Tomcat - Custom request dump filter - Log request and response body

Tomcat 7 has two components to intercept server requests:

• Valves: https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-7.0-doc/config/valve.html
• Filters: https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-7.0-doc/config/filter.html

Both are almost the same, with the difference that valves are tomcat specific.
In previous versions, tomcat had a valve to log http traffic, but in the last releases it was eliminated and substituted by a filter called Request_Dumper_Filter (https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-7.0-doc/config/filter.html#Request_Dumper_Filter).
You can configure this filter in tomcat server.xml, so it will intercept all requests for all the applications hosted by the server (well, you can specify a URL pattern). In this way, if you want to monitor a concrete app, you dont need to change it, just reconfigure tomcat.

The problem with Request_Dumper_Filter is that it does not work properly with application/x-www-form-urlencoded POST requests. So it may make the back-end servlets to fail, because when you read the request parameters, you are consuming its input stream.

The solution is to create a custom Dumper Filter to solve this. I found two interesting partial implementations here and here, based in request and response wrappers, and unify them in a single filter.

The code is in https://github.com/evazquezma/tomcat/tree/master/custom-tomcat-utils.

In order to use this filter you need to do as follows:
1) Copy the jar to the ${CATALINA_HOME}/lib

2) Edit ${CATALINA_HOME}/conf/server.xml and declare the filter:

<filter>
 <filter-name>requestdumper</filter-name>
 <filter-class>es.sisifo.tomcatutil.filters.SimpleRequestDumperFilter</filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
 <filter-name>requestdumper</filter-name>
 <url-pattern>*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

3) Edit ${CATALINA_HOME}/conf/loggin.properties and configure the traces:

handlers = (...), 5request-dumper.org.apache.juli.FileHandler
(....)
5request-dumper.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.level = INFO
5request-dumper.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.directory = ${catalina.base}/logs
5request-dumper.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.prefix = request-dumper.
5request-dumper.org.apache.juli.FileHandler.formatter = org.apache.juli.VerbatimFormatter
es.sisifo.tomcatutil.filters.SimpleRequestDumperFilter.level = INFO
es.sisifo.tomcatutil.filters.SimpleRequestDumperFilter.handlers = \
5request-dumper.org.apache.juli.FileHandler

The result will be something like this (this is a log from this app):

