Logging to elmah.io from Umbraco

Since Umbraco itself is written in ASP.NET, ELMAH works like a dream inside Umbraco. Besides logging uncaught errors, elmah.io also supports other types of messages like information and debug. All the log levels that you already know from log4net, NLog, and Serilog, are supported on elmah.io as well. Logging in Umbraco CMS is based on Serilog, which elmah.io also supports. We have brought all these pieces together into a NuGet package that we call: Elmah.Io.Umbraco.

To start utilizing elmah.io from your Umbraco site, all you need to do is install the Elmah.Io.Umbraco package:

Install-Package Elmah.Io.Umbraco

dotnet add package Elmah.Io.Umbraco

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io.Umbraco" Version="4.*" />

paket add Elmah.Io.Umbraco

During the installation, you will be asked for your API key (Where is my API key?) and log ID (Where is my log ID?).

Hit F5 and watch messages start flowing into elmah.io.

What's inside?

The Elmah.Io.Umbraco package installs and configures three things:

• The elmah.io Serilog sink (Warning and above)
• An Umbraco content finder for logging 404's
• ELMAH with elmah.io as error log

All unhandled exceptions from both ASP.NET / MVC / Web API as well as 404's are logged automatically. Warnings, errors, and fatal messages logged through Serilog are sent to elmah.io as well.

Configuration

If you are running on the default Umbraco template, all necessary configuration is added during installation of the Elmah.Io.Umbraco NuGet package. If your web.config file for some reason isn't updated during installation, you can configure elmah.io manually: Configure elmah.io manually. Likewise, the installer configures the elmah.io sink for Serilog in your config\serilog.user.config file.

Different environments

You may have different environments like Staging and Production. At least you have two: Localhost and Production. If you want to log to different error logs depending on the current environment, check out Use multiple logs for different environments. Web.config transformations work on the Web.config file only but you may have other config files that need transformation as well. In terms of elmah.io, the serilog.user.config file also includes elmah.io configuration that you may want to disable on localhost and include on production. If you are running on Umbraco Cloud this is natively supported as explained here: Config Transforms. Even in self-hosted environments, you can achieve something similar using the SlowCheetah extension. Check out this question on Our for details: Deploying different umbracoSettings.config for different environments.

Umbraco Cloud

When using Umbraco Cloud, you may not have a local clone of the source code. To install elmah.io on Umbraco cloud, execute the following steps:

• Clone your Umbraco Cloud project to a local folder as explained here: Visual Studio Setup. Make sure to follow the instructions in that document and use UaaS.cmd to generate your local clone rather than cloning the project from Umbraco Cloud. All changes made in the following steps should be made in the *.Web project only and all commits from within that folder as well. Don't commit and push anything in the root folder.

• Install Elmah.Io.Umbraco into the *.Web project on your local clone. During the installation, you will be asked for your API key (Where is my API key?) and log ID (Where is my log ID?).

Install-Package Elmah.Io.Umbraco

dotnet add package Elmah.Io.Umbraco

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io.Umbraco" Version="4.*" />

paket add Elmah.Io.Umbraco

• Commit and push all changes to the git repository (only commit and push inside the *.Web folder). This will add elmah.io logging to your remote Umbraco Cloud project.

In case you want logging to different elmah.io logs from each Umbraco Cloud environment, please check out Umbraco's support for config transformations here: Config transforms.

Umbraco Uno

Installing elmah.io in Umbraco Uno follow the process of installing it onto Umbraco Cloud. To modify code and configuration in Uno you will need an Umbraco Uno Standard plan or higher. Also, you need to enable Custom Code to clone the code locally. This can be done from Uno by clicking the Enable custom code button:

After enabling Custom Code you can create a Development environment and follow the steps in the Umbraco Cloud documentation.

Umbraco 7

We still support Umbraco 7 through the Elmah.Io.Umbraco package version 3.2.35:

Install-Package Elmah.Io.Umbraco -Version 3.2.35

dotnet add package Elmah.Io.Umbraco --version 3.2.35

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io.Umbraco" Version="3.2.35" />

paket add Elmah.Io.Umbraco --version 3.2.35

New features will be added to the updated package for Umbraco 8 and newer only.

Umbraco 9

Playing with the new version of Umbraco running on ASP.NET Core? We are too. Luckily, elmah.io already provides all of the bits and pieces needed to integrate Umbraco 9 and elmah.io.

Start by installing the Elmah.Io.AspNetCore package:

Install-Package Elmah.Io.AspNetCore

dotnet add package Elmah.Io.AspNetCore

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io.AspNetCore" Version="4.*" />

paket add Elmah.Io.AspNetCore

Then add the following using to the Startup.cs file:

using Elmah.Io.AspNetCore

Add this code to the ConfigureServices method:

services.AddElmahIo(o =>
{
    o.ApiKey = "API_KEY";
    o.LogId = new Guid("LOG_ID");
});

Finally, add the following code to the Configure method before the call to UseUmbraco:

app.UseElmahIo();

This will log all uncaught exceptions to elmah.io. If you want to hook into the internal logging of Umbraco, Install the Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging package:

Install-Package Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging

dotnet add package Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging" Version="4.*" />

paket add Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging

Add the following using to the Program.cs file:

using Elmah.Io.Extensions.Logging;

In the ConfigureLogging action add the following code after the call to ClearProviders:

x.AddElmahIo(options =>
{
    options.ApiKey = "API_KEY";
    options.LogId = new System.Guid("LOG_ID");
});
x.AddFilter<ElmahIoLoggerProvider>(null, LogLevel.Warning);

This will log all warnings and above to elmah.io. You can adjust the LogLevel but be aware that Umbraco outputs a lot of log messages which will quickly fill up your monthly quota.

This article was brought to you by the elmah.io team. elmah.io is the best error management system for .NET web applications. We monitor your website, alert you when errors start happening, and help you fix errors fast.

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