Frequently Asked Questions

The NearlyFreeSpeech.NET FAQ (*)

Log Files (*)

What is the easiest way to make sense of my log files?

Do my site's log files count as space usage for billing purposes?

I've enabled log files, now where are they?

What are log files and how are they used?

My log file is huge and I can't remove it. What do I do?

How does log rotation work?

If you have log files enabled, you can ask our system to rotate them from the Site Information page for your site in our member interface.

When you ask to rotate your logs, our system waits for an opportune moment and then does it. Your access_log file, for instance, becomes access_log.old, and a new access_log is created. It may not be right away, but it usually takes just a few minutes. If there was already an access_log.old, that file gets a name based on the timestamp of the log file, such as access_log.20160828.

Before August 2016, non-transparent compression options were available. Now, the filesystem already incorporates transparent LZ4 compression, which does a great job on log files while keeping them easy to access and analyze. If you previously had compression enabled, it will continue to work, but you can deactivate it on the Site Information panel.

How do I enable my log files?

Why aren't log files enabled by default?

The return code 304 shows up in my log files all the time. What is it?

How come the bytes in my site's access log file do not match the site's actual traffic?

How many old log files will be kept during log rotation?

What are each of the fields in the access log?

I rotated my log files, but the access_log.old file was not compressed. Why not?

What is the format of the error log?

What happens if I change log file compression techniques?