Logback SMTPAppender cannot find JNDI location and start

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16924231

Question

Using logback-1.0.13.jar and JDK 1.6u34.

I have a Java web app (WAR) with the following WEB-INF/classes/logback.xml:

<configuration debug="true" scan="true" scanPeriod="5 minutes">
    <appender name="logManager-smtpAppender" class="ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender">
        <filter class="ch.qos.logback.classic.filter.LevelFilter">
            <level>WARN</level>
            <onMatch>ACCEPT</onMatch>
            <onMismatch>NEUTRAL</onMismatch>
        </filter>
        <filter class="ch.qos.logback.classic.filter.LevelFilter">
            <level>ERROR</level>
            <onMatch>ACCEPT</onMatch>
            <onMismatch>DENY</onMismatch>
        </filter>

        <asynchronousSending>false</asynchronousSending>

        <sessionViaJNDI>true</sessionViaJNDI>
        <jndiLocation>java:comp/env/mail/Session-local</jndiLocation>

        <subject>%logger{20} - %m</subject>
        <layout class="ch.qos.logback.classic.html.HTMLLayout"/>
        <cyclicBufferTracker class="ch.qos.logback.core.spi.CyclicBufferTracker">
            <bufferSize>25</bufferSize>
        </cyclicBufferTracker>
    </appender>

    <root level="ALL">
        <appender-ref ref="logManager-smtpAppender" />
    </root>
</configuration>

And the following ${TOMCAT_HOME}/conf/context.xml (global context.xml for all web apps):

<Context>
    <WatchedResource>WEB-INF/web.xml</WatchedResource>

    <Resource
        name="mail/Session-local"
        auth="Container"
        type="javax.mail.Session"
        mail.smtp.host="my.smtp.server"
        mail.user="smtp_user"
        mail.password="smtp_password"
        mail.transport.protocol="smtp"
        mail.smtp.auth="true"
        mail.smtp.port="25"
        mail.smtp.starttls.enable="true"
    />
</Context>

And have the Java Mail API 1.4.3 (which I have verified contains a javax.mail.Authenticator class) on my runtime classpath at WEB-INF/lib/javax-mail-1.4.3.jar). I also have it in Tomcat's lib directory (${TOMCAT_HOME}/lib).

And am getting the following stack trace:

13:34:09,178 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext[default] - Could NOT find resource [logback.groovy]
13:34:09,179 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext[default] - Could NOT find resource [logback-test.xml]
13:34:09,181 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext[default] - Found resource [logback.xml] at [file:/home/myuser/sandbox/dsi/workbench/tomcat/6.0.32/apache-tomcat-6.0.32/webapps/myapp/WEB-INF/classes/logback.xml]
13:34:09,469 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.ConfigurationAction - Setting ReconfigureOnChangeFilter scanning period to 5 minutes
13:34:09,470 |-INFO in ReconfigureOnChangeFilter{invocationCounter=0} - Will scan for changes in [[/home/myuser/sandbox/dsi/workbench/tomcat/6.0.32/apache-tomcat-6.0.32/webapps/myapp/WEB-INF/classes/logback.xml]] every 300 seconds. 
13:34:09,470 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.ConfigurationAction - Adding ReconfigureOnChangeFilter as a turbo filter
13:34:11,782 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.core.joran.action.AppenderAction - About to instantiate appender of type [ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender]
13:34:11,830 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.core.joran.action.AppenderAction - Naming appender as [logManager-smtpAppender]
13:34:11,939 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Looking up javax.mail.Session at JNDI location [java:comp/env/mail/Session-local]
13:34:11,992 |-ERROR in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Failed to obtain javax.mail.Session from JNDI location [java:comp/env/mail/Session-local]
13:34:11,992 |-ERROR in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Failed to obtain javax.mail.Session. Cannot start.
13:34:11,993 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.RootLoggerAction - Setting level of ROOT logger to ALL
13:34:11,996 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.core.joran.action.AppenderRefAction - Attaching appender named [logManager-smtpAppender] to Logger[ROOT]
13:34:11,997 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.ConfigurationAction - End of configuration.
13:34:12,000 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.JoranConfigurator@63220fd1 - Registering current configuration as safe fallback point
13:39:49,988 |-WARN in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Attempted to append to non started appender [logManager-smtpAppender].
13:39:49,988 |-WARN in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Attempted to append to non started appender [logManager-smtpAppender].
13:39:50,598 |-WARN in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Attempted to append to non started appender [logManager-smtpAppender].
13:39:51,275 |-WARN in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Attempted to append to non started appender [logManager-smtpAppender].
13:39:51,833 |-WARN in ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SMTPAppender[logManager-smtpAppender] - Attempted to append to non started appender [logManager-smtpAppender].

Any ideas as to why Logback can't retrieve my JNDI Mail Session from Tomcat's context.xml? This is preventing the SMTPAppender from starting and being able to log messages. Thanks in advance!

Was it helpful?

Solution

First, don't put the mail JAR in both locations, but in Tomcat's lib folder. If you are using Maven, use provided scope for the corresponding <dependency /> to not package it in the WAR.

Second, do you have a <resource-ref /> element for the mail session in your web.xml? If not, look here for a sample.

Another alternative is to make the session <resource /> global (in server.xml) and link to it from the context.xml, as described here.

HTH, Jukka

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