best practices for logging in ASP.net MVC?

Question

What's the best way to log in ASP.net MVC? I mean any event, I'm currently using NLog but I know there are a lot of possible ways to do it.

Answer 1

I use log4net, its quite good. There are some issues to be aware of, you can learn more about them here. I also recommend Elmah, for me I use it on every project I do, its a prerequisite.

Answer 2

I don't think there is a best framework/tool or standard way in ASP.net MVC. Just do it the way you would in any other framework. When I set up logging, I usually think of it as a resource available to the rest of the application, rather than being tied to a particular tier. This is common, and in fact logging is the standard example given when introducing Aspect Oriented Programming. See:

• Logging mentioned in the wikipedia entry on AOP
• Another AOP into that uses logging as the example

Depending on what exactly you're trying to log, consider using action filters; a great way to log what page requests are made and for error handling coverage. Non-MVC asp.net apps usually do something in the global.asax, as mentioned here. In fact, even if you use the action filters, which I would suggest, also include some basic error handling in the global.asax 's application_error event; it will fire a little more dependably than the action filters if something really crazy happens.

Other than that, call your logging resource at the point where the stuff happens that's interesting to you. DB or File? Either works, and as long as it's encapsulated in a good method or two, you can always switch that later.