PHP: Configure logs in context

Logs in context for the PHP agent connects your logs and APM data in New Relic. Bringing all of this data together in a single tool helps you quickly get to the root cause of an issue and find the log lines that you need to identify and resolve a problem.

Set up your PHP app

To enable logs in context for APM apps monitored by PHP, you can use our manual installation option.

Make sure you have already set up logging in New Relic. This includes configuring a supported log forwarder that collects your application logs and extends the metadata that is forwarded to New Relic.
Install or update to the latest PHP agent version, and enable distributed tracing. Use PHP agent version 9.13.0.270 or higher for logs in context.
Install Monolog version 1 or 2, or use a compatible log forwarding plugin if you are not using the built-in Monolog Handler for New Relic.
Configure logs in context for PHP using the Monolog extension, if used.

You must install the Monolog log enricher package before you can configure Monolog for logs in context. This is done by using Composer to install the newrelic/monolog-enricher package.

In most cases, use the Processor and Handler classes provided by the log enricher package in conjunction with Monolog's built-in BufferHandler.

The Processor adds the contextual metadata required for New Relic's logs in context capabilities to operate.
The Handler sends the log records to New Relic.
The BufferHandler ensures that the logs are delivered with as little overhead as possible.
At the point where you create the Monolog\Logger object, add the following pushProcessor and pushHandler calls to add the Processor and Handler:
```
<?php

use Monolog\Handler\BufferHandler;
use Monolog\Logger;
use NewRelic\Monolog\Enricher\{Handler, Processor};

$log = new Logger('log');
$log->pushProcessor(new Processor);
$log->pushHandler(new BufferHandler(new Handler));
```
Tip
You can use the Processor and Handler in conjunction with any existing Monolog setup. You do not need to remove your existing processors and handlers.

If you use Monolog to send logs to a compatible log forwarder, and if you have already configured that tool to send logs to New Relic, you can use the Processor and Formatter solely for that tool. This option prevents additional overhead of sending logs directly to New Relic with the Handler.

You will need to be using a handler that supports the setFormatter() method, and your logging tool must be able to ingest JSON logs.

Here's an example of configuring Monolog to handle other log forwarders:

<?php

use Monolog\Handler\StreamHandler;
use Monolog\Logger;
use NewRelic\Monolog\Enricher\{Formatter, Processor};

$log = new Logger('log');
$log->pushProcessor(new Processor);

$handler = new StreamHandler('php://stderr');
$handler->setFormatter(new Formatter);
$log->pushHandler($handler);

To verify that you have configured the log appender correctly, run your application, then check your logs data in New Relic using the query operator has:span.id has:trace.id.

If everything is configured correctly and your data is being forwarded to New Relic with the enriched metadata, your logs should now be emitted as JSON and contain trace.id and span.id fields. If you don't see log data in the UI, follow the troubleshooting procedures.

If the logs from your application do not include fields like trace.id and span.id, there may be a problem with the configuration of the Monolog log enricher. In this situation:

Check that the PHP agent for your app has been installed and is configured to enable distributed tracing.
Check that your application is using the Monolog logger object when sending log records, not syslog().
Check that another Monolog handler is not preventing the log record from bubbling.

What's next?

After you set up APM logs in context, make the most of your logging data:

Explore the logging data across your platform with our Logs UI.
View your logs in context data in distributed tracing. Note that for PHP, logs in context data doesn't appear in the Logs tab of the APM UI.
Get deeper visibility into both your application and your platform performance data by forwarding your logs with our infrastructure monitoring agent. Review your infrastructure logs in the UI.
Set up alerts.
Query your data and create dashboards.

Set up your PHP app

PHP configuration with Monolog

Tip

PHP configuration with other log forwarders

What's next?