diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/pom.xml b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/pom.xml
index 3b52c68221..c18b336a92 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/pom.xml
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/pom.xml
@@ -46,24 +46,16 @@
 
   <dependencies>
     <dependency>
-      <groupId>log4j</groupId>
-      <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
+      <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-      <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-      <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
+      <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-      <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
-      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
+      <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/annotations/PackageLoggingNotes.java b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/annotations/PackageLoggingNotes.java
index fbef5837b2..d0ef6f573b 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/annotations/PackageLoggingNotes.java
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/annotations/PackageLoggingNotes.java
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
 public @interface PackageLoggingNotes {
 
     /**
-     * @return the string that can be used as title string delimiting a log4j.properties section
+     * @return the string that can be used as title string delimiting a log4j2.xml section
      */
     String title() default "";
 
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/log4j/DuplicateMessageFilter.java b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/log4j/DuplicateMessageFilter.java
index 7240e7b00e..a599e15ced 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/log4j/DuplicateMessageFilter.java
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/log4j/DuplicateMessageFilter.java
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@
 
 import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
 
-import org.apache.log4j.spi.Filter;
-import org.apache.log4j.spi.LoggingEvent;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LogEvent;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.filter.AbstractFilter;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 
 /**
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
  * 
  * @version $Revision: $, $Date: $
  */
-public class DuplicateMessageFilter extends Filter {
+public class DuplicateMessageFilter extends AbstractFilter {
 
     private static final Logger LOG = getLogger( DuplicateMessageFilter.class );
 
@@ -57,26 +57,26 @@ public class DuplicateMessageFilter extends Filter {
     private int count;
 
     @Override
-    public int decide( LoggingEvent event ) {
+    public Result filter( LogEvent event ) {
         if ( last == null ) {
-            last = event.getRenderedMessage();
+            last = event.getMessage().getFormattedMessage();
             count = 0;
-            return ACCEPT;
+            return Result.ACCEPT;
         }
 
-        if ( last.equals( event.getRenderedMessage() ) ) {
+        if ( last.equals( event.getMessage().getFormattedMessage() ) ) {
             ++count;
             // would be cool to log (... repeated 12452 times)
             if ( count % 100 == 0 ) {
                 LOG.warn( "Last message repeated 100 times." );
             }
-            return DENY;
+            return Result.DENY;
         }
 
-        last = event.getRenderedMessage();
+        last = event.getMessage().getFormattedMessage();
         count = 1;
 
-        return ACCEPT;
+        return Result.ACCEPT;
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/processors/LoggingAnnotationProcessor.java b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/processors/LoggingAnnotationProcessor.java
index 0c73376cb2..792a2a5c5b 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/processors/LoggingAnnotationProcessor.java
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/java/org/deegree/commons/processors/LoggingAnnotationProcessor.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
 
 @SupportedAnnotationTypes(value = { "org.deegree.commons.annotations.PackageLoggingNotes",
                                    "org.deegree.commons.annotations.LoggingNotes" })
-@SupportedSourceVersion(SourceVersion.RELEASE_6)
+@SupportedSourceVersion(SourceVersion.RELEASE_8)
 @SupportedOptions({ "log4j.outputdir" })
 public class LoggingAnnotationProcessor extends AbstractProcessor {
 
@@ -100,35 +100,35 @@ public void init( ProcessingEnvironment env ) {
     }
 
     // breaks the lines at max width
-    String format( String str ) {
+    private String format( String str ) {
         StringBuilder res = new StringBuilder();
         outer: while ( str.length() > ( width - 3 ) ) {
             int len = 3;
-            res.append( "## " );
+            res.append( "<!-- " );
             while ( len < width && str.length() > 0 ) {
                 int idx = str.indexOf( " " );
                 if ( idx == -1 ) {
                     if ( len > 3 ) {
-                        res.append( "\n## " );
+                        res.append( "\n<!-- " );
                     }
                     res.append( str );
                     str = "";
                 } else {
                     if ( len + idx + 1 > width ) {
-                        res.append( "\n" );
+                        res.append( " -->\n" );
                         continue outer;
                     }
-                    res.append( str.substring( 0, idx + 1 ) );
-                    str = str.substring( idx + 1 );
+                    res.append(str.substring(0, idx + 1));
+                    str = str.substring(0, idx + 1);
                     len += idx + 1;
                 }
             }
             if ( !str.isEmpty() ) {
-                res.append( "\n" );
+                res.append( " -->\n" );
             }
         }
         if ( !str.isEmpty() ) {
-            res.append( "## " + str );
+            res.append( "<!-- " ).append( str ).append( " -->\n" );
         }
         return res.toString();
     }
@@ -148,17 +148,18 @@ private void find( Element e, Tree root ) {
         }
     }
 
