diff --git a/cars/v1/x_pack/security/templates/config/log4j2.properties b/cars/v1/x_pack/security/templates/config/log4j2.properties
index c4cdbc0..2b7e112 100644
--- a/cars/v1/x_pack/security/templates/config/log4j2.properties
+++ b/cars/v1/x_pack/security/templates/config/log4j2.properties
@@ -1,9 +1,70 @@
 appender.audit_rolling.type = RollingFile
 appender.audit_rolling.name = audit_rolling
-appender.audit_rolling.fileName = ${sys:es.logs.base_path}${sys:file.separator}${sys:es.logs.cluster_name}_access.log
+appender.audit_rolling.fileName = ${sys:es.logs.base_path}${sys:file.separator}${sys:es.logs.cluster_name}_audit.json
 appender.audit_rolling.layout.type = PatternLayout
-appender.audit_rolling.layout.pattern = [%d{ISO8601}] %m%n
-appender.audit_rolling.filePattern = ${sys:es.logs.base_path}${sys:file.separator}${sys:es.logs.cluster_name}_access-%d{yyyy-MM-dd}.log
+appender.audit_rolling.layout.pattern = {\
+                "@timestamp":"%d{ISO8601}"\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "node.name":"%enc{%map{node.name}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "node.id":"%enc{%map{node.id}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "host.name":"%enc{%map{host.name}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "host.ip":"%enc{%map{host.ip}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "event.type":"%enc{%map{event.type}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "event.action":"%enc{%map{event.action}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.name":"%enc{%map{user.name}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_by.name":"%enc{%map{user.run_by.name}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_as.name":"%enc{%map{user.run_as.name}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.realm":"%enc{%map{user.realm}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_by.realm":"%enc{%map{user.run_by.realm}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_as.realm":"%enc{%map{user.run_as.realm}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.roles":%map{user.roles}}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "origin.type":"%enc{%map{origin.type}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "origin.address":"%enc{%map{origin.address}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "realm":"%enc{%map{realm}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "url.path":"%enc{%map{url.path}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "url.query":"%enc{%map{url.query}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "request.method":"%enc{%map{request.method}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "request.body":"%enc{%map{request.body}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "request.id":"%enc{%map{request.id}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "action":"%enc{%map{action}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "request.name":"%enc{%map{request.name}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "indices":%map{indices}}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "opaque_id":"%enc{%map{opaque_id}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "x_forwarded_for":"%enc{%map{x_forwarded_for}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "transport.profile":"%enc{%map{transport.profile}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "rule":"%enc{%map{rule}}{JSON}"}\
+                %varsNotEmpty{, "event.category":"%enc{%map{event.category}}{JSON}"}\
+                }%n
+# "node.name" node name from the `elasticsearch.yml` settings
+# "node.id" node id which should not change between cluster restarts
+# "host.name" unresolved hostname of the local node
+# "host.ip" the local bound ip (i.e. the ip listening for connections)
+# "event.type" a received REST request is translated into one or more transport requests. This indicates which processing layer generated the event "rest" or "transport" (internal)
+# "event.action" the name of the audited event, eg. "authentication_failed", "access_granted", "run_as_granted", etc.
+# "user.name" the subject name as authenticated by a realm
+# "user.run_by.name" the original authenticated subject name that is impersonating another one.
+# "user.run_as.name" if this "event.action" is of a run_as type, this is the subject name to be impersonated as.
+# "user.realm" the name of the realm that authenticated "user.name"
+# "user.run_by.realm" the realm name of the impersonating subject ("user.run_by.name")
+# "user.run_as.realm" if this "event.action" is of a run_as type, this is the realm name the impersonated user is looked up from
+# "user.roles" the roles array of the user; these are the roles that are granting privileges
+# "origin.type" it is "rest" if the event is originating (is in relation to) a REST request; possible other values are "transport" and "ip_filter"
+# "origin.address" the remote address and port of the first network hop, i.e. a REST proxy or another cluster node
+# "realm" name of a realm that has generated an "authentication_failed" or an "authentication_successful"; the subject is not yet authenticated
+# "url.path" the URI component between the port and the query string; it is percent (URL) encoded
+# "url.query" the URI component after the path and before the fragment; it is percent (URL) encoded
+# "request.method" the method of the HTTP request, i.e. one of GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, HEAD, PATCH, TRACE, CONNECT
+# "request.body" the content of the request body entity, JSON escaped
+# "request.id" a synthentic identifier for the incoming request, this is unique per incoming request, and consistent across all audit events generated by that request
+# "action" an action is the most granular operation that is authorized and this identifies it in a namespaced way (internal)
+# "request.name" if the event is in connection to a transport message this is the name of the request class, similar to how rest requests are identified by the url path (internal)
+# "indices" the array of indices that the "action" is acting upon
+# "opaque_id" opaque value conveyed by the "X-Opaque-Id" request header
+# "x_forwarded_for" the addresses from the "X-Forwarded-For" request header, as a verbatim string value (not an array)
+# "transport.profile" name of the transport profile in case this is a "connection_granted" or "connection_denied" event
+# "rule" name of the applied rulee if the "origin.type" is "ip_filter"
+# "event.category" fixed value "elasticsearch-audit"
+
+appender.audit_rolling.filePattern = ${sys:es.logs.base_path}${sys:file.separator}${sys:es.logs.cluster_name}_audit-%d{yyyy-MM-dd}.json
 appender.audit_rolling.policies.type = Policies
 appender.audit_rolling.policies.time.type = TimeBasedTriggeringPolicy
 appender.audit_rolling.policies.time.interval = 1