ShareWare: $0 - Copyrighted FreeWare
Current Version: 0.96b9
Date Modified: Dec. 29, 1999
Beta Expiration Date: Never
Special Bug Workaround Note: There is a bug in the settings file parser that will cause logging to fail unless your ip address has at least two digits in each octet. (i.e. 192.168.0.1). As a workaround please enter all ips with zero-padded three digits octets (e.g. 192.168.000.001). This should be fixed soon.
Overview
Details
Many routers and other devices, and any Un*x machine can send status info to a syslog. You can keep track of connections and errors with your router using Mac NetLogger. (Provided your router sends out syslog information...)
Mac NetLogger logs to file(s) any information sent to the local ip address on UDP port 514.
To use Mac NetLogger you must first configure your other devices or programs to log to your local IP address. (Look in the TCP/IP control panel for your IP address.) Mac NetLogger does not generate messages. It only listens for messages. So it makes sense that you need to configure something to send you messages!
We will be adding a Graphical User Interface for configuration soon. This will do away with the settings file. If you have some ideas of how you would like to see this interface please let us know! If a settings file scares you, and your need is not immediate, you can fill out this form and we will notify you of updates.
For now, the next step is to edit the "Mac NetLogger Settings" file in a text editor. This file is fairly self explanatory (in the comments). Essentially, you configure a list of remote IP addresses paired with log file names to which to write messages from those IPs. You also add priority and facility settings. This sounds difficult, but it is really easy.
Mac NetLogger now supports logging of selected facilities and minimum priorities. All syslog messages are encoded with a priority and a facility. The priority represents how important the message is. The facility represents the type of message.
You may configure a minimum priority to log only messages that are a certain level of importance. What messages come under what priority is set up by the device or software sending the message (not by Mac NetLogger). Priorities are ordered from 0 to 7 where 0 is the most important. If you set the priority level to 5 you will log all messages with a level 5 or lower number.
Devices and software that send out syslog messages usually allow you to configure what facility to report their messages under. Facility really only comes into play if you have more than one type of message coming from the same IP address. If this is the case you can choose to log only certain facilities. You may also set minimum priorities for each facility.
Mac NetLogger only understands numeric facilities and priorities. We will be adding a GUI interface to configure settings soon. Thus, we decided not to waste time supporting the text entries. The sample settings file has numeric conversions for the common text names for priorities and facilities.
If you would like to log all priorities or all facilities simply use the wildcard "*" character in that column of the settings entry.
Say for instance that you have a router with the address 192.168.0.1, and you would like to log messages from this router to a file "myLog". You write a line like this:
192.168.0.1 myLog * * ;Log router to log file-all priorities and facilities
If you only wanted to log messages of priority 4 (warning) and facility 20 (local4) then you write a line like this:
192.168.0.1 myLog 4 20 ;Log router to log file- priority 4 facility 20
Note that you may have multiple entries for the same IP if you wish (to log to multiple files). You may also use the special "*" character to log messages from ALL IPs. You may use both individual IP/logfile pairs, as well as the universal "*". This lets you have one master log of everything and some smaller logs of messages from different IPs.
The log file names may be full or partial paths (e.g. "My Harddisk:myFolder:log").
You may specify the Mac creator code for your log files. See the example in the "Mac NetLogger Settings" file provided. This setting applies to all logs CREATED by MacNetLogger AFTER the setting appears in the setting file. (If the file already exists with one creator code the creator code will not be changed.) Thus, you may have different logs with different creators (if you want to have some fun, that is...). The default creator code is that of BBEdit.
If the log name or creator code contains space characters you must enclose it in "quotes".
Mac NetLogger will rotate your log files every night at midnight. The current date will always be appended to the name of the file.
If you don't have a "Mac NetLogger Settings" file Mac NetLogger will log everything to a file called "NetLog" in the application directory. You should really have a settings file...
If you just need a sample settings file download one here.
Whenever Mac NetLogger starts up or shuts down it writes a corresponding entry to all log files. This entry lists what IP address, priorities, and facilities were logged to that file during the session. The format is:
Listening To:<IP Address>:<Priority>.<Facility>
for instance:
Listening To:192.168.0.1:5.21, 192.168.0.3:6.20, 192.168.0.5:6.19
means that this log file listening to:
IP 192.168.0.1, priority 5, facility 21
IP 192.168.0.3, priority 6, facility 20
IP 192.168.0.5, priority 6, facility 19
If you would like to use MacNetLogger to setup a central logging machine you will need to point all of your devices at your MacOS box running MacNetLogger. The methodology for doing this varies greatly for routers and such. However, if you are trying to configure a Un*x machine you need to modify your /etc/syslog.conf file so that it points the correct priorities and facilities at your MacOS box. If your MacOS box was called "me.mydomain.com" then you would put a line like this in your /etc/syslog.conf file if you wanted to log EVERYTHING to your MacOS box.
You could also enter the ip address of the machine instead. For further info see the syslog man page.*.* @me.mydomain.com #log everything to my MacOS box
We will be adding a Graphical User Interface for configuration soon. This will do away with the settings file. If you have some ideas of how you would like to see this interface please let us know!
For info on changes new to this version see the Revision History below.
You must update your Mac NetLogger Settings file to version 2 and use the new format. Please use the sample settings file provided. (This file comes with the distribution download.)
This software is still in beta. It should run ok, but it may not be completely bug free. If you encounter a bug, or have a suggestion please e-mail shareware@laffeycomputer.com
We may potentially add the option of e-mailing important log information if the demand is great enough. Do you want this feature? How much would the software be worth if it had it?
We would love to hear from you!
Download
NOTE!
You must have Stuffit Expander version 5 or better to unstuff these files!
324K) - MacBinary
(439K) - BinHex
If you just need a sample settings file download one here. (This file comes with the distribution download.)
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