Deleting Error Logs from cPanel

[Lindsay D]

Hello everyone, I am extremely relieved to find this forum. In the last few weeks I've noticed that my website (which includes a Blog) has suddenly started to take up almost all of my available webspace. On looking at the files using C Panel, the culprit appears to be an 8.2Gig "error_log". I have no idea why in the last month this has accumulated such a huge number of errors (however my website has been extremely busy in the last few weeks, in terms of visitor numbers). My priority right now is to clear out the error-log to free up some much-needed web space. In my C Panel this error_log file is here: public.html>blog>error_log

My first instinct was just to highlight it and then hit the red X (delete) key on the top menu bar, however I don't think I should be deleting a file, just the contents (ie thousands of error entries)? I have no idea of how to access the contents of the error_log in order to clean it out. I am feeling a bit desperate, so any help will be appreciated. I will add that I am a website owner, not a Webmaster, and I'm afraid I am a novice so a plain English explanation will be appreciated.

I have attached a picture of what I am seeing when I look in my file directory on CPanel.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Incidentally, going back to the picture I attached above, if I right click on the error_log file and choose View, I just get a blank page. I would guess I cannot examine the contents of the file because there is so much in there - over 8 Gig. I am desperate to clear it out but I cannot figure out how.

 

[Nick57]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

FTP the file to your local disk, then use any editor [for example: Notepad++] to open the file and investigate the errors.
Quite often these errors are missing images/files or someone trying to browse to a folder which does not exist.

You can also enable in your cPanel to rotate and log these files under: Raw Access Log

Configure Logs:

Archive logs in your home directory at the end of each stats run[ [every 12 hour(s)~]]
Remove the previous month's archived logs from your home directory at the end of each month.

It is a good thing to keep an eye of this file.

Good luck.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Hi Nick, thank you so much for replying. I did import the error log file to my local disk but unfortunately I could not open the file with notepad or anything else - I presume because of the size of it (over 8 Gig). Looking in my C Panel, I don't appear to have anything called Raw Access Log, and I'm afraid I don't know how to go about archiving them either. Sorry for my ignorance, I'm not much of a Webmaster.

Can I just delete the "error_log" file in my CPanel directory (as it appears in the screen grab in my opening post)?

As you say, I do need to find out where all of these errors are coming from and hopefully fix the problem.

 

[Nick57]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Hi, yes, hence my recommendation for Notepad++

Not sure if I can add an url here, but will try: Notepad++ Home
Otherwise you need to search for this yourself on the Internet Notepad++

Yes, if you have downloaded that huge file on your local disk, then it is safe to delete it from your cpanel
, the file will be created automatic as soon as the first error appears.

Check it then every other day, or browse around on your website and see if the file grows, then you know for sure something is wrong.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Ah, sorry, I didn't realise that Notepad++ was different to my current notepad - thank you for the link, I will sort that out.

And thank you so much for confirming that I can delete the file from Cpanel and it will regenerate as new errors appear - that's good to know, I can relax a bit now! I appreciate your help Nick.

- - - Updated - - -

I just downloaded and tried Notepad++ but unfortunately I had the same problem, files too big. It's not a problem because I can still use it to view the new error logs which will no doubt continue to stream in whilst I'm trying to find out what's causing them. I had a huge amount of traffic to my website last month which may have done it.

 

[Nick57]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Aha, sorry my fault, if your in for an adventure then get HxD, they say if it fit on your drive you can edit it.

Downloads | mh-nexus

If you start it go to View, Visible columns, choose only text !
the output can be set to more characters then the standard 16 see below;



But deleting and browsing around might give you soon a better idea..

Another attempt might be to get this editor, install it, view your file and remove the program after 30 days. http://www.emeditor.com/

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Thanks Nick, I'll take a look at the emeditor.

Since I last spoke to you I got in touch with my web host and I've told them about the huge number of error logs which I have discovered and which have appeared in the last few weeks - just to see if they have an opinion. A few weeks ago they got in touch with me and told me I had run out of web space - I was very surprised because I hadn't added much, just a few brief blog posts. I purchased the extra web space (another 15Gigs) and then a couple of days ago I got yet another message from them telling me once again that I had no web space left, so I had to purchase even more. All the while I am completely baffled because I have not been adding stuff. Of course I found out today that I have this massive 8Gig error_log which seems to be the culprit, because all of my other blog files are fine and are the right size. So I have inadvertently and perhaps unnecessarily spent money on the extra web space, not realising it might be this weird error log nonesense (this is where I am a novice). Oh well, you live and learn.

 

[Nick57]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Make sure you do this:

You can also enable in your cPanel to rotate and log these files under: Raw Access Log

Configure Logs:

Archive logs in your home directory at the end of each stats run[ [every 12 hour(s)~]]
Remove the previous month's archived logs from your home directory at the end of each month.


Perhaps they can downgrade you back as you have found the culprit, shouldn't be a problem for them.

