Logging HTTP Requests and Responses in Spring Boot

Logging HTTP requests and responses is a crucial aspect of monitoring and debugging web applications. In this tutorial, we will explore how to log HTTP requests and responses in a Spring Boot application.

Introduction to Logging in Spring Boot

Spring Boot provides several ways to log HTTP requests and responses. One approach is to use the built-in logging features provided by the Spring Framework. Another approach is to use third-party libraries such as Logbook or Actuator.

Using CommonsRequestLoggingFilter

One way to log HTTP requests and responses is to use the CommonsRequestLoggingFilter class provided by the Spring Framework. This filter can be configured to log request and response information, including headers, query parameters, and payload data.

To use this filter, you need to add it as a bean to your application configuration:

@Bean
public CommonsRequestLoggingFilter requestLoggingFilter() {
    CommonsRequestLoggingFilter loggingFilter = new CommonsRequestLoggingFilter();
    loggingFilter.setIncludeClientInfo(true);
    loggingFilter.setIncludeQueryString(true);
    loggingFilter.setIncludePayload(true);
    loggingFilter.setMaxPayloadLength(64000);
    return loggingFilter;
}

You also need to set the log level of org.springframework.web.filter.CommonsRequestLoggingFilter to DEBUG in your application configuration.

Using Logbook

Another way to log HTTP requests and responses is to use the Logbook library. Logbook provides a simple and flexible way to log request and response information, including headers, query parameters, and payload data.

To use Logbook, you need to add the following dependency to your pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.zalando</groupId>
    <artifactId>logbook-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
    <version>2.4.1</version>
</dependency>

You also need to set the log level of org.zalando.logbook to TRACE in your application configuration:

logging:
  level:
    org.zalando.logbook: TRACE

Logbook provides a default logging format, but you can customize it by implementing a custom logger.

Using Actuator

Actuator is a Spring Boot module that provides production-ready features for monitoring and managing web applications. One of the features provided by Actuator is HTTP request logging.

To use Actuator, you need to add the following dependency to your pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>

You also need to configure the Actuator endpoints in your application configuration. For example, you can add the following configuration to enable the /actuator/httptrace endpoint:

management:
  endpoints:
    web:
      exposure:
        include: httptrace

Custom Logging

If you want to customize the logging format or add additional information to the log output, you can create a custom logger. For example, you can create a custom filter that logs request and response information in a specific format.

To create a custom filter, you need to implement the javax.servlet.Filter interface:

public class CustomLoggingFilter implements Filter {
    @Override
    public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain) throws IOException, ServletException {
        // Log request information
        logRequest(request);
        
        // Call the next filter in the chain
        chain.doFilter(request, response);
        
        // Log response information
        logResponse(response);
    }
    
    private void logRequest(ServletRequest request) {
        // Log request information, such as headers and query parameters
    }
    
    private void logResponse(ServletResponse response) {
        // Log response information, such as status code and payload data
    }
}

You can then add the custom filter to your application configuration:

@Bean
public FilterRegistrationBean customLoggingFilter() {
    FilterRegistrationBean registration = new FilterRegistrationBean();
    registration.setFilter(new CustomLoggingFilter());
    registration.addUrlPatterns("/*");
    return registration;
}

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored how to log HTTP requests and responses in a Spring Boot application. We discussed several approaches, including using CommonsRequestLoggingFilter, Logbook, Actuator, and custom logging. By choosing the right approach for your application, you can gain valuable insights into the behavior of your web application and improve its performance and reliability.

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