try { // ... } catch (Exception e) { Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(YourClassName.class); } Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(YourClassName.class); logger.setLevel(Level.ERROR); properties log4j.appender.file=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender log4j.appender.file.File=/path/to/logfile.log log4j.appender.file.MaxFileSize=5MB log4j.appender.file.MaxBackupIndex=3 log4j.appender.file.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout log4j.appender.file.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%t] %-5p %c{1} - %m%n log4j.rootLogger=ERROR, file