SMF2.1:Logs - Online Manual

Work in progress, expect frequent changes.

Please see SMF1.1:Logs, SMF2.0:Logs or SMF2.1:Logs depending on the version of SMF you are using.

Error Log

This logs every error encountered by members of your forum. For example:

Login errors that occur when members or guests mis-type their username and password or have not activated their account
Members or guests attempting to use URLs they are not permitted to see
php errors, such as "undefined index"
Errors accessing the database

It should be enabled by default. But if you need to change it, look here: Admin Center > Maintenance > Logs > Log Settings > Error Log > Enable Error Logging. Be sure to click the Save button at the bottom, after changing it.

The second option there, Include database query in the error log, is an advanced option. It prevents effective filtering, but allows administrators to access data they might need from the database, that would not otherwise show up with filtering options.

After enabling it, if necessary, you can find the log at Admin Center > Maintenance > Logs > Error Log. Each error in the log shows six icons with the shape of a funnel. Each one allows you to filter, or search the errors in a different way: by username, by IP address, session id, url of the page where the error happened, type of error, and the error message itself. Finally, perhaps most importantly, each error shows a text link "Backtrace Information". This is what the experts would need, to trace the error to its ultimate source. If it's coming from a bug, this will help developers to fix it.

This log can be an invaluable aid to identifying forum problems. As a new administrator, it might be prudent to check the Error Log daily, during the time you are building and developing your forum. Maybe check it only weekly, once the forum is established and running smoothly. Especially keep an eye on it after you have installed a new modification or theme. If you see a lot of new errors which seem to be coming from areas related to the new mod, you may decide not to use that particular modification. There may be others which provide a similar feature, but which do not trigger so many errors.

In any case, error entries can be deleted from the log one item at a time, by selecting the errors you wish to delete, and then click the Remove Selection button. You can remove all the entries at once by clicking the Remove All button. For a third alternative, the log could be pruned automatically. See the Log Pruning section below, to learn more about it.

Administration Log

This logs administrative actions on the forum. It is enabled by default, but if you need to change something, you can do it at Admin Center > Maintenance > Logs > Log Settings > Enable the administration log. Be sure to click the Save button at the bottom, after making your selection.

At the top of the log is a search box which allows you to search by member name. There are six columns: the Action being logged, the time and Date it happened, the Member name, the member's Position, their IP address, and a checkbox. If you click the little icon at the top of the Date column, you can organize the list by ascending or descending dates. The checkbox allows administrators to mark specific entries which they might want to delete, by clicking Delete Selected button. Otherwise the log can be emptied all at once by clicking Clear Log button.

Note that clearing the log will be logged, to help prevent abuse.

Moderation Log

The Moderation Log is also enabled by default. But should you need to change something, go to Admin Center > Maintenance > Logs > Log Settings > Enable the moderation log. Then be sure to click the Save button at the bottom.

When the Moderation Log is enabled, you can find it via Moderation Center > Logs > Moderation Log. It allows members of the moderation team to track all the moderation actions that the forum moderators have performed. For administrators, it can be helpful in managing the moderation staff. If permissions allow other moderators to see the log, they might find it helpful to learn from each other's actions.

This log contains six columns: the Action being logged, the time and Date it happened, the Member name, the member's Position, their IP Address, and a checkbox. At the top of the log is a search box which allows you to search by member name. At the top of the Date column is a button which allows you to organize the log by ascending or descending dates.

The checkbox allows administrators to mark specific entries which they might want to delete, by clicking Delete Selected button. Otherwise the log can be emptied all at once by clicking Clear Log button. Note that clearing the log will itself be logged, to help prevent abuse.

A third alternative for removing entries in this log, is automatic pruning. See the Log Pruning section below, to learn more about it.

Watched Members

Moderation Center > Members > Watched Members provides a simple interface to keep an eye on troublesome members. Watched Members can be sorted By Member or By Post:

By Member - See all members who currently have a high enough Warning level, to be added to the Watched Members list. In the member's profile, administrators can increase their Warning level above what is needed to be added to the Watched Members list. Administrators set that level in Admin Center > Members > Warnings
By Post - A list of posts created by each member on the Watched Members list. It provides a simple checkbox that can be used to delete many troublesome messages at once.

Being added to the Watched Members list, is considered a penalty, or user limitation, for what the forum administrator considers bad bahavior in the forum, by the members listed there. Please see the Warnings page for more information about User Limitations.

Ban List

This is the list of all members who have been banned. In a few versions past, it was called the Ban Log. But now it is called the Ban List. In your forum, it can be found at Admin Center > Members > Ban List. The feature which is now called the Ban Log shows all attempts to enter the forum by members who have been banned. But it is the Ban List which contains all the banned members. Follow those links to find more detailed information about these logs.

Spider Log

In your forum, the Spider Log can be found in Admin Center > Forum > Search Engines > Spider Log. The full description of the Spider Log, in the manual, is in the Spider Log section of the Search Engine page.

Task Log

This log can be found at Admin Center > Maintenance > Logs > Task Log. It records an entry whenever a scheduled task on your forum has been completed. It lists the name of each task, the time it was run, and how much time was needed to complete each task. Note: All times given are server time and do not take into account any time offsets set up within SMF.

Also note that entries in this log cannot be manually deleted. However, Log Pruning allows administrators to schedule automatic pruning, or deleting of entries.

Log Pruning

Certain logs, tables or lists can build up over time, and can take up noticeable space in your database and server. Other logs take some period of time before they build up. With Log Pruning, you can set them up to be automatically trimmed, or deleted at certain appropriate intervals, depending on the log or table or list.

First check Admin Center > Maintenance > Logs > Log Settings > Enable pruning of log entries. Then some more options will appear below. Or uncheck, if you don't want to use any part of this feature. It provides for the automatic pruning of six specific logs, tables, or lists. Four of them are described above. The other two are described below.

Remove Error Log entries - This log is described above. Set the interval, in numbers of days, in which you want this log to be routinely deleted. Or set to zero to disable the pruning of this log.
Remove Moderation Log entries - This log is described above. Set the interval, in numbers of days, in which you want this log to be routinely deleted. Or set to zero to disable the pruning of this log.
Remove ban hit log entries - This is the Ban Log which is described above, not the Ban List. Set the interval, in numbers of days, in which you want this log to be routinely deleted. Or set to zero to disable the pruning of this log.
Remove Reported Posts log entries - This is the list of posts reported to moderators by other members, at Moderation Center > Posts > Reported Posts. The description of this list or log is in the Reported Posts section of the Moderation Center, in the manual. Set the interval, in numbers of days, in which you want this log to be routinely deleted. Or set to zero to disable the pruning of this log.
Remove Task Log entries - This log is described above. Set the interval, in numbers of days, in which you want this log to be routinely deleted. Or set to zero to disable the pruning of this log.
Remove Search Engine Stats Log entries - This is the log at Admin Center > Forum > Search Engines > Stats. It's described in the Stats section of Search Engines page. Set the interval, in numbers of days, in which you want this log to be routinely deleted. Or set to zero to disable the pruning of this log.

**Close to being finished, but not quite.**

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