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I'm testing out Azure Webjobs. I wrote a console application which polls a SQL database for new work and processes it. I'm not using the WebJobs SDK because it only supports Azure Storage.

I upload the job, it runs, and then it fails with a exception that says it wasn't able to connect to the SQL Database instance. I'm wondering what connection string is being used; is it getting the connection string from the Azure Website. The logs give me this:

[03/14/2014 22:24:25 > 512206: SYS INFO] Status changed to Running
[03/14/2014 22:24:40 > 512206: ERR ] 
[03/14/2014 22:24:40 > 512206: ERR ] Unhandled Exception: System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. ---> System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

I would like to write data to these logs (like what is the connection string that is being used). I tried Console.WriteLine, Debug.WriteLine, Console.Error.WriteLine. None of them show up in the in my WebJob log.

Apparently I could get the data by just raising an exception with the message text showing what I want, but there must be a better way! How do I write SYS INFO lines and ERR lines to the log?

Geoff Armstrong
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    you wrote my question for me. Going to look for an answer. Can you please drop an answer here if you do resolve it? – reuben Mar 15 '14 at 00:55

2 Answers2

74

Regarding logs:

For continuous WebJobs - Console.Out and Console.Error are routed to the "application logs", they will show up as file, blob or table storage depends on your configuration of the application logs (similar to your Website).

Also the first 100 lines in each invocation will also go to the WebJob log file (to ease debugging pain when the WebJob fails at startup) accessible using the Azure portal (but also saved on your site's file system at data/jobs/continuous/jobName).

For triggered/scheduled WebJobs - Console.Out/Console.Error are routed to the WebJobs specific run log file also accessible using the Azure portal and stored at data/jobs/triggered/jobName/runId.

Console.Out is treated (marked) as INFO and Console.Error as ERROR.

Regarding connection strings:

You can access your connection strings the same as in your website, using the ConfigurationManager class, for WebJobs not written in .NET you can find these connection strings (and app settings) as environment variables (all the same as with your Website).

Amit Apple
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    I believe once you turn application logging on, it turns itself off in 12 hours. Something to keep in mind. – Jason Haley May 26 '15 at 19:13
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    True for file system, blob storage and table storage will not turn off. – Amit Apple May 26 '15 at 21:30
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    Only unfortunate thing I have noticed is that console output written during a job execution is not logged with the job itself, (as far as I can tell) any debug output you write has to be in the exception message if you want more context around a failure case. – KallDrexx Jun 10 '16 at 18:49
7

I was able to get Console.WriteLine() to leave messages in my web job log. The following console runs and leaves log messages.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        while (true)
        {
            DoStuff();
            Thread.Sleep(10000);
        }
    }

    public static void DoStuff()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("do stuff");
    }
}

This is what my log file shows:

[03/15/2014 04:05:28 > cf6d00: SYS INFO] Run script 'HelloWebJobConsoleApplication.exe' with script host - 'WindowsScriptHost'
[03/15/2014 04:05:28 > cf6d00: SYS INFO] Status changed to Running
[03/15/2014 04:05:28 > cf6d00: INFO] do stuff
[03/15/2014 04:05:38 > cf6d00: INFO] do stuff
[03/15/2014 04:05:48 > cf6d00: INFO] do stuff
[03/15/2014 04:05:58 > cf6d00: INFO] do stuff
reuben
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  • It seems that the .exe in my webjob was not being replaced when I thought it was which meant that I wasn't seeing my Console.WriteLine statements. I rectified that problem. As Rick Perry would say, "oops". :) – Geoff Armstrong Mar 15 '14 at 17:31
  • How did you ensure that the latest version of the .exe was being implemented? – awj May 12 '15 at 13:35
  • @awj Output `AssenmblyName.Version` like this https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.assemblyname.version(v=vs.110).aspx – Jumpei Jul 09 '15 at 08:28
  • This works for both continuous and triggerred? – Shamim Hafiz - MSFT Aug 25 '21 at 18:43