Configure and view Dapr Logs

Understand how logging works in Dapr and how to configure and view logs

This section will assist you in understanding how logging works in Dapr, configuring and viewing logs.

Overview

Logs have different, configurable verbosity levels. The levels outlined below are the same for both system components and the Dapr sidecar process/container:

  1. error
  2. warn
  3. info
  4. debug

error produces the minimum amount of output, where debug produces the maximum amount. The default level is info, which provides a balanced amount of information for operating Dapr in normal conditions.

To set the output level, you can use the --log-level command-line option. For example:

  1. ./daprd --log-level error
  2. ./placement --log-level debug

This will start the Dapr runtime binary with a log level of error and the Dapr Actor Placement Service with a log level of debug.

Logs in stand-alone mode

To set the log level when running your app with the Dapr CLI, pass the log-level param:

  1. dapr run --log-level warn node myapp.js

As outlined above, every Dapr binary takes a --log-level argument. For example, to launch the placement service with a log level of warning:

  1. ./placement --log-level warn

Viewing Logs on Standalone Mode

When running Dapr with the Dapr CLI, both your app’s log output and the runtime’s output will be redirected to the same session, for easy debugging. For example, this is the output when running Dapr:

  1. dapr run node myapp.js
  2. ℹ️  Starting Dapr with id Trackgreat-Lancer on port 56730
  3. ✅  You are up and running! Both Dapr and your app logs will appear here.
  5. == APP == App listening on port 3000!
  6. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="starting Dapr Runtime -- version 0.3.0-alpha -- commit b6f2810-dirty"
  7. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="log level set to: info"
  8. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="standalone mode configured"
  9. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="app id: Trackgreat-Lancer"
  10. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="loaded component statestore (state.redis)"
  11. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="loaded component messagebus (pubsub.redis)"
  12. == DAPR == 2019/09/05 12:26:43 redis: connecting to localhost:6379
  13. == DAPR == 2019/09/05 12:26:43 redis: connected to localhost:6379 (localAddr: [::1]:56734, remAddr: [::1]:6379)
  14. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=warn msg="failed to init input bindings: app channel not initialized"
  15. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="actor runtime started. actor idle timeout: 1h0m0s. actor scan interval: 30s"
  16. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="actors: starting connection attempt to placement service at localhost:50005"
  17. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="http server is running on port 56730"
  18. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="gRPC server is running on port 56731"
  19. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="dapr initialized. Status: Running. Init Elapsed 8.772922000000001ms"
  20. == DAPR == time="2019-09-05T12:26:43-07:00" level=info msg="actors: established connection to placement service at localhost:50005"

Logs in Kubernetes mode

You can set the log level individually for every sidecar by providing the following annotation in your pod spec template:

  1. annotations:
  2.   dapr.io/log-level: "debug"

Setting system pods log level

When deploying Dapr to your cluster using Helm 3.x, you can individually set the log level for every Dapr system component:

  1. helm install dapr dapr/dapr --namespace dapr-system --set <COMPONENT>.logLevel=<LEVEL>

Components:

  • dapr_operator
  • dapr_placement
  • dapr_sidecar_injector

Example:

  1. helm install dapr dapr/dapr --namespace dapr-system --set dapr_operator.logLevel=error

Viewing Logs on Kubernetes

Dapr logs are written to stdout and stderr. This section will guide you on how to view logs for Dapr system components as well as the Dapr sidecar.

Sidecar Logs

When deployed in Kubernetes, the Dapr sidecar injector will inject a Dapr container named daprd into your annotated pod. In order to view logs for the sidecar, simply find the pod in question by running kubectl get pods:

  1. NAME                                        READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
  2. addapp-74b57fb78c-67zm6                     2/2       Running   0          40h

Next, get the logs for the Dapr sidecar container:

  1. kubectl logs addapp-74b57fb78c-67zm6 -c daprd
  3. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="starting Dapr Runtime -- version 0.3.0-alpha -- commit b6f2810-dirty"
  4. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="log level set to: info"
  5. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="kubernetes mode configured"
  6. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="app id: addapp"
  7. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="application protocol: http. waiting on port 6000"
  8. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="application discovered on port 6000"
  9. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="actor runtime started. actor idle timeout: 1h0m0s. actor scan interval: 30s"
  10. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="actors: starting connection attempt to placement service at dapr-placement.dapr-system.svc.cluster.local:80"
  11. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="http server is running on port 3500"
  12. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="gRPC server is running on port 50001"
  13. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="dapr initialized. Status: Running. Init Elapsed 64.234049ms"
  14. time="2019-09-04T02:52:27Z" level=info msg="actors: established connection to placement service at dapr-placement.dapr-system.svc.cluster.local:80"

System Logs

Dapr runs the following system pods:

