Working with default server logs

When you are using a VPS or a Dedicated Server, it’s important to know where to look if an error arises. Each of the dedicated hosting services offered by ResellersPanel comes with a set of system logs, which will record most errors on a given website or with the server. Always make sure to check these logs if you don’t know what could have caused an error.

System errors/actions:
Location: /var/log/messages
Description: General system output is placed here (named information, daemons information, etc)

cPanel error logs:
Location : /usr/local/cpanel/logs/error_log
Description : cPanel logs any error it incurs here. This should be checked when you encounter errors or strange behavior in cPanel/WHM

General Error and Auditing Logs:
Location : /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log
Description : All exceptions caught by httpd along with standard error output from CGI applications are logged here. It is the first place you should look when httpd crashes or you encounter errors when accessing the website.

Message Reception and Delivery:
Location : /var/log/exim_mainlog
Description : Receives an entry every time a message is received or delivered.

Unexpected or Fatal Errors:
Location : /var/log/exim_paniclog
Description : Logs any entries that Exim (your mail server application) does not know how to handle.

Authentication attempts:
Location : /var/log/secure
Description : Logs all daemons which require PAM Authentication

Those logs are best investigated with a combination of the following commands: tail | cat | grep | more | less | head | awk | wc

Originally published Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 2:24 pm, updated July 4, 2024 and is filed under Dedicated Hosting Services.

Tags: dedicated servers, VPS, error log

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