This page last changed on May 28, 2009 by rosie@atlassian.com.

Please always provide us with both:

  1. atlassian-jira.log
  2. the application server log file, as it can contain useful error information that is not in atlassian-jira.log

Finding the application server log file can be a frustrating process, because its location is application server-specific and in some cases operating system-specific. Here is a decision tree:

  • If you are on Windows
    • ..using Tomcat (JIRA Standalone or JIRA EAR/WAR running in Tomcat)
      • ..installed as a Windows Service:
        • ..then the logs are in the logs\stdout_*.log file under your JIRA Standalone directory, or for JIRA EAR/WAR, under your Tomcat directory
      • ..started via startup.bat:
        • ..then some logs are effectively being lost (to the popup DOS window, where it cannot be recaptured). Some logs do go to the atlassian-jira.log file in the current directory (wherever you ran startup.bat from) but this might not work if your current directory isn't writeable (eg. c:\WINNT\system32, the default). Even if you see an atlassian-jira.log it may be an old one, created from a previous startup. If you value your sanity (and ours) please install JIRA as a service, even if only to get all of the right logs appearing in a consistent place.
    • ..and you are running another application server (JBoss, Websphere, Orion, etc):
      • logs are usually found in a logs directory. We assume you know more than us here - if not please use Standalone, where we can at least help.
  • If you are on Unix (Linux, Solaris, etc)
    • and you are using Tomcat (JIRA Standalone or JIRA EAR/WAR running in Tomcat)
      • ..then the logs are in logs/catalina.out under your JIRA Standalone directory, or for JIRA EAR/WAR, under your Tomcat directory
    • you are running another application server (JBoss, Websphere, Orion, etc):
      • ..if you don't know where your app server logs to, you can often discover this by running 'ps axuwwww' (linux) or 'ps -fax' (solaris). See if it redirects the application server process' stdout to a file, or go to its directory and look for logs there.
Document generated by Confluence on Oct 06, 2009 00:26