SharePoint 2007 Log Viewer

Question

SharePoint 2007 (WSS or MOSS) logs are not easy to read even on a large screen, has anyone come across a log viewer that is able to:

• Display SharePoint logs live and historical
• Filter the events by various parameters
• Cope with SharePoint's log rotation

A subset of the above features would be acceptable, as would a range of tools either WinForms or SharePoint Features.

The list below isn't in any particular order other than the order in which they came to my attention. I have posted the log viewers that I found, if you have had any experience with the products upvote/comment in the answers below.

Found so far:

• SPLogViewer - supports loading and filtering one file, does not follow/tail log displays data in a DataGrid.
• SharePoint ULS Log Parser - one click access to log files, supports filtering by Process Name, Level, Area and Category.
• Log Viewer Feature - access from Central Administration, select individual log basic filtering on category, event and trace severity, output as HTML in Central Administration.
• WSS / MOSS Log File Reader - Access to individual log files from Central Administration, standard DataGrid filtering and sorting options.
• Stefan Gordon's ULS Viewer - Open individual log, does not follow/tail log, displays data in ListView detail. Filter by secerity, process category and free form text.
• SQL Integration Services - All reporting, sorting and filtering options provided by MSSQL (Blog Post with ETL Package Download), time consuming to setup.
• LogParser - Familiar interface to IIS Administrators, pleanty of options. Setup takes too long for small installations.
• SharePoint Log Viewer - WPF, as yet untested.
• Stonebond SharePoint Log Viewer - Looks great, as yet untested.

Answer 1

I haven't test it myself but give this one a try: http://www.codeplex.com/SPLogViewer

Answer 2

Sharepoint Features has a Log Viewer too. (And not at least an 'Attach to debugger' feature.)

Answer 3

It depends on where you going to investigate your logs. SharePoint Feature, as mentioned before allows you to check logs from the Central Administration. But, when you don't have access to the box, and have only logs available I'd recommend to use http://www.codeplex.com/ULSViewer desktop viewer. Really good WPF desktop applications with powerful features to sort and filter logs

Author of ULSViewer is really nice guys and very responsible. I've contacted him several times regarding some improvements and he released new version in reasonable time

Answer 4

Honestly I think your best bet is to use logparser (its been around for a long time and typically used for IIS logs and event logs, but can also do sharepoint logs)

Check out this post for some examples

http://blogs.msdn.com/scaravajal/archive/2008/03/15/logparser-processes-uls-logs.aspx

If you have a multiple server farm, I think your best bet is to have all your log files goto a shared drive. Then use LogParser to run queries against that directory, that way you can easily query all the log files at once as well as filter, etc.

Another option is to use SSIS to dump the logs to SQL: http://www.keirgordon.com/2008/04/load-sharepoint-2007-usage-log-data.html

Answer 5

Sharepoint NinjaToolkit has a SharePoint ULS Log Parser.

Answer 6

The WSS / MOSS Log File reader from Starznet adds a link in Central Administration.

Answer 7

SPSDev.com has a great tool - the ULS Log Reader that I use. It's free and offers some nice features. ULS Log Reader

Answer 8

http://sharepointlogviewer.codeplex.com/ SharePoint Log Viewer by Overroot Inc.

• It allows you to view multiple log files at once.
• You can search by any field.
• You can filter by any field.
• Drag drop support.
• You can export the filtered log entries.
• You can monitor logs in real time.

Answer 9

SharePoint Log Viewer a recent project from CodePlex.

Answer 10

This one is really cool... http://www.stonebond.com/Products/OpenSource/SharePointLogViewer/tabid/326/Default.aspx