Section 3 of 6

Built-in Providers

🎯 What You'll Learn

What are logging providers
Console provider
Debug provider
EventSource provider
EventLog provider (Windows)
Configuring providers

What are Logging Providers?

Logging providers determine where logs are written (console, file, database, etc.). ASP.NET Core includes several built-in providers.

Built-in Providers

1. Console Provider

Writes logs to the console.

Add Console Logging C#

builder.Logging.AddConsole();

2. Debug Provider

Writes logs to the debug output window.

Add Debug Logging C#

builder.Logging.AddDebug();

3. EventSource Provider

Writes logs using EventSource for ETW (Event Tracing for Windows).

Add EventSource Logging C#

builder.Logging.AddEventSourceLogger();

4. EventLog Provider (Windows)

Writes logs to Windows Event Log.

Install Package Bash

dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.EventLog

Add EventLog Logging C#

builder.Logging.AddEventLog();

Default Configuration

ASP.NET Core templates include Console and Debug providers by default.

Program.cs (Default) C#

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
// Console and Debug providers are added by default

Clearing and Adding Providers

Clear and Add Custom Providers C#

builder.Logging.ClearProviders(); // Remove all default providers
builder.Logging.AddConsole();
builder.Logging.AddDebug();

Provider-Specific Configuration

appsettings.json JSON

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information"
    },
    "Console": {
      "LogLevel": {
        "Default": "Debug"
      }
    },
    "Debug": {
      "LogLevel": {
        "Default": "Trace"
      }
    }
  }
}

Key Takeaways

Providers: Determine where logs are written
Console: Writes to console (default)
Debug: Writes to debug output (default)
EventSource: ETW tracing
EventLog: Windows Event Log
ClearProviders(): Remove default providers
Configure: Per-provider log levels in appsettings.json