Apache: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition

Name

TransferLog

Synopsis

TransferLog [ file | "| command "]
Default: none
Server config, virtual host

TransferLog specifies the file in which to store the log of accesses to the site. If it is not explicitly included in the Config file, no log will be generated.

file

This is a filename relative to the server root (if it doesn’t start with a slash), or an absolute path (if it does).

command

Note the format: "| command ". The double quotes are needed in the Config file. command is a program to receive the agent log information on its standard input. Note that a new program is not started for a virtual host if it inherits the TransferLog from the main server. If a program is used, it runs using the permissions of the user who started httpd. This is root if the server was started by root, so be sure the program is secure. A useful Unix program to which to send is rotatelogs,^[1] which can be found in the Apache support subdirectory. It closes the log periodically and starts a new one, and it’s useful for long-term archiving and log processing. Traditionally, this is done by shutting Apache down, moving the logs elsewhere, and then restarting Apache, which is obviously no fun for the clients connected at the time!

^[1] Written by one of the authors of this book (BL).