# OpenAM Administration Guide
17.3. Log Management

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### 17.3.1. Logging in OpenAM Core Services

By default OpenAM logs to files in the configuration directory for the instance, such as `$HOME/openam/log/` for log files, and `$HOME/openam/debug/` for debug files. You can also configure OpenAM to log through JDBC to a database such as MySQL or Oracle DB.

OpenAM sends messages to different log files, each named after the service logging the message, with two different types log files per service: `.access` and `.error`. Thus the current log files for the authentication service are named `amAuthentication.access` and `amAuthentication.error`.

See the Log Messages reference for details.

OpenAM lets you change the log level on the fly. OpenAM also supports log rotation, secure logging, and log message buffering.

To configure OpenAM logging properties overall, login to the OpenAM console as OpenAM administrator, and browse to Configuration > System > Logging.

To adjust the debug level while OpenAM is running, login to the OpenAM console as OpenAM administrator, and browse to Configuration > Servers and Sites > `Server Name` > General, and then scroll down to Debugging. The default level for debug logging is Error. This level is appropriate for normal production operations, in which case no debug log messages are expected.

Setting debug log level to Warning increases the volume of messages. Setting debug log level to Message dumps detailed trace messages. Unless told to do so by qualified support personnel, do not use Warning and Message levels in production.

During development, you might find it useful to log all debug messages to a single file. In order to do so, set Merge Debug Files to `on`.

After changing this setting, restart OpenAM or the container in which it runs for the change to take effect.