I would like to extract the application specific ddlog4j settings to a remote directory file separate from the <application home>/data/ folder.

The reason being, that I would like to be able to modify the log settings without having to build and deploy the application each time I wish to make a change to the logging level. In my environment, developers do not have access to update specific property files in <application home> but we would have access to deploy the settings in remote property file directories. (remote to the application directory on the same server that is)

Is there a way to re-direct the application to look for the ddlog4j settings in a remote file in this fashion?

You can't but in OD 7.0 (GA the end of this month) the settings are integrated in EPMS.

Do you mean AEP(experience Portal) 7.0 not OD 7?

Yes, the AEP Management System (7.0) will allow you to change the parameters online.

Just to confirm, using AEP 6.0; both the ddrt.properties and ddlog4j.properties must reside in the application/data directory. It can't be moved outside of the application directory.

What about the report.log file, can that be moved outside of the application/data/log directory? If so, how do you configure the
process (VPAppLogClientBase) to the new location of the report.log file?

In any OD version, you can NOT change the location of the two properties files although EPMS 7.0 (for AEP 7.0) allows you to change the parameters in ddrt.properties in the configuration page.

You can manipulate the ddlog4j.properties to change the location of the local logs files (including report.log) since this is essentially a log4j configuration file. By VPAppLogClientBase, you mean the AEP report not the local report file, the report is written to EPMS remotely. That's different from report.log.

Regarding the report database and report.log. Mu understanding is there is a process that reads the report.log and updates the AEP report database. My question is if I move the report.log out of the app/data/log directory. How do I change the configuration to have the process that reads the report.log file to look for the report.log file in a different directory. By default that process is looking in the app/data/log directory.

There is no separate process reading the report.log and update the AEP database. Report.log is created only when the ddrt.properties localreportlog is enabled. By default, if you have report items in the application, report entries will be written automatically and directly to EMPS via VPApplogClient, the web service client.