enables the ability to log any errors when logging responses. |
| Error Template | None | Defines the format for responses in an error log. |
| HSL Error Protocol | UDP | Defines the protocol to be used for high-speed logging of response errors. |
| Error Pool Name | None | Specifies the name of the error logging pool for responses. |
Request Logging parameters
This table lists all available parameters from which you can create a custom HTTP Request Logging profile. These are used to specify entries for the Template and Error Template settings For each parameter, the system writes to the log the information described in the right column.
| Parameter | Log file entry description |
|---|---|
| BIGIP_BLADE_ID | An entry for the slot number of the blade that handled the request. |
| BIGIP_CACHED | An entry of Cached status: true, if the response came from BIG-IP® cache, or Cached status: false, if the response came from the server. |
| BIGIP_HOSTNAME | An entry for the configured host name of the unit or chassis. |
| CLIENT_IP | An entry for the IP address of a client, for example, 192.168.74.164. |
| CLIENT_PORT | An entry for the port of a client, for example, 80. |
| DATE_D | A two-character entry for the day of the month, ranging from 1 (note the leading space) through 31. |
| DATE_DAY | An entry that spells out the name of the day. |
| DATE_DD | A two-digit entry for the day of the month, ranging from 01 through 31. |
| DATE_DY | A three-letter entry for the day, for example, Mon. |
| DATE_HTTP | A date and time entry in an HTTP format, for example, Tue, 5 Apr 2011 02:15:31 GMT. |
| DATE_MM | A two-digit month entry, ranging from 01 through 12. |
| DATE_MON | A three-letter abbreviation for a month entry, for example, APR. |
| DATE_MONTH | An entry that spells out the name of the month. |
| DATE_NCSA | A date and time entry in an NCSA format, for example, dd/mm/yy:hh:mm:ss ZNE. |
| DATE_YY | A two-digit year entry, ranging from 00 through 99. |
| DATE_YYYY | A four-digit year entry. |
| HTTP_CLASS | The name of the httpclass profile that matched the request, or an empty entry if a profile name is not associated with the request. |
| HTTP_KEEPALIVE | A flag summarizing the HTTP1.1 keep-alive status for the request:: aY if the HTTP1.1 keep-alive header was sent, or an empty entry if not. |
| HTTP_METHOD | An entry that defines the HTTP method, for example, GET, PUT, HEAD, POST, DELETE, TRACE, or CONNECT. |
| HTTP_PATH | An entry that defines the HTTP path. |
| HTTP_QUERY | The text following the first ? in the URI. |
| HTTP_REQUEST | The complete text of the request, for example, $METHOD $URI $VERSION. |
| HTTP_STATCODE | The numerical response status code, that is, the status response code excluding subsequent text. |
| HTTP_STATUS | The complete status response, that is, the number appended with any subsequent text. |
| HTTP_URI | An entry for the URI of the request. |
| HTTP_VERSION | An entry that defines the HTTP version. |
| NCSA_COMBINED | An NCSA Combined formatted log string, for example, $NCSA_COMMON $Referer ${User-agent} $Cookie. |
| NCSA_COMMON | An NCSA Common formatted log string, for example, $CLIENT_IP - - $DATE_NCSA $HTTP_REQUEST $HTTP_STATCODE $RESPONSE_SIZE. |
| RESPONSE_MSECS | The elapsed time in milliseconds (ms) between receiving the request and sending the response. |
| RESPONSE_SIZE | An entry for the size of response in bytes. |
| RESPONSE_USECS | The elapsed time in microseconds (µs) between receiving the request and sending the response. |
| SERVER_IP | An entry for the IP address of a server, for example, 10.10.0.1. |
| SERVER_PORT | An entry for the port of a logging server. |
| SNAT_IP | An entry for the self IP address of the BIG-IP-originated connection to the server when SNAT is enabled, or an entry for the client IP address when SNAT is not enabled. |
| SNAT_PORT | An entry for the port of the BIG-IP-originated connection to the server when SNAT is enabled, or an entry for the client port when SNAT is not enabled. |
| TIME_AMPM | A twelve-hour request-time qualifier, for example, AM or PM. |
| TIME_H12 | A compact twelve-hour time entry for request-time hours, ranging from 1 through 12. |
| TIME_HRS | A twelve-hour time entry for hours, for example, 12 AM. |
| TIME_HH12 | A twelve hour entry for request-time hours, ranging from 01 through 12. |
| TIME_HMS | An entry for a compact request time of H:M:S, for example, 12:10:49. |
| TIME_HH24 | A twenty-four hour entry for request-time hours, ranging from 00 through 23. |
| TIME_MM | A two-digit entry for minutes, ranging from 00 through 59. |
| TIME_MSECS | An entry for the request-time fraction in milliseconds (ms). |
| TIME_OFFSET | An entry for the time zone, offset in hours from GMT, for example, -11. |
| TIME_SS | A two-digit entry for seconds, ranging from 00 through 59. |
| TIME_UNIX | A UNIX time entry for the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch, for example, 00:00:00 UTC, January 1st, 1970. |
| TIME_USECS | An entry for the request-time fraction in microseconds (µs). |
| TIME_ZONE | An entry for the current Olson database or tz database three-character time zone, for example, PDT. |
| VIRTUAL_IP | An entry for the IP address of a virtual server, for example, 192.168.10.1. |
| VIRTUAL_NAME | An entry for the name of a virtual server. |
| VIRTUAL_POOL_NAME | An entry for the name of the pool containing the responding server. |
| VIRTUAL_PORT | An entry for the port of a virtual server, for example, 80. |
| VIRTUAL_SNATPOOL_NAME | The name of the Secure Network Address Translation pool associated with the virtual server. |
| WAM_APPLICATION_NAM | An entry that defines the name of the BIG-IP® acceleration application that processed the request. |
| WAM_X_WA_INFO | An entry that specifies a diagnostic string (X-WA-Info header) used by BIG-IP acceleration to process the request. |
| NULL | Undelineated strings return the value of the respective header. |
