C# – log4net not working in a windows service

cloggingwindows-services

I have a console app which I am converting into a windows service. As a console app my log4net logging is working fine. But converting it into a windows service, my log4net logging has stopped working.

I have added this to my assemblyInfo.cs in the service project:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "log4net.config", Watch = true)]

This is my service class with onstart and onstop:

private static log4net.ILog _log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);
        private Builder _builder;

        public YCSWebServerService()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            _builder = new Builder();
        }

        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            _log.Info("YCSWebServerService started");
            _builder.Start();
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            _log.Info("YCSWebServerService stopped");
            _builder.Stop();
        }

I have a "specific" log4net config file added to my service project:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>

  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
  </configSections>

  <log4net>
    <root>
      <level value="ALL" />
      <appender-ref ref="EventLogAppender" />
    </root>
    <appender name="EventLogAppender" type="log4net.Appender.EventLogAppender">
      <threshold value="DEBUG" />
      <applicationName value="Lantic YCS WebServer" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="(%-5level %date{hh}:%date{mm}:%date{ss} [%thread] %logger [%property{NDC}] ) %message %n" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
  </log4net>

</configuration>

Any ideas or tips?

Best Answer

Did you just add a log4net section to your app.config file? In your question you mentioned that you have "specific log4net config file", but the sample you gave looks like the whole contents of app.config. If app.config is the case then you could have simpler string in AssemblyInfo.cs:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

Also adding requirePermission="false" to the section in my app.config helped me when I fixed similar problem with log4net not logging to file for Windows Service (see extra attribute - requirePermission="false"):

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" requirePermission="false"/>
  </configSections>

Related Solutions

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Use the SC command, like this (you need to be on a command prompt to execute the commands in this post):

SC STOP shortservicename
SC DELETE shortservicename

Note: You need to run the command prompt as an administrator, not just logged in as the administrator, but also with administrative rights. If you get errors above about not having the necessary access rights to stop and/or delete the service, run the command prompt as an administrator. You can do this by searching for the command prompt on your start menu and then right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator". Note to PowerShell users: sc is aliased to set-content. So sc delete service will actually create a file called delete with the content service. To do this in Powershell, use sc.exe delete service instead

If you need to find the short service name of a service, use the following command to generate a text file containing a list of services and their statuses:

SC QUERY state= all >"C:\Service List.txt"

For a more concise list, execute this command:

SC QUERY state= all | FIND "_NAME"

The short service name will be listed just above the display name, like this:

SERVICE_NAME: MyService
DISPLAY_NAME: My Special Service

And thus to delete that service:

SC STOP MyService
SC DELETE MyService

C# – Easier way to debug a Windows service

If I want to quickly debug the service, I just drop in a Debugger.Break() in there. When that line is reached, it will drop me back to VS. Don't forget to remove that line when you are done.

UPDATE: As an alternative to #if DEBUG pragmas, you can also use Conditional("DEBUG_SERVICE") attribute.

[Conditional("DEBUG_SERVICE")]
private static void DebugMode()
{
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}

On your OnStart, just call this method:

public override void OnStart()
{
     DebugMode();
     /* ... do the rest */
}

There, the code will only be enabled during Debug builds. While you're at it, it might be useful to create a separate Build Configuration for service debugging.

Best Answer

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