View Log Files with XpoLogs’ Log Viewer

CHAPTER 7

XpoLog Log Viewer offers a quick and easy way to browse, search and filter logs that have already been ingested or streaming through in real time.

The Log Viewer is different from XpoLog Log Search Tool.

XpoLog Log Search offers more powerful filtering capabilities (will be discussed widely in the next chapter), the Log Viewer can be used for initial fact-finding or quick troubleshooting.

View log files – accessing the Log Viewer

To access the Log Viewer:

Open a browser window and navigate to the XpoLog Center 7 home page:
From the XpoLog Center 7 home page, click on the gear icon from the top right corner of the web page:

This opens the “Folders and Logs” screen:

Double click on any of the logs under a folder. In the image below, an Apache web server access log is being opened:

View log files – using the Log Viewer

Double-clicking on any log opens it in the Log Viewer. The following image shows an Apache access log in the Log Viewer:

The default number of records shown in each screen is 25. This can be changed to 50,100, 250 0r 500:

The single arrow keys on both sides of this number can help browse to the previous or next group of records. The double arrow keys allow navigating to the first or last group records.
To filter the records, enter any string in the textbox and click on Filter.
The image below shows a search for the string 404. In the returned result set, the searched text will be highlighted in yellow in matching records.
Note how the results also include records with response status other than 404. This is because the Log Viewer is searching for any occurrence of the string “404” within each record:

To clear the filter, click on the link “Reset Filters” on the top right corner of the Log Viewer interface.
To search logs within a specific date window, click on “ALL TIME” and specify the “From” and “to” dates:

It’s also possible to navigate back in the logs anywhere between last 5 minutes to last 1 week. This process can be repeated by choosing the “Previous” option that has the same navigation times.
For fast moving log files, system administrators can choose to view only the newest log entries. This is possible by choosing the “LIVE TAIL” option.
To view all log entries again, choose “ALL TIME” again.
To copy one or more log entries from the Log Viewer, select the records with Shift or Ctrl (Command in Mac) and right click. From the pop-up menu, choose “Copy”. This will copy the selected records in the clipboard:

To export log entries to other formats, select specific records (using Shift or Ctrl/Command keys) or all records (using CTRL+A or COMMAND+A keys) and right click.
From the popup menu choose the “Export” option and select an export format: