How do I make aspnet-request available in my NLog config? - nlog

Question

I am trying to add the ip address to logging. I installed the NLog.Extended package and ensured that the NLog.Extended.dll is present in my bin next to the base NLog.dll. I have added the variable "${aspnet-request:serverVariable=remote_addr}" to my layout renderer. I get a generic error saying:
An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for nlog: Exception occurred when loading configuration from [my Web.config]
Here is my NLog.config:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<extensions>
<add assembly="NLog.Extended" />
</extensions>
<targets async="true">
<target name="fileLog" xsi:type="File" fileName="${basedir}/logs/${shortdate}.log" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=remote_addr} ${longdate} ${callsite} ${level} ${message} ${exception:format=ToString}" />
<target name="dbLog" xsi:type="Database" connectionStringName="db.data" commandText="insert into log ([Date], [Origin], [LogLevel], [Message], [Exception], [StackTrace]) values (#date, #origin, #logLevel, #message, #exception, #stackTrace)">
<parameter name="#date" layout="${date}"/>
<parameter name="#origin" layout="${callsite}"/>
<parameter name="#logLevel" layout="${level}"/>
<parameter name="#message" layout="${message}"/>
<parameter name="#exception" layout="${exception:format=Message,StackTrace}"/>
<parameter name="#stackTrace" layout="${stacktrace}"/>
</target>
</targets>
<rules>
<logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="dbLog" />
<logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="fileLog" />
</rules>
</nlog>
When I remove the AspNetRequest variable it doesn't complain. I've tried replacing "remote_addr" with "remote_host" with no change. This project is using NLog 2.1.0. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong here?

Answer 1

If you're using NLog 4.0 then you'll need NLog.Web to use the aspnet=* layout renderers.

Answer 2

It turned out that the NLog.Extended.dll(3.1.0.0) had to match the NLog.dll it was referencing. I upgraded the NLog.dll to 3.1.0.0 and everything is working now.

Answer 3

In my ASP.NET webapi 2.0 solution I had a separate projects for my API's and logging. Using nLog 4.4.12 installed through NuGet and all the helper packages (Config,Extended,Web,Schema) in the logging project.
The "aspnet-request" properties in my config would not work until I added the nLog references to my api project, even though "Copy Local" is set to true for all the nLog DLL's in the logging project. My nLog section from my web.config is below.
Hope this help someone,
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<targets>
<target name="db" xsi:type="Database" connectionStringName="NLogConn" commandType="StoredProcedure" commandText="[dbo].[NLog_AddEntry_p]">
<parameter name="#machineName" layout="${machinename}" />
<parameter name="#siteName" layout="${iis-site-name}" />
<parameter name="#logged" layout="${date}" />
<parameter name="#level" layout="${level}" />
<parameter name="#username" layout="${aspnet-user-identity}" />
<parameter name="#message" layout="${message}" />
<parameter name="#logger" layout="${logger}" />
<parameter name="#properties" layout="${all-event-properties:separator=|}" />
<parameter name="#serverName" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=SERVER_NAME}" />
<parameter name="#port" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=SERVER_PORT}" />
<parameter name="#url" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTP_URL}" />
<parameter name="#https" layout="${when:inner=1:when='${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTPS}' == 'on'}${when:inner=0:when='${aspnet-request:serverVariable=HTTPS}' != 'on'}" />
<parameter name="#serverAddress" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=LOCAL_ADDR}" />
<parameter name="#remoteAddress" layout="${aspnet-request:serverVariable=REMOTE_ADDR}:${aspnet-request:serverVariable=REMOTE_PORT}" />
<parameter name="#callSite" layout="${callsite:fileName=true:includeSourcePath=false:skipFrames=1}" />
<parameter name="#exception" layout="${exception:tostring}" />
</target>
</targets>
<rules>
<logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="db" />
</rules>