Documentation for JIRA 4.4. Documentation for other versions of JIRA is available too.

Please always provide us with both:

  1. atlassian-jira.log (see Logging and Profiling)
  2. the application server log file, as it can contain useful error information that is not in atlassian-jira.log

JIRA Log Location

The logs are written to the log subdirectory of your JIRA Home Directory (or elsewhere if you have configured a different location). You can view the location of the atlassian-jira.log in the 'File Paths' section of the System Information page.

Application Server Logs

Finding the application server log file is application server-specific and in some cases operating system-specific. Here is a decision tree:

  • If you are on Windows
    • ..using Tomcat (JIRA Standalone or JIRA EAR/WAR running in Tomcat)
      • ..installed as a Windows Service:
        • ..then the logs are in the logs\stdout_*.log file under your JIRA Standalone directory and c:\WINDOWS\system32\atlassian-jira.log (WINDOWS may be replaced by WINNT), or for JIRA EAR/WAR, under your Tomcat directory
      • ..started via startup.bat:
        • ..then some logs are effectively being lost (to the popup DOS window, where it cannot be recaptured). Some logs do go to the atlassian-jira.log file in the current directory (wherever you ran startup.bat from) but this might not work if your current directory isn't writeable (eg. c:\WINNT\system32, the default). Even if you see an atlassian-jira.log it may be an old one, created from a previous startup. If you value your sanity (and ours) please install JIRA as a service, even if only to get all of the right logs appearing in a consistent place.
  • If you are on Unix (Linux, Solaris, etc)
    • and you are using Tomcat (JIRA Standalone or JIRA EAR/WAR running in Tomcat)
      • ..then the logs are in logs/catalina.out under your JIRA Standalone directory, or for JIRA EAR/WAR, under your Tomcat directory