Common Log File Locations

  • /var/log/messages : General message and system related stuff
  • /var/log/exim_mainlog : Exim Mail logs
  •  /var/log/maillog : Mail server logs
  • /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log : Apache Logs (cPanel)
  •  /var/log/httpd/ : Apache error logs (non Cpanel)
  •  /var/log/auth.log : Authenication logs
  •  /var/log/kern.log : Kernel logs
  •  /var/log/cron.log : Crond logs (cron job)
  •  /var/log/qmail/ : Qmail log directory (more files inside this directory)
  •  /var/log/mysqld.log : MySQL database server log file

 /var/log/secure or /var/log/auth.log : Authentication log


You can view these logs using the cat command. This will output the contents of the log file onto your screen:

$ cat /var/log/messages

You can also use the tailf to "follow" the output as it is appended to the log file:

$ tailf /var/log/message

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