[Kea-users] Simplified logging?

[Darren Ankney]

Hi Jim,

You can control how much is logged in two ways. The first is with
logging severity and debuglevel (see here:
https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/kea-3.0.1/arm/logging.html#the-severity-string-logger
and here: https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/kea-3.0.1/arm/logging.html#the-debuglevel-integer-logger).
The second is by using separate log output destinations
(https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/kea-3.0.1/arm/logging.html#the-output-options-list-logger)
per name (https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/kea-3.0.1/arm/logging.html#the-name-string-logger).
You can also set a different severity per logging configuration.
Something like this:

"Server": {
    "loggers": [
        {
            "name": "kea-dhcp4.leases",
            "output-options": [
                {
                    "output": "leases.log"
                }
            ],
            "severity": "INFO",
        },
        {
            "name": "kea-dhcp4.packets",
            "output-options": [
                {
                    "output": "packets.log"
                }
            ],
            "severity": "DEBUG",
            "debuglevel": 99
        }
    ]
}

You can set as many of these up as you like.  Perhaps one per logger
name (see list here:
https://kea.readthedocs.io/en/kea-3.0.1/arm/logging.html#id3)

Please note that you can also send all of these to the same
destination (file, stdout or syslog) and just use the separate logger
names to control HOW MUCH DETAIL is logged by each.

Thank you,
Darren Ankney

On Sun, Aug 31, 2025 at 4:25 PM Jim <jim at wrightthisway.com> wrote:
>
> I’m a new user so I’m sure this may already have been covered but I wasn’t able to find any info after some searching.
>
> I’m migrating from the older dhcpd package, and I’m trying to slim down the number of things that kea puts into the log file.  I found the pattern used for logging and made minor changes that helped, but the actual messages logged seem overly verbose.
>
> I found this article which calls out the differences in the two packages, what would usually be about 4 log lines in the other software are closer to 8 or more in kea.
>
> https://kb.isc.org/docs/isc-dhcp-logging-compared-to-kea
>
> I do refer to my logs regularly for troubleshooting, but the length and quantity of lines logged for each dhcp request is really going to strain my eyes.  LoL
>
> Am I missing anything in the configuration that would reduce the amount of info logged?
> --
> ISC funds the development of this software with paid support subscriptions. Contact us at https://www.isc.org/contact/ for more information.
>
> To unsubscribe visit https://lists.isc.org/mailman/listinfo/kea-users.
>
> Kea-users mailing list
> Kea-users at lists.isc.org
> https://lists.isc.org/mailman/listinfo/kea-users