In this guide, we will be covering how to locate our Access and Error logging, what is logged, and how both sets of logs can be used to troubleshoot any issues you may be facing.
Locating the Access and Error Logs
Whether your package is hosted on our Shared Wordpress or Linux packages, or instead a Cloud Server or VPS, they will have Access and Error logs that you can access.
- Firstly, login to SIRSTEVEHQ CP
- Within the package itself, you will then need to locate the Logs & Stats category
- From under this category, you will need to select the Access/Error Logs option.
Whilst accessing the Access/Error Logs page, you should be able to see the Access logging at the top - this includes all requests to your site which include the body of the request itself, the IP that sent the request, the time and date of the request, the HTTP Response code, as well as the User Agent that sent the request.
Below the Access logs are the Error logs. This is the Error log for your package and will contain all errors from .htaccess problems, missing files, redirect loops, as well as PHP errors from the site.
What to use the Access Logs for
The Access Logs can be used for a plethora of reasons, the most common are:
- Troubleshooting and Diagnosis - the access logs can help identify errors in context as they display every single request, as well as the response it had received. From this, you will be able to see the exact request that causes the error, the time it occurred, and the HTTP Response code it received.
- Security - the access logs can also be used to identify suspicious behaviour, whether this be an SQL injection query string, suspicious user agents or malicious IPs that are trying to access and possibly exploit your website.
- SEO and General Analytics - the access logs can help you understand your users' behaviour, such as which URLs are accessed the most and at what time of the day the site is the busiest. Furthermore, you can use the access logs to verify and track that search engine crawlers (Googlebot or Bingbot, for example) are accessing your site to index it.
What to use the Error Logs for
The Error log on your package will contain all errors from simple PHP warnings and deprecations, Fatal PHP Errors, Apache or .htaccess errors and finally Mod Security Errors
- Diagnosing Server and Script Errors - These logs will contain everything from PHP Deprecations, PHP Warnings, PHP Fatal Errors, misconfigured or invalid .htaccess entries, incorrect mod_rewrite rules and other less common server and site errors. If you are experiencing an HTTP 500 Error or are seeing unexpected behaviour on the site, checking the Error log may reveal issues that will need to be addressed.
- Security - These error logs can contain certain Mod Security errors if you are seeing a 403 on the website during certain actions, and the permissions and .htaccess rules are not the culprit, it may be a Mod Security Error, so it is certainly worth checking these logs to verify if this is the cause.
