Worker background service Serilog problem

Question

Hi, I have a worker background service that works as a Windows service on production. The problem is, it does not log errors on file. Here is the appsettings.json:

"Serilog": {
    "Using": [ "Serilog.Sinks.Email", "PurchaseRazerCodesMultipleRequestService", "Serilog.Sinks.File", "Serilog.Sinks.Console", "Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer" ],
    "Override": {
      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
    },
    "WriteTo": [
      {
        "Name": "Console",
        "Args": {
          "outputTemplate": "{Timestamp:HH:mm:ss.fff zzz} [{Level}] {Message}{NewLine}{Exception}"
        }
      },
      {
        "Name": "File",
        "Args": {
          "path": "Serilogs\\AppLogs.log",
          "restrictedToMinimumLevel": "Error",
          "buffered": false,
          "rollingInterval": "Day",
          "retainedFileCountLimit": 3
        }
      },
...

Here is the program.cs

public class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Serilog.Debugging.SelfLog.Enable(Console.WriteLine);

            IHost host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
                .UseSerilog()
                .UseWindowsService(options =>
                {
                    options.ServiceName = "Razer Bulk Service";
                })
                .ConfigureServices(services =>
                {
                    services.AddHttpClient();
                    services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
                })
                .Build();
            Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration().ReadFrom.Configuration(host.Services.GetRequiredService<IConfiguration>()).CreateLogger();

            host.Run();
        }
    }

Actually logging into the file works on development. Does it due to the path? Here is how I created the Windows service on the production server.

sc.exe create "Razer BULK Is Completed Service" binpath="C:\BulkPurchaseIsComplete\BulkPurchaseIsCompleted.exe"

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi @Cenk,

Whether the exe file you use to create the Windows service is the original exe file or the published file. I built a simple example, using the exe after publishing to create a Windows service, the path of the output log file is changed. NuGet Packages used: Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore, Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.WorkerService, Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting, Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting.WindowsServices, Serilog.AspNetCore, Serilog.Extensions.Hosting, Serilog.Sinks.Map.

Worker.cs:

public class Worker : BackgroundService
{
    private readonly ILogger<Worker> _logger;
    private readonly TelemetryClient _telemetryClient;

    public Worker(ILogger<Worker> logger,
      TelemetryClient telemetryClient,
      IConfiguration configuration)
    {
        _logger = logger;
        _telemetryClient = telemetryClient;
    }

    protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        while (!stoppingToken.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            using (_telemetryClient.StartOperation<RequestTelemetry>("Execute Async"))
            {
                Log.Information("TestLog-Serilog");
                _logger.LogInformation("TestLog-Logger");
            }
            await Task.Delay(1000, stoppingToken);
        }
    }
}

Program.cs:

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Information()
    .MinimumLevel.Override("Microsoft", LogEventLevel.Warning)
    .MinimumLevel.Override("Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime", LogEventLevel.Information)
    .Enrich.FromLogContext()
    .WriteTo.File("./logs/log-.txt", rollingInterval: RollingInterval.Day)
    .CreateBootstrapLogger();

try
{
    Environment.CurrentDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);

    IHost host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .UseWindowsService(options =>
        {
            options.ServiceName = "Razer Bulk Service";
        })
        .ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostContext, configBuilder) =>
        {
            configBuilder
                .SetBasePath(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
                .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
                .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{hostContext.HostingEnvironment.EnvironmentName}.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: true)
                .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{Environment.MachineName}.json", true, true)
                .Build();
        })
        .UseSerilog((context, services, configuration) => configuration
            .ReadFrom.Configuration(context.Configuration)
            .ReadFrom.Services(services)
            .Enrich.FromLogContext())
        .ConfigureServices((hostContext, services) =>
        {
            services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
            services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetryWorkerService();
        })
        .Build();


    await host.RunAsync();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    Log.Fatal(ex, "There was a problem starting the service");
}
finally
{
    Log.Information("Service successfully stopped");

    Log.CloseAndFlush();
}

appsetting.json:

{
  "Logging": {
    "ApplicationInsights": {
      "LogLevel": {
        "Default": "Information",
        "Microsoft": "Warning"
      }
    },
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "ApplicationInsights": {
    "InstrumentationKey": "the-appinsights-guid"
  },
  "Serilog": {
    "Using": [ "Serilog.Sinks.Console", "Serilog.Sinks.File", "Serilog.Sinks.Debug" ],
    "MinimumLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Override": {
        "Microsoft": "Warning",
        "System": "Warning"
      }
    },
    "WriteTo": [
      { "Name": "Console" },
      {
        "Name": "File",
        "Args": {
          "path": ".\\logs\\log-.txt",
          "rollingInterval": "Day"
        }
      }
    ],
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext" ]
  }
}

launchSettings.json:

"environmentVariables": {
  "DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT": "Production"
}

Then publish it and use the published exe file to create a Windows service:

sc.exe create "Razer Bulk Service" binpath="Your Project Path\bin\Release\net6.0\publish\2023041101.exe"

When I run the project, the log file is generated in \bin\Debug\net6.0\logs and successfully outputs the log content:

When I run the Windows service:

sc.exe start "Razer Bulk Service"

The log file is generated in \bin\Release\net6.0\publish\logs and successfully outputs the log content:

You can check it.

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Best Regards,

Chen Li