Ssh – Use local tools to monitor remote logs

log-filesremote-accesssshtail

I don't have root access on my hosted web server, but I would like to use tools like MultiTail to monitor log files that are generated on my web host.

Is there a way I can pipe the log output on my remote host ( I have ssh access ), to my locally running MultiTail?

The local machine is running Ubuntu 9.04. The remote machine is running FreeBSD 6.

The answer in a nut-shell:

1) Set up key-based login for ssh.

2) Execute the following command:

multitail -l "ssh -l USER HOST tail -f ./www_logs/access_log" -l "ssh -l USER2 HOST2 tail -f ./www_logs/access_log"

Best Answer

You could try something like this:

multitail -l "ssh remotehost tail -f /var/log/messages" \
          -l "ssh remotehost tail -f /var/log/mail.log"

I'm sure there are lots of nice multitail options I'm missing, but that should at least get the basics working.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to run script via SSH that doesn’t end when I close connection

You can run the command with the nohup command before it. You can also run it in 'screen', which will allow you reattach the terminal.

For example:

ssh mySever 'nohup bash myscript.sh'

Or just ssh into and run the nohup command. It should keep running even when you disconnect. This is because the nohup will intercept the SIGHUP singal (hangup).

Screen is a bit more involved, but for the 20 minutes it might take you to learn the basics, it is one of the most useful tools out there. Here is a tutorial.

Ssh – Filtering SSHD Logs

You could do something like this:

tail -f logfile | grep -v "some\.ip\.address\.to\.ignore"

tail -f logfile | grep -v "some\.ip\.address\.to\.ignore.*user-name"

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to run script via SSH that doesn’t end when I close connection

Ssh – Filtering SSHD Logs

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