-    void block( String text, RollbackPrintWriter out, boolean big ) {
+    private void block( String text, RollbackPrintWriter out, boolean big ) {
         if ( big ) {
-            out.print( "# " );
+            out.print( "<!-- " );
             for ( int i = 0; i < width - 2; ++i ) {
                 out.print( "=" );
             }
+            out.print(" -->");
             out.println();
         }
         int odd = text.length() % 2;
         int len = ( width - text.length() - 4 ) / 2;
-        out.print( "# " );
+        out.print( "<!-- " );
         for ( int i = 0; i < len; ++i ) {
             out.print( "=" );
         }
@@ -166,12 +167,14 @@ void block( String text, RollbackPrintWriter out, boolean big ) {
         for ( int i = 0; i < len + odd; ++i ) {
             out.print( "=" );
         }
+        out.print(" -->");
         out.println();
         if ( big ) {
-            out.print( "# " );
+            out.print( "<!-- " );
             for ( int i = 0; i < width - 2; ++i ) {
                 out.print( "=" );
             }
+            out.print(" -->");
             out.println();
         }
         out.println();
@@ -212,9 +215,7 @@ public boolean process( Set<? extends TypeElement> annotations, RoundEnvironment
             tree.print( out, "", false, false, false, false, true );
             out.close();
             return true;
-        } catch ( UnsupportedEncodingException e ) {
-            e.printStackTrace();
-        } catch ( FileNotFoundException e ) {
+        } catch ( UnsupportedEncodingException | FileNotFoundException e ) {
             e.printStackTrace();
         }
         return false;
@@ -225,17 +226,16 @@ class Tree {
 
         LoggingNotes notes;
 
-        TreeMap<String, Tree> children = new TreeMap<String, Tree>();
+        TreeMap<String, Tree> children = new TreeMap<>();
 
         void insert( String qname, PackageLoggingNotes pnotes, LoggingNotes notes ) {
-            LinkedList<String> pkgs = new LinkedList<String>( Arrays.asList( qname.split( "\\." ) ) );
+            LinkedList<String> pkgs = new LinkedList<>( Arrays.asList( qname.split( "\\." ) ) );
             Tree node = this;
             while ( true ) {
                 String next = pkgs.poll();
                 Tree nextNode = node.children.get( next );
                 if ( nextNode == null ) {
                     nextNode = new Tree();
-                    // nextNode.segment = next;
                     node.children.put( next, nextNode );
                 }
                 node = nextNode;
@@ -257,41 +257,45 @@ void print( RollbackPrintWriter out, String qname, boolean error, boolean warn,
             }
             for ( Entry<String, Tree> entry : children.entrySet() ) {
                 entry.getValue().print( out, qname + ( qname.isEmpty() ? "" : "." ) + entry.getKey(), error, warn,
-                                        info, debug, trace );
+                        info, debug, trace );
             }
             out.rollback();
         }
 
         private void handleNotes( RollbackPrintWriter out, String qname, boolean error, boolean warn, boolean info,
                                   boolean debug, boolean trace ) {
-            handleNote( out, error, notes.error(), qname, "ERROR" );
-            handleNote( out, warn, notes.warn(), qname, "WARN" );
-            handleNote( out, info, notes.info(), qname, "INFO" );
-            handleNote( out, debug, notes.debug(), qname, "DEBUG" );
-            handleNote( out, trace, notes.trace(), qname, "TRACE" );
+            handleNote( out, error, notes.error(), qname, "error" );
+            handleNote( out, warn, notes.warn(), qname, "warn" );
+            handleNote( out, info, notes.info(), qname, "info" );
+            handleNote( out, debug, notes.debug(), qname, "debug" );
+            handleNote( out, trace, notes.trace(), qname, "trace" );
         }
 
         private void handlePackageNotes( RollbackPrintWriter out, String qname, boolean error, boolean warn,
                                          boolean info, boolean debug, boolean trace ) {
             String title = pnotes.title();
 
-            boolean isSubsystem = qname.replaceAll( "[^\\.]", "" ).length() == 2;
+            boolean isSubsystem = qname.replaceAll( "[^.]", "" ).length() == 2;
 
             if ( !title.isEmpty() ) {
                 block( title, out, isSubsystem );
             }
 
