Audit logging in Apache Airflow - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Purpose of Audit Logging in Airflow

What is the main purpose of enabling audit logging in Apache Airflow?

A To track user actions and changes for security and compliance purposes

B To improve the speed of DAG execution by caching logs

C To automatically retry failed tasks without manual intervention

D To reduce the storage space used by logs by compressing them

💡 Hint

Think about why organizations need to keep records of who did what and when.

Audit logging records user actions and system changes, helping with security audits and compliance. It does not affect execution speed or retry logic.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Output of Enabling Audit Logging in Airflow Config

What is the expected output or effect after setting audit_logging = True in the Airflow configuration file airflow.cfg and restarting the scheduler?

Apache Airflow

[logging]
audit_logging = True

A Airflow logs user actions like DAG runs and task state changes in the audit log file

B Airflow scheduler fails to start due to invalid config

C Airflow disables all other logs except audit logs

D Airflow automatically archives old logs to cloud storage

💡 Hint

Enabling audit logging should add extra logging, not remove or break existing features.

Setting audit_logging = True enables detailed logging of user actions and system changes, which are saved in audit logs. It does not disable other logs or cause errors.

❓ Configuration

advanced

Configuring Audit Logging to Use JSON Format

Which configuration snippet correctly sets up Airflow audit logging to output logs in JSON format for easier parsing?

A

[logging]
audit_logging = True
audit_log_format = plain_text

B

[logging]
audit_logging = True
audit_log_format = json

C

[logging]
audit_logging = False
audit_log_format = json

D

[logging]
audit_logging = True
audit_log_format = xml

💡 Hint

Audit logging must be enabled and the format set to 'json' exactly.

To output audit logs in JSON, audit_logging must be true and audit_log_format set to 'json'. Other formats or disabling audit logging will not produce JSON logs.

❓ Troubleshoot

advanced

Diagnosing Missing Audit Logs

You enabled audit logging in Airflow but notice no audit logs are being generated. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

A The Airflow webserver is not running

B The DAGs are not scheduled to run

C The Airflow user does not have write permissions to the audit log directory

D The airflow.cfg file is missing the <code>executor</code> setting

💡 Hint

Think about what could prevent logs from being saved even if logging is enabled.

If the Airflow process cannot write to the audit log directory due to permissions, no audit logs will be created. DAG scheduling or webserver status does not directly affect audit log creation.

🔀 Workflow

expert

Audit Logging Workflow for Compliance

Which sequence correctly describes the workflow for using Airflow audit logs to investigate a suspicious DAG modification?

A 3,2,1,4

B 2,1,3,4

C 1,3,2,4

D 1,2,3,4

💡 Hint

Think about the logical order from setup to investigation to action.

The correct workflow starts with enabling audit logging, then locating logs, searching for events, and finally reviewing and acting on findings.