Understanding Package Logging

In Chapter 7, "Debugging Packages," you learned that there are several options for monitoring the progress of package execution during the development cycle. However, these options are useful only when executing a package manually. After a package is placed into production, a different method is required to monitor the package's progress. SSIS includes logging features that write log entries when run-time events occur and provides a schema of commonly logged information to include in log entries.

A log is a collection of information about the package that is collected when the package runs. For example, a log can provide the start and finish times for a package run. A log provider defines the destination type and the format that the package and its container and tasks can use to log run-time information. The logs are associated with the package, but the tasks and containers in the package can log information to any package log. This means that an object can use the same logging configuration as its parent, use a different logging configuration, or not generate log entries.

SSIS supports a diverse set of log providers and enables you to create custom log providers such as a SQL Server database or text file. SSIS includes the following log providers:

• The Text File log provider

• The SQL Server Profiler log provider

• The SQL Server log provider

• The Windows Event log provider

• The XML File log provider

The Text File, SQL Server Profiler, and XML File log providers require a file connection manager. The SQL Server log provider requires an OLE DB connection manager.

Multiple logging destinations can be configured. An object can log to one or many of these destinations.

Important 

Use caution when selecting the events to log. Because logging all events can create a very large log file, you should log only a few important events at once, such as OnError and OnFailure.