Capturing outpost logs

This guide only applies to standalone outposts, the embedded outpost outputs to the same place as the server, refer to Capturing authentik logs for more information.

Standalone outposts continually output logs that can be helpful when troubleshooting issues. Just like when capturing authentik logs, the log level can be adjusted.

Adjusting log levels

Outpost containers support multiple log levels: debug, info, warning, and error. By default, the log level is set to info.

To modify the log level, follow the instructions below depending on your outpost deployment method:

admin Interface

1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Applications > Outposts and click the Edit icon of the outpost that you're troubleshooting.
3. Under Advanced settings > Configuration, set log_level to debug, info, or warning.
4. Click Update.

The outpost will be redeployed with the new log level.

Manually Deployed Outposts

Outpost can be manually deployed via Docker Compose or Kubernetes.

In each case, you need to add the following environment variable to the outpost container:

Docker Compose

AUTHENTIK_LOG_LEVEL=debug

Kubernetes

env:
- name: AUTHENTIK_LOG_LEVEL
    value: "debug"

Then, redeploy the outpost container for the change to take effect.

Enabling trace mode

danger

The trace log level provides deeper insights, but be aware that using trace logs can expose sensitive information, including session cookies. Handle these logs with extreme caution and avoid using trace unless absolutely necessary.

To enable trace logging, follow the instructions below depending on your outpost deployment method:

authentik-Managed Outpost

1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Applications > Outposts and click the Edit icon of the outpost that you're troubleshooting.
3. Under Advanced settings > Configuration, set log_level to trace.
4. Click Update.

The outpost will be redeployed with the trace log level.

danger

To avoid exposing sensitive information, remember to reduce the log level from trace once you finish troubleshooting.

Manually Deployed Outposts

Outpost can be manually deployed via Docker Compose or Kubernetes.

In each case, you need to add the following environment variable to the outpost container:

Docker Compose

AUTHENTIK_LOG_LEVEL=trace

Kubernetes

env:
    - name: AUTHENTIK_LOG_LEVEL
    value: "trace"

Then redeploy the outpost container for the change to take effect.

danger

To avoid exposing sensitive information, remember to reduce the log level from trace once you finish troubleshooting.

Viewing past logs

To review historical logs, you can use the --since option with both docker logs and kubectl logs. This option allows you to specify either a duration (e.g., 1m30s, 3h) or a specific timestamp (e.g., 2006-01-02T07:00, 2006-01-02) to view logs generated after that point in time.

For more details, see the docker logs documentation and kubectl logs documentation.

Docker

To retrieve logs from a specific timeframe, use:

docker logs <container_name_or_id> --since 5m

Kubernetes

To fetch logs from a Kubernetes pod:

kubectl logs --since 5m <pod_name>

Streaming logs in real-time

To continuously monitor logs, use the --follow (-f) option. This will stream log output to your terminal until manually stopped (Ctrl + C or closing the terminal).

Docker

To follow logs in real time:

docker logs <container_name_or_id> -f

Kubernetes

To stream logs from a Kubernetes pod:

kubectl logs -f <pod_name>