There are four kinds of log files available at NearlyFreeSpeech.NET:
- Access log
- Error log
- Rewrite log
- Daemon log
These logs (if enabled) found in the /home/logs directory of your site.
- Access log (/home/logs/access_log)
- Each line in the access log represents one access to your website. It contains information, like what IP address accessed your site, what path they accessed, what web browser they used, etc. Analytics programs like AWStats use this type of log file. The access log can take up a lot of space, so it is disabled by default to save you money.
- Error log (/home/logs/error_log)
- This contains information about problems with your site. Although it records generic problems, like records of attempts to access pages that don't exist, it is most important to web developers and people with complex software loaded on their site. Whenever software running on a site has a problem, it should (but doesn't always) write something about it in the error log. Finding that message can save you fruitless hours of wondering what the heck is wrong with your site. For sites created after 2021-01-30, the error log is enabled by default.
- Rewrite log (/home/logs/rewrite_log)
- Rewrite logs track internal changes made to URLs by Apache. They're generally only useful if you've set up your own rewriting rules, and they aren't working as you expect. Rewrite logs are disabled by default. Enabling the rewrite log can tank the performance of your site. Enable it only if you are having rewrite-related problems, and turn it off as soon as you fix them.
- Daemon log (/home/logs/daemon_example.log)
- If you are running a server type that allows daemon processes, each daemon process gets its own log file (replacing example with the daemon's tag), that receives its standard output and error.