-            handleNote( out, error, pnotes.error(), qname, "ERROR" );
-            handleNote( out, warn, pnotes.warn(), qname, "WARN" );
-            handleNote( out, info, pnotes.info(), qname, "INFO" );
-            handleNote( out, debug, pnotes.debug(), qname, "DEBUG" );
-            handleNote( out, trace, pnotes.trace(), qname, "TRACE" );
+            handleNote( out, error, pnotes.error(), qname, "error" );
+            handleNote( out, warn, pnotes.warn(), qname, "warn" );
+            handleNote( out, info, pnotes.info(), qname, "info" );
+            handleNote( out, debug, pnotes.debug(), qname, "debug" );
+            handleNote( out, trace, pnotes.trace(), qname, "trace" );
         }
 
         private void handleNote( RollbackPrintWriter out, boolean level, String note, String qname, String levelName ) {
             if ( !note.isEmpty() && level ) {
                 out.println( format( note ) );
-                out.println( "#log4j.logger." + qname + " = " + levelName );
+                out.println("<!--");
+                out.println("    <Logger name=\"" + qname + "\" level=\"" + levelName + "\">");
+                out.println("        <AppenderRef ref=\"Console\"/>");
+                out.println("    </Logger>");
+                out.println("-->");
                 out.println();
                 out.flush();
             }
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/resources/log4j.properties b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/resources/log4j.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index 38967b3129..0000000000
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/resources/log4j.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-# default logging file to have log4j always set up
-# by default, only log to stdout
-log4j.rootLogger=ERROR, stdout
-log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
-log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
-log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d{HH:mm:ss}] %5p: [%c{1}] %m%n
-
-# The log level for all classes that are not configured below.
-log4j.logger.org.deegree = INFO
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb86cc24bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-annotations/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<Configuration status="ERROR">
+    <!-- by default, only log to stdout -->
+    <Appenders>
+        <Console name="Console" target="SYSTEM_OUT">
+            <PatternLayout
+                    pattern="[%d{HH:mm:ss}] %5p: [%c{1}] %m%n" />
+        </Console>
+    </Appenders>
+    <Loggers>
+        <!-- The log level for all classes that are not configured below. -->
+        <Logger name="org.deegree" level="info" additivity="false">
+            <AppenderRef ref="Console" />
+        </Logger>
+    </Loggers>
+</Configuration>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-commons/pom.xml b/deegree-core/deegree-core-commons/pom.xml
index d6528ba1ad..8fb8f5fc7d 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-commons/pom.xml
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-commons/pom.xml
@@ -115,6 +115,14 @@
       <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
       <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-workspace/pom.xml b/deegree-core/deegree-core-workspace/pom.xml
index 19e7c82705..01ad1f961f 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-workspace/pom.xml
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-workspace/pom.xml
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@
       <artifactId>deegree-core-annotations</artifactId>
       <version>${project.version}</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.reflections</groupId>
       <artifactId>reflections</artifactId>
diff --git a/deegree-services/deegree-services-commons/src/api/java/org/deegree/services/controller/OGCFrontController.java b/deegree-services/deegree-services-commons/src/api/java/org/deegree/services/controller/OGCFrontController.java
index 40fce1e4f8..eb32536be1 100644
--- a/deegree-services/deegree-services-commons/src/api/java/org/deegree/services/controller/OGCFrontController.java
+++ b/deegree-services/deegree-services-commons/src/api/java/org/deegree/services/controller/OGCFrontController.java
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@
 import org.apache.commons.fileupload.servlet.ServletFileUpload;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
-import org.apache.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.deegree.commons.annotations.LoggingNotes;
 import org.deegree.commons.concurrent.Executor;
 import org.deegree.commons.config.DeegreeWorkspace;
@@ -1401,7 +1400,6 @@ private void plugClassLoaderLeaks() {
         Executor.getInstance().shutdown();
 
         LogFactory.releaseAll();
-        LogManager.shutdown();
 
         // image io
         Iterator<Class<?>> i = IIORegistry.getDefaultInstance().getCategories();
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 10a560c11f..86a04c3e01 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -531,38 +531,29 @@
       </dependency>
       <!-- logging -->
       <dependency>
-        <groupId>log4j</groupId>
-        <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
-        <version>1.2.17</version>
-        <exclusions>
-          <exclusion>
-            <groupId>javax.jms</groupId>
-            <artifactId>jms</artifactId>
-          </exclusion>
-          <exclusion>
-            <groupId>com.sun.jdmk</groupId>
-            <artifactId>jmxtools</artifactId>
-          </exclusion>
-          <exclusion>
-            <groupId>com.sun.jmx</groupId>
-            <artifactId>jmxri</artifactId>
-          </exclusion>
-        </exclusions>
+        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+        <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
+        <version>2.11.2</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
-        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
-        <version>1.7.13</version>
+        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
+        <version>2.11.2</version>
+      </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+        <artifactId>log4j-slf4j-impl</artifactId>
+        <version>2.11.2</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-        <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
-        <version>1.7.13</version>
+        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+        <version>1.7.26</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
         <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
-        <version>1.7.13</version>
+        <version>1.7.26</version>
       </dependency>
       <!-- 3d -->
       <dependency>