[id='configuring-audit-logs_{context}']
= Configuring audit logging appenders

Apache Log4j provides different appenders that you can use to send audit messages to a destination other than the default log file.
For instance, if you want to send audit logs to a syslog daemon, JDBC database, or Apache Kafka server, you can configure an appender in `log4j2.xml`.

.Procedure

. Open `{server_home}/server/conf/log4j2.xml` with any text editor.
. Comment or remove the default `AUDIT-FILE` rolling file appender.
+
[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<!--RollingFile name="AUDIT-FILE"
  ...
</RollingFile-->
----
+
. Add the desired logging appender for audit messages.
+
For example, you could add a logging appender for a Kafka server as follows:
+
[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<Kafka name="AUDIT-KAFKA" topic="audit">
  <PatternLayout pattern="%date %message"/>
  <Property name="bootstrap.servers">localhost:9092</Property>
</Kafka>
----
+
. Save and close `log4j2.xml`.

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* link:https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/appenders.html[Log4j Appenders]
