Retrieving your SimpleHelp Server Log File

SimpleHelp logs all server information to the SimpleHelp server log. This article describes how the server log can be retrieved for monitoring or troubleshooting.

SimpleHelp will begin logging as it starts up, and will switch to encrypted logging once it has launched correctly. SimpleHelp will start up and log to the file server.log in the SimpleHelp installation directory until it has managed to bind to the configured ports. No sensitive information is logged while the server is starting up.

If you have experiencing launch issues with SimpleHelp you can consult the server.log file in the server's installation directory. Any launch errors will be highlighted in there. Once the server has launched, encrypted logs are stored in the logs directory in timestamped sub-directories. Logs are compressed and then encrypted by default.

There are two ways to decrypt server logs:

• View or download the log via the Technician Console.
• Extract a decrypted version of the log using the Admin script.

Using the Technician Console

If your server is up and running, and you are able to log into the server, then you can retrieving the server log through the Administration Tab using the following steps:

• Log into the SimpleHelp technician console as the SimpleHelpAdmin user.
• Select the Administration tab.
• Select the Server category.
• Select the Server Log tab.
• You now have the option to view the server log, or to download it to disk.

Using the Admin Script

The Admin script is a script contained in the admin directory of your SimpleHelp installation. It is useful when you wish to perform tasks but the SimpleHelp server cannot be accessed. For example, if you forget the SimpleHelpAdmin user password then you can reset the server's password using the Admin script.

The Admin script is located in the admin directory under the SimpleHelp server installation:

• Windows: admin\admin.bat
• Linux and other platforms: admin/admin.sh

You can also use the Admin script to extract any portion of the encrypted server logs.

Compressing Logs

If you have a large log file and need to send it to SimpleHelp support then often simply zipping the file will produce a much smaller one since the textual content of the log file will often compress very effectively.