Django Production Logging Configuration

Your approach of using minimal email notifications as alerts while storing detailed logs locally is a reasonable practice for production environments, especially when third-party services aren't an option.

Is this approach a good practice for production?

Yes, this approach is a good practice when:

• You want to avoid sending sensitive information via email
• You need immediate notifications of errors
• You have secure access to your server for detailed log inspection
• You don't want to use third-party services

Implementing this system in Django

Here's how you can implement this approach:

1. Configure a custom email handler

Create a custom handler that limits the information sent in emails:

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import logging
from django.core.mail import mail_admins

class MinimalEmailHandler(logging.Handler):
    def emit(self, record):
        subject = f"Error alert: {record.levelname}"
        message = f"An error occurred at {record.asctime}.\nLocation: {record.pathname}:{record.lineno}\nPlease check server logs for details."
        mail_admins(subject, message, fail_silently=True)

2. Set up comprehensive file logging

Configure detailed logging to files:

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# In settings.py
LOGGING = {
    'version': 1,
    'disable_existing_loggers': False,
    'formatters': {
        'verbose': {
            'format': '{levelname} {asctime} {module} {process:d} {thread:d} {message}',
            'style': '{',
        },
    },
    'handlers': {
        'file': {
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'class': 'logging.FileHandler',
            'filename': '/path/to/django_error.log',
            'formatter': 'verbose',
        },
        'minimal_email': {
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'class': 'path.to.MinimalEmailHandler',
        },
    },
    'loggers': {
        'django': {
            'handlers': ['file', 'minimal_email'],
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'propagate': True,
        },
    },
}

3. Configure ADMINS setting

Make sure to set up your ADMINS setting to receive the email notifications:

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ADMINS = [('Your Name', 'your_email@example.com')]

4. Filter sensitive information (optional)

You can also implement filtering for the detailed logs:

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class SensitiveDataFilter(logging.Filter):
    def filter(self, record):
        # Remove sensitive data from record if needed
        if hasattr(record, 'request') and hasattr(record.request, 'POST'):
            record.request.POST = '<POST data filtered>'
        return True

Then add this filter to your file handler configuration.

This setup gives you the best of both worlds - immediate notifications when errors occur without exposing sensitive information via email, while maintaining comprehensive logs on your server for detailed investigation.