HFS (File Sharing Server) Log /Connection Menu

This menu can be accessed by right-clicking in the log window in the right pane of the HFS main window. The first item is used to specify exactly which items are logged. Check any item you want logged, and uncheck to disable an item.
In the listing below, example log entries are shown for most items that can be logged.

There is no simple text file that contains all possible log messages. Instead, the messages are composed dynamically from elements consisting mainly of the values of variables in reponse to system events.

The log message system runs in read-only mode by default. This means that all messages are written to the HFS log window. They disappear forever when you close the server. If you want to keep a more permanent record, uncheck "Read-only mode, and check "Log to file". You are prompted for a filename:

If you use symbols in the filename,"%d%%m%%y%HFS.log" for example, the resultant log file is named something like this: 28102006HFS.log.

Log what

Time

Show time in every entry, in hh:mm:ss format, eg."18:51:34".

Date

Show date at the start of every entry, in dd:mm:yyyy format, eg. "20/10/2006".

Browsing

Log every time a user requests the file list. Log entry example, "Requested GET /Downloads/~files.lst".

Icons

Log the getting of file icons. Log entry example, "Requested GET /favicon.ico".

Progress

Log the getting of progress page.

Banned

Log the banning of users.

Only served events

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Other events

This includes, for example, dynamic DNS updates.

Connections

Log every new connection.

Disconnections

Log all closing of connections.

Requests

Log requests made by the browser for downloads and uploads. A typical entry is: "Requested GET /Downloads/<filename>". The file extension is not normally shown.

Requests dump

Show a full request dump for every request. These log entries can be very long. Here, for example, is the entry for a small download request:
> Host: localhost
Accept: text/html, application/xml;q=0.9, application/xhtml+xml, image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, */*;q=0.1
Accept-Language: en-GB,en;q=0.9
Accept-Charset: iso-8859-1, utf-8, utf-16, *;q=0.1
Referer: xxxxxxx/Downloads/
Connection: Keep-Alive, TE
TE: deflate, gzip, chunked, identity, trailers
Fully downloaded - 531 B @ 8 KB/s

Replies

Log what HFS answered (eg. what it served).

Full downloads

Log completed downloads. Log entry example, "Fully downloaded - 558,531 B @ 48 KB/s".

Uploads

Log uploads.

Bytes received

After each request, log how many bytes HFS received from the browser.

Bytes sent

After each request, log how many bytes HFS sent to the browser.

Server start

Log starting of HFS. The log message is, "Server start".

Server stop

Log stopping of HFS. The log message is, "Server stop".

Connections menu

Main items

Log to screen

Writes the log to this window. If this is unchecked, nothing is written to the window and no log is kept unless you have turned on "Log to file".

Log to file

Writes the log to a file. When you click this, you are prompted to specify the name of the log file.

Do not log address

Exclude specified IPs. More about IP masks

Address 2 name

Opens the translation table for IP addresses to names. These names are shown in the log in {}-brackets after the real IP. This is useful if you have users with a fixed IP (for example, in a LAN) and want to show their names.

Font

Lets you choose the font for the log. The usual Windows dialog box is displayed so you can also choose the text size, style, etc.

Read only

Prevents editing of the log. Normally, leave this checked.

Copy

Copies the whole log, or a selected part, to the clipboard. This is obviously useful when you want to paste log entries into an email or other document.

Clear

Deletes all entries in the log window.

Save

Saves the log to the file specified in 'Log on file'.

Save as

Saves the log and prompts you for the file name.

Addresses Ever Connected...

Displays a list of all the unique ip addresses that have ever connected.

Access the Connections menu by right-clicking the lower pane of the HFS main window.

Kick connection

Disconnect the selected connection.

Kick IP address

Disconnect all connections from the same IP as the selected one.

Kick all connections

Disconnect all connections, and abort all uploads/downloads.

Kick idle connections

Disconnect all idle connections. Idle connections are those which are left open by the browser, but are not currently used.

Ban IP address

Ban connections from this IP by adding a rule in a table.

View http request

Show the last request the browser made on this connection.

Leave disconnected connections

Normally, connections are removed from the list after they are closed. Check this to leave them in the list.