Configure elmah.io manually

The Elmah.Io NuGet package normally adds all of the necessary configuration, to get up and running with elmah.io. This is one of our killer features and our customers tell us, that we have the simplest installer on the market. In some cases, you may experience problems with the automatic configuration, though. Different reasons can cause the configuration not to be added automatically. The most common reason is restrictions to executing PowerShell inside Visual Studio.

Start by installing the Elmah.Io package:

Install-Package Elmah.Io

dotnet add package Elmah.Io

<PackageReference Include="Elmah.Io" Version="5.*" />

paket add Elmah.Io

If a dialog is shown during the installation, input your API key (Where is my API key?) and log ID (Where is my log ID?). Don't worry if the configuration isn't added, since we will verify this later.

Add the following to the <configSections> element in your web.config:

<sectionGroup name="elmah">
  <section name="security" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.SecuritySectionHandler, Elmah" />
  <section name="errorLog" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorLogSectionHandler, Elmah" />
  <section name="errorMail" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorMailSectionHandler, Elmah" />
  <section name="errorFilter" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterSectionHandler, Elmah" />
</sectionGroup>

Add the following to the <httpModules> element (inside <system.web>) in your web.config:

<add name="ErrorLog" type="Elmah.ErrorLogModule, Elmah" />
<add name="ErrorMail" type="Elmah.ErrorMailModule, Elmah" />
<add name="ErrorFilter" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterModule, Elmah"/>

Add the following to the <modules> element (inside <system.webServer>) in your web.config:

<add name="ErrorLog" type="Elmah.ErrorLogModule, Elmah" preCondition="managedHandler" />
<add name="ErrorMail" type="Elmah.ErrorMailModule, Elmah" preCondition="managedHandler" />
<add name="ErrorFilter" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterModule, Elmah" preCondition="managedHandler" />

Add the following to the system.webServer element in your web.config:

<validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />

Add the following as a root element beneath the <configuration> element in your web.config:

<elmah>
    <security allowRemoteAccess="false" />
    <errorLog type="Elmah.Io.ErrorLog, Elmah.Io" apiKey="API_KEY" logId="LOG_ID" />
</elmah>

Replace API_KEY with your API key (Where is my API key?) and LOG_ID with your log ID (Where is my log ID?).

That's it. You managed to install elmah.io manually and you should go to your LinkedIn profile and update with a new certification called "Certified elmah.io installer" :)

Here's a full example of ELMAH configuration in a web.config file:

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="elmah">
      <section name="security" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.SecuritySectionHandler, Elmah" />
      <section name="errorLog" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorLogSectionHandler, Elmah" />
      <section name="errorMail" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorMailSectionHandler, Elmah" />
      <section name="errorFilter" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterSectionHandler, Elmah" />
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>
  <system.web>
    <httpModules>
      <add name="ErrorLog" type="Elmah.ErrorLogModule, Elmah" />
      <add name="ErrorMail" type="Elmah.ErrorMailModule, Elmah" />
      <add name="ErrorFilter" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterModule, Elmah"/>
    </httpModules>
  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    <modules>
      <add name="ErrorLog" type="Elmah.ErrorLogModule, Elmah" preCondition="managedHandler" />
      <add name="ErrorMail" type="Elmah.ErrorMailModule, Elmah" preCondition="managedHandler" />
      <add name="ErrorFilter" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterModule, Elmah" preCondition="managedHandler" />
    </modules>
  </system.webServer>
  <elmah>
    <security allowRemoteAccess="false" />
    <errorLog type="Elmah.Io.ErrorLog, Elmah.Io" apiKey="API_KEY" logId="LOG_ID" />
  </elmah>
</configuration>

In case you need to access your error log on /elmah.axd, you need to add the following to the <configuration> element in your web.config:

<location path="elmah.axd" inheritInChildApplications="false">
    <system.web>
        <httpHandlers>
            <add verb="POST,GET,HEAD" path="elmah.axd" type="Elmah.ErrorLogPageFactory, Elmah" />
        </httpHandlers>
    </system.web>
    <system.webServer>
        <handlers>
            <add name="ELMAH" verb="POST,GET,HEAD" path="elmah.axd" type="Elmah.ErrorLogPageFactory, Elmah" preCondition="integratedMode" />
        </handlers>
    </system.webServer>
</location>

We don't recommend browsing your error logs through the /elmah.axd endpoint. The elmah.io UI will let you control different levels of access and more.

This article was brought to you by the elmah.io team. elmah.io is the best error management system for .NET web applications. We monitor your website, alert you when errors start happening, and help you fix errors fast.

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