Serilog logs to console, but not to file or database

Question

I'm creating a web API with ASP.NET Core, but I'm having some trouble getting Serilog to work. It will output to the console fine. However, when I tell it to output to a file, it will create a file, but not enter any logs into it. The same happens when I try to use a PostgreSQL database. Any ideas on what is wrong?

appsettings.json

{
  "AllowedHosts": "*",

  "Serilog": {
    "MinimumLevel": "Information",
    "Using": [ "Serilog.Sinks.PostgreSQL" ],
    "WriteTo": [
      {
        "Name": "Console"
      },
      {
        "Name": "File",
        "Args": {
          "path": "Serilogs\\AppLogs.log"
        }
      },
      {
        "Name": "PostgreSQL",
        "Args": {
          "connectionString": "Server=fake_server;Port=5432;Database=filter_endpoints;User Id=postgres;Password=fake_password;",
          "tableName": "Logs",
          "needAutoCreateTable": true
        }
      }
    ]
  },

Startup.cs

    public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
        {
            var configurationBuilder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
                .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
                .AddJsonFile("appsettings.Development.json")
                .AddEnvironmentVariables();

             Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration().
              Enrich.FromLogContext().
              ReadFrom.Configuration(configuration).
              CreateLogger();


            Configuration = configurationBuilder.Build();
        }

Edit I got it to work with the file. Apparently, I had had a second block of configuring code like the one in Startup.cs in Program.cs. I took it out, and it is now righting to the file.

I'm still having some trouble with getting it to work with the database, though. I added that into the sample code. I replaced some values in the connection string with sample values for security. I know the connection string is good since the database table was created.

Edit I finally got this to work. I did have a slight problem with my code. I believe I should have been using the Serilog.Syncs.PostgrSQL.Configuration package on top of the mail PostgreSQL package. I'm not sure if that was a contribution factor or not.

The main problem was that for some reason the sync did not work with the latest versions of NpgSQL (I found that in a Github issue for the sync). I downgraded NpgSQL for now. Hopefully they get that fixed soon.

Thank you to everyone who tried to help me out.

Answer 1

Have you tried to tell Serilog which sinks it should use? :-)

"Using": [ "Serilog.Sinks.Console", "Serilog.Sinks.File" ],

From Serilog documentation: https://github.com/serilog/serilog-settings-configuration#serilogsettingsconfiguration--

Answer 2

I finally got this to work. I did have a slight problem with my code. I believe I should have been using the Serilog.Syncs.PostgrSQL.Configuration package on top of the mail PostgreSQL package. I'm not sure if that was a contribution factor or not.

The main problem was that for some reason the sync did not work with the latest versions of NpgSQL (I found that in a Github issue for the sync). I downgraded NpgSQL for now. Hopefully they get that fixed soon.