PingFederate Server

API audit logging

PingFederate provides API endpoints and management services on the administrative port (9999) and the runtime port (9031) that are logged for auditing purposes.

Actions performed through these endpoints are logged for auditing purposes, as described in the following table.

API Port Log File

Administrative API

Administrative Port

admin-api.log

OAuth Client Management Service

Runtime Port

runtime-api.log

OAuth Access Grant Management Service

Runtime Port

runtime-api.log

Session Revocation API

Runtime Port

runtime-api.log

Administrative API audit log

PingFederate records actions performed through the administrative API in the <pf_install>/pingfederate/log/admin-api.log file.

Although the events are not configurable, you can adjust the Log4j 2 configuration settings in the <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/conf/log4j2.xml file to deliver the desired level of detail surrounding each event.

Each log entry contains information relating to the event, including:

  • Time the event occurred on the PingFederate server

  • Administrator username performing the action

  • Authentication method

  • Client IP

  • HTTP method

  • REST endpoint

  • HTTP status code

  • jti (JWT ID)

    The jti is the ID of the outbound JSON Web Token (JWT) request. This information is applicable when the PingFederate administrative API authentication scheme is OAuth2 and the client authentication method is private_key_jwt.

  • The hash of the inbound access token

    The hash logging is applicable when the PingFederate administrative API authentication scheme is OAuth2. To calculate the hash value for a token or authorization code, run the calculatehash.sh/bat script in the PingFederate bin folder.
    This feature should only be enabled in production environments when actively troubleshooting authentication issues.

  • HTTP request header

  • TLS version

The <pf_install>/pingfederate/log/admin-api.log does not include the HTTP request header and TLS version values by default. You can customize this log to include additional or less information by modifying the pattern elements in the log4j2.xml file. Learn more in Log4j 2 logging service and configuration.

Each of these fields is separated by a vertical pipe (|) for ease of parsing.

PingFederate also records actions performed through the administrative API in the <pf_install>/pingfederate/log/admin.log file. Learn more in Administrator audit logging.

Runtime APIs audit log

PingFederate records actions performed through the OAuth Client Management Service, the OAuth Access Grant Management Service, and the Session Revocation API in the <pf_install>/pingfederate/log/runtime-api.log file.

Although the events are not configurable, you can adjust the Log4j 2 configuration settings in the <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/conf/log4j2.xml file to deliver the desired level of detail surrounding each event.

Each log entry contains information relating to the event, including:

  • Time the event occurred on the PingFederate server

  • Administrator username performing the action

  • Authentication method

  • Client IP

  • HTTP method

  • REST endpoint

  • HTTP status code

  • HTTP request header

  • TLS version

The <pf_install>/pingfederate/log/runtime-api.log doesn’t include the HTTP request header and TLS version values by default. You can customize this log to include additional or less information by modifying the pattern elements in the log4j2.xml file. Learn more in Log4j 2 logging service and configuration.

Each of these fields is separated by a vertical pipe (|) for ease of parsing.