Red Flag Log Viewer User Manual

Index

 

1. Introduction

     Red Flag Log Viewer displays log events as grouped into different types, including Boot Log, Security Log, User Log, System Log, and Mail Log. Each event belongs to one of the following categories: information , warning, and error. The following a few paragraphs will define some basic concepts.

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2. Basic Concepts

2.1 Log Types:

Boot Log Records system booting messages
Security Log Records user logging authentication messages
User Log Records messages generated by user-owned processes
System Log Records messages generated by system processes
Mail Log Records messages generated by email systems

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2.2 Log Messages Types:

Information

Describe events of successful startup's of applications, drivers, or services

Warning

None-critical events but subject to possible future failures

Error

Critical failures, such as data loss or program malfunction

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2.3 Log Contents:

Type

The type of the log message
Date & Time The date and time when the message is generated
Host The name of the host that generated the message
Source The source of the message, or the name of the process that generated the message

Content Detailed description of the message

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3. View Logs

3.1 View Log Events

1. In Log Type, click a log. The right pane will show a list of events.

2. A dialog with the option to enable event selection will appear if the current log type is selected for the first time and it contains too many events.

3. Click No if you want to display all events. Otherwise click Yes to pop up the Attribute dialog. Modify the properties to specify a criteria to select events to display. Click OK. A progress dialog will appear.

4. After the progress bar reaches 100%, the right pane will contain events matching the requirements defined as the log type's attribute. Press the Stop button if you want to terminate the event reading, and only loaded events will be displayed.

Note:

Only events satisfy the requirement defined in the log type's attribute. The default attribute configuration accepts all events.

It could be slow to open a log type when it contains many events.

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3.2 Refresh Log Events

1. Open Red Flag Log Viewer.

2. In Log Type, click a log to refresh.

3. On the Action menu, click Refresh. Or click the Refresh button on the tool bar.

Note:

When opening a log, the log viewer shows its current status. These events will only be refreshed only after you refresh them manually or change the attribute. The events under a log type will not be refreshed after you switch to another log type and switch back.

Before refresh, the event selection dialog will appear if the selected log type contains too many events.

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3.3 View Details of Events

1. In Log Type, click a log.

2. Select a event in the right pane.

3. On the Action menu, click Order. Or click the Order button on the tool bar.

Note:

You can press the Back and the Next button to view details of the previous and the next event, respectively.

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3.4 Search Events of a Certain Type

1. In Log Type, click a log to search.

2. On the Action menu, click Sift. Or click the Sift button on the tool bar.

3. Specify the Type, Host, Source, Content, and Date of the events to search.

Note:

In Content, type the full or part of the text appeared in the event's contents.

Click the Default button to restore the default search criteria.

Search criteria is saved only for the current session. Default criteria will be restored after restarting Log Viewer.

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4. Manage Logs

4.1 Clear a Log

1. In Log Type, click a log to clear.

2. On Action menu, click Clear. Or click the Clear button on the tool bar.

Note:

After clear, only newer events will be displayed.

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4.2 Configure Log Settings

1. In Log Type, click a log configure.

2. On Action menu, click General. Or click the General button on the tool bar.

3. To restore default settings, click Default button.

Note:

Valid size range is 64-99999KB. Valid time range is 1-52.

Your system will clear some events to maintain the specified backup size when the log grows too large.

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Copyright © 2002-2003 Red Flag Software Co., Ltd.
rflogview 1.0