====== Logs and the Log Viewer ======

===== The Log Viewer tile =====

Show it with **View > Log Viewer**, or choose the **Operator** layout. It shows the newest 5000 lines of everything PBDispatch sees.

^ Control ^ What it does ^
| **Source tabs** | All, Dispatcher, ProBoard, BinkP, Web, Toss, QWK. In a narrow tile they collapse into a drop-down. |
| **Level chips** | **All**, **Warn+** and **Errors**. The level is taken from the words in the line. |
| **Search box** | Click it (or press Ctrl+F) and type. Every word must appear somewhere in the line, in any case. Esc clears it. |
| **Follow / Paused** | Follow keeps the newest line at the bottom. Scrolling up pauses it; scrolling back to the bottom resumes. |
| **Export** | Saves exactly the lines now shown, as a ''.txt'' or a ''.csv'' file. |
| **Clear** | Asks whether to archive the log files as well. See below. |

Each line has a time, a level (INFO, WARN or ERROR, in blue, amber and red), the source and the message. The footer says "Showing N of M lines".

{{ :v4:images:dispatch-log-viewer.png?900 |The Log Viewer tile}}
//Figure 1. The Log Viewer. IP addresses have been blurred.//

===== Clearing and rotating =====

**Clear** asks three ways:

  * **Yes** archives every log file, then clears the viewer. The files go to ''LOGS\Archive\<date_time>\'' and archives older than 30 days are deleted. ''DOWNLOAD.LOG'' is not touched.
  * **No** clears only what the viewer shows. The files on disk stay as they are.
  * **Cancel** does nothing.

**Tools > Rotate Logs Now** does the same archive without touching the viewer. The first line of each fresh log says what was rotated.

===== The log files =====

These files are in the ''LOGS'' folder:

^ File ^ Holds ^
| ''PROBOARD.LOG'' | What nodes do: logins, logoffs, errors. |
| ''LOGINGUARD.LOG'' | Failed logins from every service. |
| ''UPDATE.LOG'' | Program updates. |
| ''DOWNLOAD.LOG'' | One line for each finished download. It is consumed by PBUtil. See [[v4:maint:pbutil|PBUtil]]. |
| ''mailer.log'' | Mail sessions. |

Other programs write their own logs in ''LOGS'' as well.