How to log Apache CXF Soap Request and Soap Response using Log4j?

You need to create a file named org.apache.cxf.Logger (that is: org.apache.cxf file with Logger extension) under /META-INF/cxf/ with the following contents:

org.apache.cxf.common.logging.Log4jLogger

Reference: Using Log4j Instead of java.util.logging.

Also if you replace standard:

<cxf:bus>
  <cxf:features>
    <cxf:logging/>
  </cxf:features>
</cxf:bus>

with much more verbose:

<bean id="abstractLoggingInterceptor" abstract="true">
    <property name="prettyLogging" value="true"/>
</bean>
<bean id="loggingInInterceptor" class="org.apache.cxf.interceptor.LoggingInInterceptor" parent="abstractLoggingInterceptor"/>
<bean id="loggingOutInterceptor" class="org.apache.cxf.interceptor.LoggingOutInterceptor" parent="abstractLoggingInterceptor"/>

<cxf:bus>
    <cxf:inInterceptors>
        <ref bean="loggingInInterceptor"/>
    </cxf:inInterceptors>
    <cxf:outInterceptors>
        <ref bean="loggingOutInterceptor"/>
    </cxf:outInterceptors>
    <cxf:outFaultInterceptors>
        <ref bean="loggingOutInterceptor"/>
    </cxf:outFaultInterceptors>
    <cxf:inFaultInterceptors>
        <ref bean="loggingInInterceptor"/>
    </cxf:inFaultInterceptors>
</cxf:bus>

Apache CXF will pretty print XML messages formatting them with proper indentation and line breaks. Very useful. More about it here.

Another easy way is to set the logger like this- ensure that you do it before you load the cxf web service related classes. You can use it in some static blocks.

YourClientConstructor() {

  LogUtils.setLoggerClass(org.apache.cxf.common.logging.Log4jLogger.class);

  URL wsdlURL = YOurURL;//

  //create the service
  YourService = new YourService(wsdlURL, SERVICE_NAME);
  port = yourService.getServicePort(); 

  Client client = ClientProxy.getClient(port);
  client.getInInterceptors().add(new LoggingInInterceptor());
  client.getOutInterceptors().add(new LoggingOutInterceptor());
}

Then the inbound and outbound messages will be printed to Log4j file instead of the console. Make sure your log4j is configured properly