Working with Log Files

The Apache Web Server logs Web Manager activity, as well as activity by other Web technologies and services that depend on the Apache Server, such as NetWare Remote Manager.

Access and error log files indicate who and what has been accessed, and what errors have occurred on your Apache Web server.

HINT:  The Enterprise Web Server maintains its own log files. To view Enterprise Web Server log files, click your Web server link under NetWare Enterprise Web Server on the Web Manager home page, and then click the Server Status icon.

The access log files created by Apache are in the default Common Log Format (CLF) that provides a fixed amount of information about Apache Web Server activity.

The ERROR log file, located in ADMIN/LOGS in the server root directory, lists all the errors the server has encountered.

The ACCESS log file, located in ADMIN/LOGS in the server root directory, records information about requests to the server and the responses from the server.

To configure logging options for NetWare Web Manager, do the following:

  1. From the NetWare Web Manager home page, click the Admin Preferences icon > Log Settings.

  2. In the Access Log field, type a path to the directory where you want NetWare Web Manager to store the ACCESS log file.

    You can type either an absolute path or a path relative to your server root directory. Leaving this field blank deactivates access logging.

  3. Click OK.


Viewing an Access Log File

You can view Web Manager's active and archived access log files under Global Enterprise Server Settings.

  1. From the NetWare Web Manager home page, click the Admin Preferences icon > View Access Log.

  2. In the Number of Entries field, type the number of lines you want the access log to display.

  3. In the Only Show Entries With field, type the particular word you want to filter the access log entries for.

    HINT:  Case is important. If you use this search feature, the Only Show Entries With field determines how many entries to search, not how many will display.

  4. Click OK.

The following is a sample of an access log in the common log file format:

a.nov.com - [16/May/1999:21:18:26 -0800] "GET /WebAdmin/icons/dot.gif HTTP/1.0" 200 2575a.nov.com - [17/May/1999:11:04:38 -0800] "GET /WebAdmin/bin/frames?index+pref HTTP/1.0" 204 342a.nov.com - [20/May/1999:14:36:53 -0800] "GET /WebAdmin/manual/ag/config.htm HTTP/1.0" 200 890arrow.a.com -[20/May/1997:14:36:53 -0800] "GET /WebAdmin/manual/ag/so.gif HTTP/1.0" 401 571


Table 2. Descriptions of Each Field in an Access Log File

ACCESS Log Field Example

Hostname or IP address of client

user.novell.com

In this case, the hostname is shown because the server is using DNS lookups; if DNS cannot resolve the name or if DNS lookups are disabled, the client's IP address would appear.

Username

john (username entered by the client for authentication)

Date/time of request

29/Mar/1998:4:36:53 -0800

Request

GET /WebAdmin/https/ReadAccessLog.jsp

Protocol

HTTP/1.0

Status code

401

Bytes transferred

571


Viewing the Error Log File

The ERROR log file contains errors the server has encountered after the log file was created. It also contains informational messages about the server, such as when the server was started and who tried unsuccessfully to login to the server.

  1. From the NetWare Web Manager home page, click Global Enterprise Server Settings > View Error Log.

  2. In the Number of Entries field, type the number of lines you want to see.

  3. In the Only Show Entries With field, type the particular word that you want to filter the error messages for.

    HINT:  As with the Access Log file, case is important. If you use this search feature, the Only Show Entries With field determines how many entries to search, not how many will display.

    This field is case sensitive.

  4. Click OK.

The following is an example of an error log:

[13/May/1999:16:56:51] info: successful server startup[13/May/1999:16:56:51] info: NetWare Web-Administrator 97.117.0455[13/Mar/1999:19:08:52] security: for host user.mozilla.com trying to GET /admin-serv/bin/index, acl-state reports: access of /usr/suitespot/bin/admin/admin/bin/index denied by ACL admin-serv directive 3[13/May/1999 20:05:43] failure: for host ceo.mozilla.com trying to POST /admin-serv/bin/distadm, cgi-parse-output reports: the CGI program /usr/suitespot/bin/admin/admin/bin/distadm did not produce a valid header (program terminated without a valid CGI header. Check for core dump or other abnormal termination)

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