Jenkins : Access Logging

Steps to enable an access log

For Ubuntu:

1. Add these lines to /etc/default/jenkins above JENKINS_ARGS:

   # Enable access log
   JENKINS_ACCESSLOG="--accessLoggerClassName=winstone.accesslog.SimpleAccessLogger --simpleAccessLogger.format=combined --simpleAccessLogger.file=/var/log/jenkins/access.log"
   

2. Edit /etc/default/jenkins and add  $JENKINS_ACCESSLOG to JENKINS_ARGS
3. Enable log rotation: edit /etc/logrotate.d/jenkins and change /var/log/jenkins/jenkins.log to /var/log/jenkins/*.log

For Windows service:

1. Add the line to %JENKINS_HOME%/jenkins.xml in <arguments> block.

    --accessLoggerClassName=winstone.accesslog.SimpleAccessLogger --simpleAccessLogger.format=combined --simpleAccessLogger.file="%BASE%/logs/access.log"
   

2. Restart Jenkins service after edit.
   Updated jenkins.xml

   <service>
     <id>jenkins</id>
     <name>Jenkins</name>
     <description>This service runs Jenkins continuous integration system.</description>
     <env name="JENKINS_HOME" value="%BASE%"/>
     <!--
       if you'd like to run Jenkins with a specific version of Java, specify a full path to java.exe.
       The following value assumes that you have java in your PATH.
     -->
     <executable>%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java</executable>
   
     <arguments>-Xrs -Xmx3072m -Dhudson.lifecycle=hudson.lifecycle.WindowsServiceLifecycle -jar "%BASE%\jenkins.war" --httpPort=8080 --webroot="%BASE%\war" --accessLoggerClassName=winstone.accesslog.SimpleAccessLogger --simpleAccessLogger.format=combined --simpleAccessLogger.file="%BASE%/logs/access.log"</arguments>
   
     <!--
       interactive flag causes the empty black Java window to be displayed.
       I'm still debugging this.
     <interactive />
     -->
     <logmode>rotate</logmode>
   
     <onfailure action="restart" />
   </service>
   

3. Access logs will be created in "%BASE%/logs/access.log" but log will be lost on service restart.