A Better Way to View Logs in Kudu for Azure App Service on Linux

Logs are a quick and effective way to get insight into what’s going on inside your application. Whether you’re looking into startup behaviours, runtime issues, failed requests, dependency problems, or unexpected app behaviour, having the right logs can simplify troubleshooting significantly.

To enhance this process, we’ve introduced a new Log stream page within Kudu for Azure App Service on Linux, found under the Logs dropdown. This feature provides a comprehensive hub for streaming, browsing, searching, and refining logs, enabling you to quickly grasp what’s happening in your app.

Here’s how you can access Kudu from the Azure portal:

1. Navigate to your App Service.
2. Select Advanced Tools.
3. Click on Go.

Alternatively, you can access Kudu directly by visiting: https://.scm.azurewebsites.net

Once there, head to the Logs page.

The Logs page allows you to view logs in real-time, complete with filters for timeframe, instance, container, log type, and level.

This can be particularly useful if you want to concentrate on a specific instance, focus solely on errors, or differentiate between application logs and platform events.

For instance, platform logs can provide insights into container lifecycle events, restarts, startup behaviours, warmup probe activities, and other platform-related occurrences linked to your app.

You can leverage keyword searches to filter through the log stream or historical logs effectively. This feature is handy when you’re hunting for a particular error message, request path, exception, dependency failure, timeout, or other application-specific terms.

Rather than sifting through hundreds of entries, you can simply search for the keywords that matter to your investigation.

The Log stream page also allows you to filter logs by a specific time range. This is particularly useful if you are aware of when an issue occurred and want to review both application and platform activities from that period.

For example, you can filter for a specific timeframe, switch to Application logs, and observe what was happening in your app during the issue.

This can assist you in troubleshooting various scenarios like failed requests, application exceptions, slow startups, container restarts, dependency troubles, or configuration challenges.

The new Log stream page in Kudu greatly streamlines the log management process for Azure App Service on Linux. With features like live streaming, keyword searches, historical views, and filters for application and platform logs, you can quickly find the information you need and resolve issues more effectively.

We’ll continue improving the App Service on Linux experience to make diagnostics simpler and more efficient for everyday development and operational tasks.