Prevent Log4j create more than 5 log files

Question

As the title says, I want to create no more than 5 log files with Log4j2. Take in mind that I want to use a .properties file. Here is what I have so far:

rootLogger.level=INFO
property.filename=/data/standalone/ldap_proxy_server/logs/ldap_server_proxy.log

appenders=rollingAppender

appender.console.type=Console
appender.console.name=STDOUT
appender.console.layout.type=PatternLayout
appender.console.layout.pattern=%d{dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss} %5p %c{20} > %m%n

appender.rollingAppender.type=RollingFile
appender.rollingAppender.name=File
appender.rollingAppender.fileName=/data/standalone/ldap_proxy_server/logs/ldap_server_proxy.log
appender.rollingAppender.filePattern=/data/standalone/ldap_proxy_server/logs/ldap_server_proxy.log.%d{yyyy-MM-dd}
appender.rollingAppender.layout.type=PatternLayout
appender.rollingAppender.layout.pattern=%d{dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss} %5p %c{20} > %m%n
appender.rollingAppender.policies.type=Policies
appender.rollingAppender.policies.time.type=TimeBasedTriggeringPolicy
appender.rollingAppender.policies.time.interval=1
appender.rollingAppender.policies.time.modulate=true
appender.rollingAppender.policies.size.type=SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy
appender.rollingAppender.policies.size.size=50MB
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.type=DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.max=5

rootLogger.appenderRefs=rollingAppender,console

rootLogger.appenderRef.console.ref=STDOUT
rootLogger.appenderRef.rollingAppender.ref=File

I thought that this two lines does the magic:

appender.rollingAppender.strategy.type=DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.max=5

But it's not working. What I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

I think you have to specify to delete old log files if no. of files become more than 5 after rotation.

Try changing rollover strategy as per below lines in your configuration file -

appender.rollingAppender.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.delete.type = Delete
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.delete.basePath = /data/standalone/ldap_proxy_server/logs/
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.delete.maxDepth = 1
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.delete.ifAccumulatedFileCount.type = IfAccumulatedFileCount 
appender.rollingAppender.strategy.delete.ifAccumulatedFileCount.exceeds = 5

You can also specify to delete files older than 5 days but in that case, 5 or more than 5 files can exist as you are using SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy also.