 

[quietFinn]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

ur cPanel to rotate and log these files under: Raw Access Log

Configure Logs:

Archive logs in your home directory at the end of each stats run[ [every 12 hour(s)~]]
Remove the previous month's archived logs from your home directory at the end of each month.

This has nothing to do with error_log.
error_log is PHP's error log, and AFAIK there is no way in cPanel to rotate those logs.

Lindsay D, I would suggest that you delete that big error_log. If your site is generating errors the file will reappear, and you can open it without problems.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

I can't find a Raw Access Log facility Nick, and I suspect the configuration is beyond my skill set and fortunately. I will look into it though.

But here is another thought - the error log is under my public.html folder. I don't think that's a normal place for an apache log file, so these must be PHP logs. I can't view the contents of the error log as I said, but I can look at the last 300 in CPanel. They all relate to the small flash gallery I'm running, which I bought from my host ages ago. Given that I have not changed anything in that gallery, and it doesn't appear to be suffering from any missing pictures or links, I am starting to suspect that the errors are being thrown up due to a problem at my host's end. Perhaps they've changed servers and the code has got corrupted, and I am bearing the brunt of all of the error logs. I will be quite angry if that is the case, given that they have charged me twice recently for extra web space, even though I hadn't used up any space! Hope that makes sense.

I have sent them a message and I will see what their response is.

 

[Infopro]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

This has nothing to do with error_log.
error_log is PHP's error log, and AFAIK there is no way in cPanel to rotate those logs.

Lindsay D, I would suggest that you delete that big error_log. If your site is generating errors the file will reappear, and you can open it without problems.

Agreed. You can download it and look at it in anything you like, if your system can manage it, but don't try opening an 8GB file for viewing on the server. Download if you like, then kill it dead.

Visit all pages of your website(s) for a few minutes and then go back and read the log. That log is created in the directory the errors are coming from.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Thank you quietFinn and Infopro - I appreciate the replies and the suggestions, which I will implement. However I've had to give up trying to view the contents of the error log, I can't find a way to open it. I'm not bothered, I'm sure it will generate some more similar errors for me to scrutinise after I have deleted it. I am strongly suspecting that these errors are being generated by a problem at my host's end, since I can't see any other reason for them - I haven't been deleting or adding stuff or creating any broken links, or anything like that. I'm awaiting a reply from my host, which I might not get until next week.

It looks like the vast majority of the errors are generated when somebody looks at the flash gallery part of my site (and also the HTML mirror version). This is separate to my Blog, but on the same domain. I bought this off my host years ago and I wonder if recently they have done something on one of their servers which has upset the code somewhere.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

I have now received a response from my host:


Thank you for contacting us today. The error log is filled with the following error:

===================================================
[29-Nov-2013 09:19:26] WordPress database error Illegal mix of collations (latin1_swedish_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,COERCIBLE) for operation '=' for query SELECT comment_ID FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = 6934 AND comment_parent = '0' AND comment_approved != 'trash' AND ( comment_author = 'ガがミラノ時計' OR comment_author_email = 'user @ gmail.com' ) AND comment_content = '注目度の高いマークジェイコブス 財布 /http://www domain.com/ ]大人気マークジェイコブス メンズã€ãƒ¬ãƒ‡ã‚£ãƒ¼ã‚¹ 新作 ãƒãƒƒã‚°|財布|時計激安店舗!グッãƒ&エルメスãªã©ãƒ–ランドãƒãƒƒã‚°ç·åˆé€šè²©ï¼[/url]' LIMIT 1 made by wp_new_comment, wp_allow_comment
[29-Nov-2013 10:47:01] PHP Fatal error: Call to a member function tags() on a non-object in /home/linds/public_html/blog/wp-content/themes/prophoto4/classes/seo.php on line 143
===================================================

While the domain names in the errors may be different, these are the two errors that keep repeating. The first error has to do with the structure of your wp_comments table for your WordPress site. The collations need to be corrected. To answer your question about the error log, you can remove it without causing an issue, however as these errors continue, that file will continue to be written to. If you have any further questions, please contact us.

I have deleted the offending error-log file and when it regenerates I will monitor it to see what the new entries reveal. I cannot fathom why this problem has suddenly happened, I have been using the same website and blog for many years, on the same platform, without any issue until immediately recently. All I have done in the last month is choose to uncheck the "allow comments" box on my last four or five blog posts, and I don't see how that could cause a problem because it's common practice. Sigh.

