Log files of 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.

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. Or you can use the terminal-based interface, which is helpful especially if you want to SSH into the server. GoAccess has a detailed dashboard with customizable color schemes. Along with logs, you can also track various web metrics such as response time, bandwidth, and hits. If fast log analysis is your desire, GoAccess is what you need.

ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer is a dedicated log monitoring and management tool. You can either use an agent or agentless method for log analysis. EventLog Analyzer collects logs from various systems and parses them through a log parser.

You can use the default or custom log parsers. Once done, logs can be analyzed, after which you can generate reports or alerts. EventLog Analyzer focuses on security. Using the GoAccess web interface, you can filter for specific information such as URL, operating system information, browser information, and more.

In this guide, we discussed two simple steps to analyze Apache logs. If you are looking for a more visual and detailed method, check out our visualizing Apache Logs with ELK stack. My name is John and am a fellow geek like you. I am passionate about all things computers from Hardware, Operating systems to Programming. On what distribution, or with what hosting provider?

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