The mod_log_config module allows you to control how the logs are recorded. This module is not a separate package, but it comes bundled with the standard Apache installation.
Here is a step-by-step guide to configure the mod_log_config module:
1. Load Module: Ensure that the mod_log_config module is loaded. You should find a line similar to this in your httpd.conf file. If it does not exist, add it.
\`\`\` LoadModule log_config_module modules/mod_log_config.so \`\`\`1. Configure LogFormat: The next step is to define the format of logs. For that, you need to use the LogFormat directive. Here, an example of defining a LogFormat.
\`\`\` LogFormat “%h %l %u %t “%r” %>s %b “%{Referer}i” “%{User-Agent}i”“ combined \`\`\` This ‘combined’ format will log details like client IP, request date and time, HTTP request line, HTTP status code, bytes sent excluding HTTP headers, “Referer” header, and “User-Agent” header, respectively.1. Configure CustomLog: After defining the log format, you can specify the location of the log file using the CustomLog directive.
\`\`\` CustomLog logs/access\_log combined \`\`\` This line tells the server to record information according to the combined format defined earlier, and to save it in the file logs/access\_log.1. Check Configuration: After making above changes, make sure to check the configuration is error free using command:
\`\`\` sudo apachectl -t \`\`\` If syntax OK message is returned, you can apply the changes.1. Restart Apache:
\`\`\` sudo systemctl restart httpd \`\`\` or \`\`\` sudo service apache2 restart \`\`\`Your server will start recording logs as defined in the specified format and location.
Remember to replace paths and filenames based on your actual file system structure and the effective user permissions. Also, highly detailed logging will cause the log files to grow at a fast pace, so it’s wise to have a log rotation mechanism in place.
