Custom Serilog Configurations with ASP.NET Core 3

I am particular about the logs my application generate. Here are some ways I have found to customize Serilog with ASPNET Core 3.

As I have previously written about, Serilog comes with a dedicated package for ASP.NET Core support. I prefer to store the configuration information in the appsettings.json and to send the logging output to the console.

Here are the packages you will need to install:

dotnet add package Serilog
dotnet add package Serilog.AspNetCore
dotnet add package Serilog.Settings.Configuration
dotnet add package Serilog.Enrichers.AssemblyName

First thing is to remove the “Logging” node from the appsettings.json as Serilog makes no use of them.

Then, add the following:

{
  "Serilog": {
    "MinimumLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Override": {
        "System": "Warning",
        "Microsoft": "Warning"
      }
    }
  }
}

This let’s Serilog log Information level messages and higher only. This is pretty much the way you want things in all environments.

Console

dotnet add package Serilog.Sinks.Console

Logging to the Console is a necessity for local development. Here is my usual configuration:

{
  "Serilog": {
    "WriteTo": [
      {
        "Name": "Console",
        "Args": {
          "theme": "Serilog.Sinks.SystemConsole.Themes.AnsiConsoleTheme::Code, Serilog.Sinks.Console",
          "outputTemplate": "[{Timestamp:HH:mm:ss.fff K} {Level:u3}] {Message:lj} <s:{SourceContext}>{NewLine}{Exception}"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

File

dotnet add package Serilog.Sinks.File

When using a file to store logs, here is a typical configuration:

{
  "Serilog": {
    "WriteTo": [
      { 
        "Name": "File",
        "Args": {
          "path": "info.log",
          "rollingInterval": "Day",
          "outputTemplate": "[{Timestamp:HH:mm:ss.fff K} {Level:u3}] [{AssemblyVersion}] {Message:lj} <s:{SourceContext}>{NewLine}{Exception}"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

SQL Server

dotnet add package Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer

NOTE: Use 5.1.3 or higher. Version 5.1.2 of the NuGet package does not allow for customization of the table.

{
  "Serilog": {
    "WriteTo": [
      {
        "Name": "MSSqlServer",
        "Args": {
          "connectionString": "Server=localhost;Database=MyDatabase;Integrated Security=true;",
          "tableName": "SampleLogs10",
          "autoCreateSqlTable": true,
          "restrictedToMinimumLevel": "Information",
          "columnOptionsSection": {
            "removeStandardColumns": [ "Properties" ],
            "additionalColumns": [
              { "columnName": "AssemblyVersion", "dataType": "VarChar", "dataLength": 32 },
              { "columnName": "RequestId", "dataType": "VarChar", "dataLength": 32 }
            ],
            "message": { "columnName": "MessageValue" },
            "level": { "columnName": "Severity", "storeAsEnum": false, "dataLength": 32 },
            "timeStamp": { "columnName": "LoggedAt", "convertToUtc": true, "dataType": "DateTime2" }
          }
        }
      }
    ],
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext", "WithAssemblyVersion" ]
  }
}