PHP offers simple but effective solution to log all errors to a log fiie.
On all production web server you must turn off displaying error to end users via a web browser. Remember PHP gives out lots of information about path, database schema and all other sort of sensitive information. You are strongly advised to use error logging in place of error displaying on production web sites. The idea is quite simple -only developer should see php error log.
How do I log all php errors to a log fiie?
Just add following line to /etc/php.ini to log errors to specified file – /var/log/php-scripts.log
# vi /etc/php.ini
Modify error_log directive
error_log = /var/log/php-scripts.log
Make sure display_errors set to Off (no errors to end users)
display_errors = Off
Save and close the file. Restart web server:
# /etc/init.d/httpd restart
How do I log errors to syslog or Windows Server Event Log?
Modify error_log as follows :
error_log = syslog
How do I see logs?
Login using ssh or download a log file /var/log/php-scripts.log using sftp:
$ sudo tail -f /var/log/php-scripts.log
Updated for accuracy!
- 30 Handy Bash Shell Aliases For Linux / Unix / Mac OS X
- Top 30 Nmap Command Examples For Sys/Network Admins
- 25 PHP Security Best Practices For Sys Admins
- 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
- 20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips
- Linux: 20 Iptables Examples For New SysAdmins
- Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
- Top 20 Nginx WebServer Best Security Practices
- 20 Examples: Make Sure Unix / Linux Configuration Files Are Free From Syntax Errors
- 15 Greatest Open Source Terminal Applications Of 2012
- My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
- Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
- Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
- The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop
![Lighttpd: Beware of Default PHP Session Path Permission [ session.save_path ]](http://s0.cyberciti.org/images/rp/1/0.jpg)
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
It would be much better to have a single config php-file and define them there instead.
ini_set("log_errors" , "1");
ini_set("error_log" , "Errors.log.txt");
ini_set("display_errors" , "0");
thats excellent
You have to watch, that the logfile is writeable by the web-server process!
@Anjanesh, good point, user can set those from a php script itself.
@Philipp, yes I did assumed that Apache or lighttpd has a write permissions
Appreciate your posts!
Small misspelling in title: “log fiie”
Thanks for the heads up!
I have ligttpd (PHP FastCGI) and I cannot see the log.
How can I get it in this case ?
“yes I did assumed that Apache or lighttpd has a write permissions”
In the case that it doesn’t, how can this be changed?
Carl,
Use chmod and chown command to set permissions.
Hellow,
Is it possible to log errors of diffrent websites in different errorfiles?
I have a server that’s hosting different websites and I want that all of the php-errors are logged in different file. For each website a file.
Is that possible and how do I do it?
tnx in advance
Kurt,
You need to setup php as FastCGI which allows the -c option. With this option you can provide custom php.ini file and error log file for each user. See this article for more info. This is lighttpd specific but you should able to setup with Apache or any other server with mod_fastcgi.
HTH
@Kurt
You might try ini_set() as well if you have trouble getting custom php.ini files to work
Hi, does the init_set solution also work with Apache installed on Windows? It doe snot seem to be working for me.
I think it would need to enable this tag (log_errors = On) php.ini to get this complete.
But I suggest it’s not a good Idea to enable on the main configuration file where a server hosted multiple sites. Just add this entries on .htaccess make sense on such case to trouble shoot.
You have great blog and this post is good!
–
Hey ,
I think if you are error_log directive is set to syslog, then logs are save at /var/log/message.
On my server its set to syslog and the file /var/log/message is also updated but I am not able to find any php log data in this file.
any hint wat’s happening?
what i read was enough to solve my issue, why im writing is to see if i get one nice picture with no.16 on the right :)
I followed the steps above and its still not working, what should I do?
i am using php 5.3 with xamp server and get error ‘cannot write to file(../debug.log)’ please help me becaz i am new for php…thanks in advance
i am using php 5.3 with xamp server and get error ‘cannot write to file(../debug.log)’ please help me becaz i am new for php ..thanks in advance
It seems, user, under which you run php, does not have write permissions on specified file/directory. Check parent directory permissions, if is it writable.
I also had the same issue. I had path and settings for logging error file, but saw no file created till I set normal permissions.
Thank you for that post, it is working on my server.
I have additional question, how do you display friendly error to user, when fatal error occur.
What can we do in case we need to delete log file entries older than 60 days or clean up logs older than 60 days in php?
If you redirect error output to a custom file, you’d have to care about log rotation yourself or it’ll grow infinitely.
If error logging is handled by the web server (default), then your web server will likely take care of that.