Error Messages and Log Files

Error Messages and Log Files

A careful perusal of error messages and log files can give you a good sense of the health of a network. This is important because you may not want to add a new network device to a network
that is experiencing problems. Log files record every action that occurs on a computer. For example, a log file can contain a record of who logged in to the network when, from which machine, and at what time. Figure 6.3 shows a sample log file.
     Each network operating system includes special tools for creating and maintaining log files. In Windows NT and later, for example, you use Event Viewer (as shown in Figure 6.3) to display
System Logs, Security Logs, and Application Logs. NetWare tracks events in the ABEND.LOG, SYS$LOG.ERR, and CONSOLE.LOG files. In Chapter 10, “Network Troubleshooting,” we’ll look at log files and error messages in detail.

FIGURE 6 . 3 A sample log file from the Windows NT Event Viewer