log4j.logger.org.jasig.cas not got emitted into application logs

Question

We are using cas-client-core-3.3.3.jar for providing single sign on functionality in our application and we are trying to emit this jar library logs into our appliation logs.

Our application is a weblogic based application and we are using log4j for logging.

So to get cas-client-core-3.3.3.jar logs in our application log we have added this property in our log4j.properties

log4j.logger.org.jasig.cas=DEBUG

but we are not getting the logs which are expected from org.jasig.cas classes. I am attaching sample log here which is expected

2015-05-13 10:00:17,798 DEBUG [org.jasig.cas.client.validation.Saml11TicketValidator.<constructValidationUrl>] - Placing URL parameters in map. 
2015-05-13 10:00:17,801 DEBUG [org.jasig.cas.client.validation.Saml11TicketValidator.<constructValidationUrl>] - Calling template URL attribute map. 
2015-05-13 10:00:17,802 DEBUG [org.jasig.cas.client.validation.Saml11TicketValidator.<constructValidationUrl>] - Loading custom parameters from configuration. 
2015-05-13 10:00:17,803 DEBUG [org.jasig.cas.client.validation.Saml11TicketValidator.<validate>] - Constructing validation url:

Answer 1

Disclaimer: I've never worked with Web Sphere but worked a lot with different logging systems, so my answer is based on my experience in this area.

First off, cas uses slf4j under the hood which is great. Slf4j is only an interface (slf4j-api jar), and if you want to use it with log4j which is a concrete implementation of logging system that knows nothing about slf4j apis you should provide an implementation of sfl4j interfaces that will delegate the calls to log4j loggers. So you should also include such an adapter in classpath as well Here is the link.

Now if this doesn't work, then probably the log4j.properties are not configured correctly, for example, the logger doesn't have any associated appenders/wrong appenders. I've found the best way to check this is just to place a breakpoint on the logger's call (inside cas library) and see the following:

• Which implementation of slf4j interface is actually used (as I've said before org.sl4j.Logger is just an interface and it has to be instantiated with real implementation object somehow, you know)
• See the associated appenders to the underlying implementation.

Regarding the second item, depending on technology/frameworks you have, you might be able to get this information via JMX or some kind of web admin interface. Debugging is a "hardcore" general way to figure this out.