Adding a Log4j Console to a Web Application

There's a popular open source jsp that allows changing the log4j levels for a web application called log4jAdmin.jsp that I've been wanting to use for troubleshooting, but using it poses a problem. Typically, deployable artifacts are built by an automated process and are not altered as they make their way through the different environments (development/integration/quality assurance/production). I definitely don't want a log4j administration console finding its way into a production environment as this would allow end users to access it.

So the ideal situation would be to add the jsp to the application after it has been deployed. I could have the system administrators add the file to the WebSphere installedApps directory, but this isn't recommended (and they would likely not agree to do this anyways).

A proper alternative is to use WebSphere's deployment process. Instead of updating an application using the default option, look further below on the page:

The contents of the zip should mirror the exploded folder structure in installedApps. In this case the zip contains a single JSP:

Any number of files can be injected into a deployed application using this technique, but in this particular instance I use it to manage Log4j log levels.