Server logs

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Logging in FileZilla Server

FileZilla Server, like the client, includes two means of logging, screen and file log.

Screen log

As FileZilla Server is split in two parts (service and administration interface), the screen log won't work if the admin interface isn't running, for example if no user is logged on. And, for performance reasons, there's only a finite number of lines logged.
The screen log is enabled automatically when the admin interface is running, you don't have to do anything more.

If you want logs when no user is logged on, don't want to leave the admin interface running or want to track large logs, you need to use file logging (see below).

What is logged

• Connection ID (in brackets): every new connection will get a unique ID, this aids in tracking one special connection only
  
• Time stamp
• User name of the account using this connection, (not logged in) is shown before the login process is completed.
  
• IP of the initiator of the connection
• The separator >
  
• Log text: Commands received, replies sent, status messages and more

Note that additional internal status messages don't follow this scheme.

Location

The screen log occupies the upper part of the admin interface window, directly below the toolbar. There's no facility to turn it off or move it elsewhere. Closing the admin interface deletes the complete buffered log.

Color coding

The screen log is color-coded:

• Informational: black
  
• Commands: blue
  
• Responses: green
  
• Errors: red
  

File log

The second logging possibility is logging to file. Filelog is disabled after a fresh installation and must be enabled first.

What is logged

• Connection ID (in brackets): every new connection will get a unique ID, this aids in tracking one special connection only
  
• Time stamp
• User name of the account using this connection, (not logged in) is shown before the login process is completed.
  
• IP of the initiator of the connection
• The separator >
  
• Log text: Commands received, replies sent, status messages and more

Note that additional internal status messages don't follow this scheme.

Setting up file log

Open the server settings (Edit -> Settings) and navigate to the 'Logging' tab. Tick the 'Enable logging to file' box and you're done. The logfiles are stored into a 'Logs' (I.E. C:\Program Files (x86)\FileZilla Server\Logs) subdirectory of FileZilla Servers installation path. This location cannot be changed.

Limiting the log size

Enable 'Limit log file size to' and enter the desired value (in KB) into the field. When the logfile reaches this size, the oldest entries will be deleted.

Daily logfile rotation

You can either log everything into one big file, or let the server create a new logfile every day. Just enable 'Use a different logfile each day', and FileZilla Server will create logs in the format fzs-yyyy-mm-dd.log.
The timestamp in the logfile name follows ISO8601 (four digit year, then month, then day), so the logs will sort correctly. Additionally you can set the number of days for which logfiles are kept. Enable 'Delete old logfiles after' and put the desired value (in days) into the field.

Special case: Using log size limit and rotating logfiles together

There is one effect when using these two features together which may confuse many users because it works differently as expected.
When enabling a logfile size limit with daily rotating logs, the limit does not apply to every file, but to all files together!

Example: You enabled a size limit of 100MB, daily logs and deleting logfiles after 10 days. All 10 logfiles together may not exceed 100MB, so you could have 10 logfiles of 10MB each. But once the quota is exceeded, the oldest logfiles will be deleted until there are less than 100MB of files again.

See also

Logging in FileZilla Client