Disable HeartbeatAction logging in Confluence

Problem Definition

Logs can fill with HeartbeatAction errors in certain circumstances that end up generating excessive log files.

2015-10-09 14:46:14,400 ERROR [http-nio-443-exec-13] [atlassian.confluence.servlet.ConfluenceServletDispatcher] sendError Could not execute action
 -- referer: http://wiki.mycompany.com.au/pages/editpage.action?pageId=987654 | url: /json/startheartbeatactivity.action | userName: anonymous
java.lang.NullPointerException
...

Suggested Solution

Please change the default product configuration to include the workaround to set the following attribute to:

log4j.logger.com.atlassian.confluence.pages.actions.HeartbeatAction = OFF

Workaround

In <Confluence-Install>/confluence/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties file:

1. Open the log4j.properties file in a text editor
2. Add the string displayed below to a new line in the log4j.properties file:
   log4j.logger.com.atlassian.confluence.pages.actions.HeartbeatAction = OFF
3. Save the log4j.properties file
4. Restart Confluence