  • Dapr operator
  • Dapr sidecar injector
  • Dapr placement service

Operator Logs

  1. kubectl logs -l app=dapr-operator -n dapr-system
  3. I1207 06:01:02.891031 1 leaderelection.go:243] attempting to acquire leader lease dapr-system/operator.dapr.io...
  4. I1207 06:01:02.913696 1 leaderelection.go:253] successfully acquired lease dapr-system/operator.dapr.io
  5. time="2021-12-07T06:01:03.092529085Z" level=info msg="getting tls certificates" instance=dapr-operator-84bb47f895-dvbsj scope=dapr.operator type=log ver=unknown
  6. time="2021-12-07T06:01:03.092703283Z" level=info msg="tls certificates loaded successfully" instance=dapr-operator-84bb47f895-dvbsj scope=dapr.operator type=log ver=unknown
  7. time="2021-12-07T06:01:03.093062379Z" level=info msg="starting gRPC server" instance=dapr-operator-84bb47f895-dvbsj scope=dapr.operator.api type=log ver=unknown
  8. time="2021-12-07T06:01:03.093123778Z" level=info msg="Healthz server is listening on :8080" instance=dapr-operator-84bb47f895-dvbsj scope=dapr.operator type=log ver=unknown
  9. time="2021-12-07T06:01:03.497889776Z" level=info msg="starting webhooks" instance=dapr-operator-84bb47f895-dvbsj scope=dapr.operator type=log ver=unknown
  10. I1207 06:01:03.497944 1 leaderelection.go:243] attempting to acquire leader lease dapr-system/webhooks.dapr.io...
  11. I1207 06:01:03.516641 1 leaderelection.go:253] successfully acquired lease dapr-system/webhooks.dapr.io
  12. time="2021-12-07T06:01:03.526202227Z" level=info msg="Successfully patched webhook in CRD "subscriptions.dapr.io"" instance=dapr-operator-84bb47f895-dvbsj scope=dapr.operator type=log ver=unknown

Note: If Dapr is installed to a different namespace than dapr-system, simply replace the namespace to the desired one in the command above

Sidecar Injector Logs

  1. kubectl logs -l app=dapr-sidecar-injector -n dapr-system
  3. time="2021-12-07T06:01:01.554859058Z" level=info msg="log level set to: info" instance=dapr-sidecar-injector-5d88fcfcf5-2gmvv scope=dapr.injector type=log ver=unknown
  4. time="2021-12-07T06:01:01.555114755Z" level=info msg="metrics server started on :9090/" instance=dapr-sidecar-injector-5d88fcfcf5-2gmvv scope=dapr.metrics type=log ver=unknown
  5. time="2021-12-07T06:01:01.555233253Z" level=info msg="starting Dapr Sidecar Injector -- version 1.5.1 -- commit c6daae8e9b11b3e241a9cb84c33e5aa740d74368" instance=dapr-sidecar-injector-5d88fcfcf5-2gmvv scope=dapr.injector type=log ver=unknown
  6. time="2021-12-07T06:01:01.557646524Z" level=info msg="Healthz server is listening on :8080" instance=dapr-sidecar-injector-5d88fcfcf5-2gmvv scope=dapr.injector type=log ver=unknown
  7. time="2021-12-07T06:01:01.621291968Z" level=info msg="Sidecar injector is listening on :4000, patching Dapr-enabled pods" instance=dapr-sidecar-injector-5d88fcfcf5-2gmvv scope=dapr.injector type=log ver=unknown

Note: If Dapr is installed to a different namespace than dapr-system, simply replace the namespace to the desired one in the command above

Viewing Placement Service Logs

  1. kubectl logs -l app=dapr-placement-server -n dapr-system
  3. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.733416791Z" level=info msg="starting Dapr Placement Service -- version 1.5.0 -- commit 83fe579f5dc93bef1ce3b464d3167a225a3aff3a" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=unknown
  4. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.733469491Z" level=info msg="log level set to: info" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0
  5. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.733512692Z" level=info msg="metrics server started on :9090/" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.metrics type=log ver=1.5.0
  6. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.735207095Z" level=info msg="Raft server is starting on 127.0.0.1:8201..." instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement.raft type=log ver=1.5.0
  7. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.735221195Z" level=info msg="mTLS enabled, getting tls certificates" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0
  8. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.735265696Z" level=info msg="tls certificates loaded successfully" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0
  9. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.735276396Z" level=info msg="placement service started on port 50005" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0
  10. time="2021-12-04T05:08:05.735553696Z" level=info msg="Healthz server is listening on :8080" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0
  11. time="2021-12-04T05:08:07.036850257Z" level=info msg="cluster leadership acquired" instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0
  12. time="2021-12-04T05:08:07.036909357Z" level=info msg="leader is established." instance=dapr-placement-server-0 scope=dapr.placement type=log ver=1.5.0

Note: If Dapr is installed to a different namespace than dapr-system, simply replace the namespace to the desired one in the command above

Non Kubernetes Environments

The examples above are specific specific to Kubernetes, but the principal is the same for any kind of container based environment: simply grab the container ID of the Dapr sidecar and/or system component (if applicable) and view its logs.

References

Last modified October 12, 2023: Update config.toml (#3826) (0ffc2e7)