# Audit trail module

The *Audit trail* module tracks changes and actions in the system and thereby assists in maintaining transparency and accountability in larger teams and organizations.

A few examples of track changes that the audit trail maintains are when a page disappears because it was deleted or moved, when the content of a page is broken due to the widget having been updated, or when an image reference is broken. The *Audit Trail* module addresses needs such as above and quickly resolves content related incidents by reviewing the logged information.

The *Audit trail* module also logs changes in the configurations.

> info **PREREQUISITES**: By default, the *Audit trail* module is disabled. To use the module, you must install and activate it. For more information, see [Activate and deactivate modules](https://www.progress.com/documentation/sitefinity-cms/activate-and-deactivate-modules).

## The built-in loggers

Sitefinity CMS allows development of additional custom loggers and integration with external reporting systems. It also provides the following built-in audit loggers:

* JSON logger

  By default, the *Audit trail* module logs users' activities in JSON format, and records these in a textual log file. JSON logging is enabled by default. For more information, see [Configure the Audit trail module](https://www.progress.com/documentation/sitefinity-cms/administration-configure-the-audit-trail-module).

  The JSON logger writes the audit information in the `~/App_Data/Sitefinity/Logs` log directory. It uses the audit logging category and writes to `Audit*.log` files.\
  To facilitate parsing and custom tooling, log entries are serialized as JSON objects.

  The logger creates a new file when one of the following conditions is met:

  * The current file exceeds a certain size,
  * the date changes, or
  * the default file is locked by another process.

    **NOTE:**   For changes to take effect, after turning the JSON logger on or off, you must restart the Sitefinity CMS application.
* Elasticsearch logger

  Sitefinity CMS has a built-in integration with [Elasticsearch](http://www.elasticsearch.org/) server for storing the logged records, and [Kibana](http://www.elasticsearch.org/overview/kibana) for visualizing the data and retrieving advanced reports in custom dashboards. For more information, see [Integrate Audit trail module with Elasticsearch and Kibana](https://www.progress.com/documentation/sitefinity-cms/integrate-audit-trail-module-with-elasticsearch-and-kibana).

For more information, see [Create and enable a custom trace listener](https://www.progress.com/documentation/sitefinity-cms/tutorial-create-and-enable-a-custom-trace-listener).