How to change the Glassfish server log level from command line

When deploying applications with glassfish, you have sometimes (just sometimes) to read the server log You can change, mostly on the fly (no restart needed), the log levels, that could be very useful. First, list the log levels :

asadmin list-log-levels

Don’t forget to give instance name if you want those for this instance

asadmin list-log-levels instance1

Here is an example :

asadmin list-log-levels instance1

ShoalLogger	<CONFIG>
com.sun.enterprise.server.logging.GFFileHandler	<ALL>
java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler	<FINEST>
javax.enterprise.resource.corba	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.javamail	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.jdo	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.jms	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.jta	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.resourceadapter	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.sqltrace	<FINE>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.application	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.config	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.context	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.facelets	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.lifecycle	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.managedbean	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.renderkit	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.resource	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.taglib	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.resource.webcontainer.jsf.timing	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.container.cmp	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.container.ejb	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.container.ejb.mdb	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.container.web	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core.classloading	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core.config	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core.naming	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core.security	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core.selfmanagement	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.core.transaction	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.ssl.security	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.tools.admin	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.tools.backup	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.tools.deployment	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.util	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.webservices.registry	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.webservices.rpc	<INFO>
javax.enterprise.system.webservices.saaj	<INFO>
javax	<INFO>
javax.org.glassfish.persistence	<INFO>
org.apache.catalina	<INFO>
org.apache.coyote	<INFO>
org.apache.jasper	<INFO>
org.eclipse.persistence.session	<INFO>
org.glassfish.admingui	<INFO>
org.jvnet.hk2.osgiadapter	<INFO>
Command list-log-levels executed successfully.

After that, you just have to set it, for example :

asadmin set-log-levels javax.enterprise.system.container.ejb=<level>
# Here with the instance
asadmin set-log-levels <instance-name> javax.enterprise.system.container.ejb=<level>

As you could see in the asadmin documentation :
Log level values are SEVERE, WARNING, INFO, CONFIG, FINE, FINER, and FINEST.
The default setting is INFO.

When you perform this, i think you are watching the logs.
So you could view the changes applied, if not, you have to restart the instance (or server).
Hope it would be useful for you