NGF does not separate log format for multiple gateways?

[hongyecc]

Describe the bug
I am testing to separate traffics and logs for my applications. seems this is not working. I am using version 2.0.1.
My configuration: 3 apps in 2 namespaces and each app has its own gateway and log formatting configure

I was expecting to see only one formatting snipptsfilter be pushed to one gateway pod, but I am seeing following on app1 gateway: (similar on app2 and app3 gateway pods)

include /etc/nginx/includes/SnippetsFilter_http_app2_app2-http-logging.conf;
include /etc/nginx/includes/SnippetsFilter_http_app2_app3-http-logging.conf;
include /etc/nginx/includes/SnippetsFilter_http_app1_app1-http-logging.conf;

nginx will complain if the log_format is using same name, With different names, the incoming request is logged 3 times

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. snippets deployments: (I used same configure to run test, they can be different)
   `- apiVersion: gateway.nginx.org/v1alpha1
   kind: SnippetsFilter
   metadata:
   name: app1-http-logging
   namespace: app1
   spec:
   snippets:
   • context: http
     value: |
     log_format json_combined escape=json '{'
     ""time": "$time_iso8601","
     ""time_local": "$time_local","
     ""x-forward-for": "$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for","
     ""server_addr": "$server_addr","
     ""server_name": "$server_name","
     ""TraceID": "$http_x_b3_traceid""
     '}';
     access_log /dev/stdout json_combined;

• apiVersion: gateway.nginx.org/v1alpha1
  kind: SnippetsFilter
  metadata:
  name: app2-http-logging
  namespace: app2
  spec:
  snippets:

  • context: http
    value: |
    log_format json_combined escape=json '{'
    ""time": "$time_iso8601","
    ""time_local": "$time_local","
    ""x-forward-for": "$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for","
    ""server_addr": "$server_addr","
    ""server_name": "$server_name","
    ""TraceID": "$http_x_b3_traceid""
    '}';
    access_log /dev/stdout json_combined;

• apiVersion: gateway.nginx.org/v1alpha1
  kind: SnippetsFilter
  metadata:
  generation: 1
  name: app3-http-logging
  namespace: app2
  spec:
  snippets:

  • context: http
    value: |
    log_format json_combined escape=json '{'
    ""time": "$time_iso8601","
    ""time_local": "$time_local","
    ""x-forward-for": "$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for","
    ""server_addr": "$server_addr","
    ""server_name": "$server_name","
    ""TraceID": "$http_x_b3_traceid""
    '}';
    access_log /dev/stdout json_combined;`

3. View logs on 'controller pod'

{"level":"error","ts":"2025-06-30T14:26:21Z","logger":"eventHandler","msg":"Failed to update NGINX configuration","error":"msg: Config apply failed, rolling back config; error: failed validating config NGINX config test failed exit status 1: 2025/06/30 14:26:21 [emerg] 103640#103640: duplicate \"log_format\" name \"json_combined\" in /etc/nginx/includes/SnippetsFilter_http_app1_app1-http-logging.conf:37\nnginx: [emerg] duplicate \"log_format\" name \"json_combined\" in /etc/nginx/includes/SnippetsFilter_http_app1_app1-http-logging.conf:37\nnginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed\n","stacktrace":"github.com/nginx/nginx-gateway-fabric/internal/controller.(*eventHandlerImpl).waitForStatusUpdates\n\t/home/runner/work/nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-gateway-fabric/internal/controller/handler.go:262"}

If I give "log_format" different names, controller pod is not complaining any more and configure was reloaded successfully but request is logged 3 times

5. See errorExpected behavior
   A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen.

What am expecting is only log_format configuration intended to the application (by name and name space) is pushed to the gateway pod. So with my configuration, only following should be pushed to app1 gateway pod:

include /etc/nginx/includes/SnippetsFilter_http_app1_app1-http-logging.conf;

Your environment

• Version of the NGINX Gateway Fabric - release version or a specific commit. The first line of the nginx-gateway container logs includes the commit info.

NAMESPACE: nginx-gateway
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 7
CHART: nginx-gateway-fabric
VERSION: 2.0.1
APP_VERSION: 2.0.1

• Version of Kubernetes
• Kubernetes platform (e.g. Mini-kube or GCP)
• Details on how you expose the NGINX Gateway Fabric Pod (e.g. Service of type LoadBalancer or port-forward)
• Logs of NGINX container: kubectl -n <nginx-deployment-namespace> logs deployments/<nginx-deployment>
• NGINX Configuration: kubectl -n <nginx-deployment-namespace> exec -it deployments/<nginx-deployment> -- nginx -T

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here. Any log files you want to share.

[nginx-bot]

Hi @hongyecc! Welcome to the project! 🎉

Thanks for opening this issue!
Be sure to check out our Contributing Guidelines and the Issue Lifecycle while you wait for someone on the team to take a look at this.

[mpstefan]

Thanks for reporting this! We are looking into it ASAP.