 

[Infopro]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

You should check to make sure that your theme is up to date, your wordpress is up to date, and your plugins used on that wordpress site, are up to date as well.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Hi Infopro, yes I always keep everything completely up-to-date - I recall updating WordPress about a month ago when the most recent version came out, I hope it didn't have a bug in it which might have caused my problem. I have a good spam filter as well - I had wondered if it was weird characters in comments which had thrown up the errors, but I'm still trying to understand how I accumulated over 8Gig of them in such a short time. As and when I find out I will update this thread in case anyone else gets similar issues.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Still going through sheer hell with this. In the last 36 hours the error-log has regenerated and swelled to just under 10GIG. I have no idea why I'm suddenly amassing thousands of errors. The last few (I can only see the last 300) are like this:

[Sun Dec 08 10:46:38 2013] [error] [client 174.3.151.235] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico, referer: Home » portrait photography west sussex
[Sun Dec 08 10:46:32 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:46:04 2013] [error] [client 1.168.194.43] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:45:07 2013] [error] [client 87.114.140.6] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:44:24 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:42:37 2013] [error] [client 88.114.105.45] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:42:12 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:39:52 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:37:39 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:35:35 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:35:21 2013] [error] [client 188.162.39.159] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:35:00 2013] [error] [client 81.97.2.110] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:34:22 2013] [error] [client 116.48.83.220] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:33:33 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:33:01 2013] [error] [client 24.225.109.144] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:31:59 2013] [error] [client 24.74.140.126] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:31:17 2013] [error] [client 91.54.10.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:30:01 2013] [error] [client 24.225.109.144] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico
[Sun Dec 08 10:29:04 2013] [error] [client 77.105.49.201] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico

At my wits end and no idea what to do to stop this barrage. I'm using up all my webspace every day and a half as a result and an constantly trying to clear the error-logs.

 

[quietFinn]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Those errors are in Apache's error log, not in the error_log you have in your website.

[Sun Dec 08 10:30:01 2013] [error] [client 24.225.109.144] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico

Just create an empty file /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico and those errors stop.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

I've done that, thank you so much quietFinn. But I'm now getting flooded with different errors instead:


[Sun Dec 08 16:11:52 2013] [error] [client 108.52.217.130] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon
[Sun Dec 08 15:57:46 2013] [error] [client 82.69.92.82] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/music/soundundefined.mp3, referer: Lindsay Dobson Photography - Modern Lifestyle Portraiture
[Sun Dec 08 15:56:52 2013] [error] [client 2.30.183.5] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/music/soundundefined.mp3, referer: http://www.lindsaydobsonphotography.com/betsey.swf
[Sun Dec 08 15:43:12 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:43:12 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:43:12 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:43:12 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-120x120-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:41:50 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:41:50 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:41:50 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:41:50 2013] [error] [client 83.77.184.37] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-120x120-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 15:39:28 2013] [error] [client 71.228.155.122] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/music/soundundefined.mp3, referer: Lindsay Dobson Photography - Modern Lifestyle Portraiture
[Sun Dec 08 15:01:54 2013] [error] [client 218.6.70.198] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/wp-login.php
[Sun Dec 08 14:26:14 2013] [error] [client 198.143.145.219] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/wp-login.php, referer: Olympus OMD EM-5 vs Fujifilm XE-1 | Compact Interchangeable Lens Systems » portrait photography west sussex
[Sun Dec 08 13:56:15 2013] [error] [client 205.152.72.69] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/wp-login.php, referer: Wildlife, in the Sun | Wildlife Photographer Surrey » modern pet photography west sussex
[Sun Dec 08 13:34:50 2013] [error] [client 24.187.102.161] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/music/soundundefined.mp3, referer: Lindsay Dobson Photography - Modern Lifestyle Portraiture
[Sun Dec 08 12:38:52 2013] [error] [client 218.6.70.198] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/wp-login.php
[Sun Dec 08 12:38:17 2013] [error] [client 87.5.207.76] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:38:16 2013] [error] [client 87.5.207.76] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:34:49 2013] [error] [client 205.152.72.69] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/wp-login.php, referer: Wildlife, in the Sun | Wildlife Photographer Surrey » modern pet photography west sussex
[Sun Dec 08 12:09:12 2013] [error] [client 93.200.79.115] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:09:11 2013] [error] [client 93.200.79.115] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:09:03 2013] [error] [client 93.200.79.115] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:09:03 2013] [error] [client 93.200.79.115] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:08:55 2013] [error] [client 93.200.79.115] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon.png
[Sun Dec 08 12:08:55 2013] [error] [client 93.200.79.115] File does not exist: /home/linds/public_html/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png



I have no idea what's going on. If I was just getting one kind of error then I could fix it, but each time I have an "error surge" it's something different. This is really wearing me down.

 

[Lindsay D]

Re: Deleting Error Logs from C Panel

Those errors are in Apache's error log, not in the error_log you have in your website.



Just create an empty file /home/linds/public_html/favicon.ico and those errors stop.

I first put the favicon.ico file directly under public_html, but it didn't stop the problem error_log, which is in public_html/blog. The error log kept on growing, so I deleted it again.

I also put a favicon.ico file under: public_html/blog. I couldn't see any harm in doing that, just in case it was helpful.