http-bio-8080-exec-4 ******************=********************************************
http-bio-8080-exec-4 START TIME       a =13-mar-2016 12:07:02
http-bio-8080-exec-4         requestURI=/afirma-server-triphase-signer/SignatureService
http-bio-8080-exec-4           authType=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4  characterEncoding=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4      contentLength=2259
http-bio-8080-exec-4        contentType=application/x-www-form-urlencoded
http-bio-8080-exec-4        contextPath=/afirma-server-triphase-signer
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=accept=*/*
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=content-type=application/x-www-form-urlencoded
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=user-agent=Java/1.8.0_60
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=host=localhost:8080
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=connection=keep-alive
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=content-length=2259
http-bio-8080-exec-4             locale=es_ES
http-bio-8080-exec-4             method=POST
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=op=pre
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=cop=sign
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=format=pades
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=algo=SHA512withRSA
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=cert=MIIC6jCCAdKgAwIBAgIEVtGLlDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADA9MRswGQYDVQQLDBJKYm9zcyBBcnF1aXRlY3R1cmExHjAcBgNVBAMMFUNBLUpCT1NTIEFycXVpdGVjdHVyYTAgFw0xNjAyMjcxMTQyMzNaGA8yMTE1MDIyNzExNDIzM1owLzENMAsGA1UECgwEdGVzdDENMAsGA1UECwwEdGVzdDEPMA0GA1UEAwwGc2lzaWZvMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEA6GJwUNgmPFoE48U-8CU2jdTPRTl-GthiGyk7ggo-V3MYMgQ_7imW7WzAm7rGVncwtJ_-JYiHSG-Kry1Fb558ux2_9yLY6cfOvQroid9kpH2lRoZ-pBBl1Ww7GO3Z0FZKVf0TJIIDSv__NuPFIV0IxEYezWWDCW9NfzKqjrkbdNgJB07T8M7cWUuojW8LcbV_i3Z-m0pLif51cbdyLjowtbqKN_b04tP74PjQt5hI9tmBRIL51bRebAn6xc2C34_fiIf9AEETpRV_YLh80eClueeb4qiiaSWkYwo11FCswZE0eHSBTpwYrHX1IWMdZ64-IUYAwSvz4Ypx0Ma_JEiFJQIDAQABMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAA4IBAQBtI5LSsXlCK4u3PRjYXdD-lruCEIpw1YNow9SYIe_zyg_W060R0Ir-Xr3wEt6Buf1vjfOSg5J1hF3xxoRt-Dvj1La6xWNnYiF8g2mozNFs-FeL8m1Tv7Ll8LKShmOyJXDzkEpBcK4eZp92mgBH2JuOF8emhrP6BJqb2C4fR6KL3um4OlgIynGWYcdZvXcUt3k5rU6QShrCNxpfraPzeGzDifG2zmSI4GraoB7FwTiMLDjg8_20kmxot_w5Tm31D79F-XL2_qfP9TQL_qhV7F-5WR-bMSU1oa3hI0rJYvRuNF8KsPEaRUoLvRpEpW8dJ-XEgUL9etVAuSEk3obPFzJF,MIIC-DCCAeCgAwIBAgIEVMp9_TANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADA9MRswGQYDVQQLDBJKYm9zcyBBcnF1aXRlY3R1cmExHjAcBgNVBAMMFUNBLUpCT1NTIEFycXVpdGVjdHVyYTAgFw0xNTAxMjkxODM4MTFaGA8yMTE0MDEyOTE4MzgxMVowPTEbMBkGA1UECwwSSmJvc3MgQXJxdWl0ZWN0dXJhMR4wHAYDVQQDDBVDQS1KQk9TUyBBcnF1aXRlY3R1cmEwggEiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IBDwAwggEKAoIBAQCBnpiP835iOWmqrDdgBWyp8yaG6pe_PVI944YqU_AKlrsa_WZFxMRy6Uri0TGuT5hlmUJsw6e7fDR9bf7F4K5wE4ZSEVG_njlDShjlsJ4CgvVfneK-kOva9KzlpUM3do-Bm-3WbfvHl0d8eujc_sHD4uSyH1yI04r9YrHN0OeY1qFfsowS3EzPdTsw9oeoBAyW4nVZQG-VqXwBSnkwxQOEERN_-3l9tSxEV12gRDieUJj5y3USdfxHruqNPbmAu6yc2rXIR7yeeq0CCrbnvTlW81lCVWvSVV2o9fFt-irdP4P20e-ecR-24VzIV7Brm4LE3snmExDb-aLF6XmqiokTAgMBAAEwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQADggEBAAcsXzdYsrAnUwd269PMUNa4cSBnDk7g9YY36KHIDLo72XTJOgbeb-pQXWEwr5A5vuH1MeT_CHYMJkPvqM4kaFVN4zQVOhi3XKzTSAsLCERprvwU0bg2Nk65TeE6SIELWfWkcdko8x3Hn0uwEniJXA275G_kT15aBQ1tiyEGhYwPpO3pdKeMRmtFZfyvuernVAko9-FCBauH7KFZGIpne-VzA2rIFa0kTta1HesVeoAmetltgvxGdNrwnQJZfg8PNTF3ceQSyK0quCJv4nxcy_pwV-tQRXXLScvIFRuXdu6782PSDFa17TYY9FOPmyMKiwsz-yjCu8JB9xuPCrzRnuE=
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=doc=cHJ1ZWJhLnBkZg==
http-bio-8080-exec-4          parameter=params=Iw0KI1N1biBNYXIgMTMgMTI6MDc6MDIgQ0VUIDIwMTYNCnNlcnZlclVybD1odHRwXDovL2xvY2FsaG9zdFw6ODA4MC9hZmlybWEtc2VydmVyLXRyaXBoYXNlLXNpZ25lci9TaWduYXR1cmVTZXJ2aWNlDQo=
http-bio-8080-exec-4           pathInfo=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4           protocol=HTTP/1.1
http-bio-8080-exec-4        queryString=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4         remoteAddr=127.0.0.1
http-bio-8080-exec-4         remoteHost=127.0.0.1
http-bio-8080-exec-4         remoteUser=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4 requestedSessionId=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4             scheme=http
http-bio-8080-exec-4         serverName=localhost
http-bio-8080-exec-4         serverPort=8080
http-bio-8080-exec-4        servletPath=/SignatureService
http-bio-8080-exec-4           isSecure=false
http-bio-8080-exec-4           authType=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4         remoteUser=null
http-bio-8080-exec-4 ------------------=--------------------------------------------
http-bio-8080-exec-4 ------------------=--------------------------------------------
http-bio-8080-exec-4        contentType=text/plain;charset=utf-8
http-bio-8080-exec-4             header=Access-Control-Allow-Origin=*
http-bio-8080-exec-4             status=200
http-bio-8080-exec-4 Response body=PHhtbD4KIDxmaXJtYXM-CiAgPGZpcm1hIElkPSI5MzQ2YTllYi00NDNlLTRhYjAtODVhZC03ODE1YjViMjFhM2IiPgogICA8cGFyYW0gbj0iTkVFRF9QUkUiPnRydWU8L3BhcmFtPgogICA8cGFyYW0gbj0iVElNRSI-MTQ1Nzg2NzIyMjY3ODwvcGFyYW0-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-CiAgIDxwYXJhbSBuPSJQSUQiPld6eGhPREpqWVdVMU1qZGtaR015WW1SalpURmpNR1JpTXpneU5EUTROakkxTXo0OE4yTTRNemxqT0RobE9EaGhZakU0TURKallqTm1PRE14TWpneE5XTmtOR0krWFE9PTwvcGFyYW0-CiAgPC9maXJtYT4KIDwvZmlybWFzPgo8L3htbD4=
http-bio-8080-exec-4 END TIME          =13-mar-2016 12:07:02
http-bio-8080-exec-4 ===============================================================