Log file apache

With an Apache HTTP server, the Common Log Format can be used to produce access logs that are straightforward enough for developers and administrators to read. In addition, as it is a standardized format in use by multiple web servers, CLF-formatted log files can be easily used by many log analysis platforms.

Another format that is often used with Apache access logs is the Combined Log Format. This format is very similar to the Common Log Format but contains a few extra fields to provide more information for use in analysis and debugging operations. An access log record that is recorded in the Combined Log Format looks something like this:.

As you can see, the first seven fields are identical to those in Common Log Format. The remaining fields represent two additional properties:.

Here, we defined the combined log format via the LogFormat directive, and we followed that up by defining the location and format combined for the access log using the CustomLog directive. As you can see, modifying the location or format of the access log is a straightforward process. In addition, the use of the CustomLog directive affords us several other capabilities that we will describe below. This could be useful for a variety of reasons, including the exclusion of records associated with particular clients.

Visit the official documentation on the CustomLog directive for more information. Like anything else on a server, log files take up space. And on a relatively busy Apache server, log files such as access logs can grow quickly. Luckily, an Apache HTTP server has the ability to do this through the use of graceful restarts and piped log processes. A graceful restart of an Apache server allows for restarting without losing client connections.

This restart enables Apache to open and write to new log files without client interruption, thereby allowing the execution of processing to compress or delete old log files in the interest of saving space. In general, the whole Apache logging process comes in multiple phases.

First, you need to store the logs somewhere for historical analytical purposes. Second, you need to analyze the logs and parse them to retrieve useful information and metrics.

And finally, you may want to graph the data as the visual representation is easier to analyze and understand for a human person. The Apache access logs are text files that include information about all the requests processed by the Apache server. You can expect to find information like the time of the request, the requested resource, the response code, time it took to respond, and the IP address used to request the data.

The location of the Apache server access log differs depending on the operating system that you are using. There are two most common access log types that you can use and that the Apache server will translate to meaningful information:. The log formatting directives are used in combination with the LogFormat option:.

After that, we can use the custom alias when defining Apache logging. For example:. The above configuration will result in logging:. You can expect it to see its definition to look similar to the following line:. The Apache Combined Log Format is another format often used with access logs. Its definition looks as follows:. There is one more thing that we should discuss when it comes to Apache Server logging configuration — the CustomLog directive.

It is possible to have multiple Apache access logs at the same time without any additional effort. We may want a limited set of information available in some files for quick scanning and the full log using the Combined Log Format if we need the complete information. For example, we could have three access log files — one that includes time, user agent, and the status code, the second that includes the time, IP address, and referrer used, and the third — the Common Log Format.

To do that we need to include multiple CustomLog sections in our configuration file:. This is also possible and very convenient when the formatting of the log lines is used only in that given file.

There are cases when you would like to write logs only when a certain condition is met. This is what Apache Server calls conditional logging. It is done by using the CustomLog directive and environment variables. For example, if you would like to log all requests accessing your PNG files in a separate file you can do that the following way:.

You can also enact real-time tracking of customer sessions and browsing patterns. This makes SEM more than an Apache log analyzer—it can also help you improve and protect your Apache server. Along with performing real-time centralized log analysis, SEM is designed to help you demonstrate compliance requirements, so you have the log file reports you need at your fingertips to use for various regulations.

SEM is built to automatically collect, normalize, and perform in-memory event correlation on log data using more than built-in correlation rules. These templates can enable you to detect issues more easily and ultimately save time and energy when it comes to log event correlation.

Along with automatic event correlation, you can easily configure automated SEM responses to these correlation rules. SEM can also enable you to base these alerts on issue severity, which could help expedite troubleshooting since you know which issue to tackle first. Altogether, SEM is a straightforward and user-friendly option for log analysis for Apache and more.

XpoLog is an automated, web-hosted Apache log files analyzer built to collect, parse, and profile your log events for you. XpoLog can enable you to better monitor log events using universal visualizations, which are designed to display a fuller scope of your log file data. There are over one thousand XpoLog reports and dashboards to choose from, all of which are designed to give you insights through reporting and intelligence capabilities.

You can also customize your own analytics application on XpoLog with these ready-to-use visualizations. Using these functionalities, XpoLog can enable you to easily generate in-depth understandings across all kinds of log data. This includes web servers like Apache as well as other devices, cloud-hosted applications, and third-party services.

XpoLog is built to perform log analysis in real time and translate the data to your dashboards for live view of your IT infrastructure. XpoLog is also built with a machine learning-generated log analysis layer, which can enable you to proactively find and investigate potential problems, helping with faster and more effective troubleshooting.

The augmented search also offers log file aggregation and ad-hoc visualization, including a graph and table, for more visibility into critical log data discoveries.

GoAccess is a real-time log analyzer designed with speed in mind. It offers two interfaces. If you want a user-friendly interface, you can use it on a browser. If there is no information, the log will display a hyphen. You can also create a custom log format by using the custom log module. For more information about decoding log formats, see this page.

Apache log analysis gives you the opportunity to measure the ways that clients interact with your website. For example, you might look at a timestamp to figure out how many access requests arrive per hour to measure traffic patterns. You could look at the user agent to find out if particular users are logging in to a website to access a database or create content. You could even track failed authentications to monitor various types of cybersecurity attacks against your system.

The apache error log can be used similarly. A error happens when a client requests a missing resource, and this can alert you on broken links or other errors within the page. However, it can also be used to find configuration glitches or even warnings about potential server problems.