How Do You Read Raw Access Logs?

[kfordham281]

So I've downloaded my raw access logs and it comes in a zip and I unzip it. The file has a .com extension and when I change it to txt, I can't open it in any application because it feezes up for a few minutes (I just looked and the log is 172MB so it's obviously large).

 

So how do I read this thing? Thanks!

[TCH-Andy]

Hi,

 

It depends what you want to get from the log files.

 

Generally, I'd suggest a quick google search for "log Analyzer" and download one of the free analyzers to have a play with.

[MikeJ]

Most of the time you'll just want to run it through some type of analyzer, but in some cases you may want to actually view and search the contents of your log file.

 

Generally, you'll have a problem with the file due to it's size. One way to view it a little at a time is by using the "more" command from the commandline: "more < filename". Another option is to get something that loads only parts of the file in memory at a time as you view it. One program I found just googling (I'm assuming you are running Windows) is called Large Text File Viewer that you might want to try (never used it myself, so I don't know how well it works).

[kfordham281]

I'm basically just looking to see what's in it. In part out of curiosity and because it seems that a phpbb forum I setup (different hosting company) for a group I'm involved with had about a month worth of posts just disappear in the last few days. I tried the program Mike recommended and it seemed to do the trick, thanks! Doesn't look like phpbb has been compromised in any way, but we are getting some attacks on the known vulnerabilities.

[surfdean]

I just drag the renammed (*.log) file into a firefox tab. It makes for a readable format and then you can use the handy ctrl+F to find certain strings.

 

dean