Log files of Squid Proxy Sever

Q. How do I view squid proxy server log files under CentOS Linux server 5.0?
A. squid is a high-performance proxy caching server for web clients, supporting FTP, gopher, and HTTP data objects. Unlike traditional caching software, squid handles all requests in a single, non-blocking, I/O-driven process.

/var/log/squid/ log file directory

The logs are a valuable source of information about Squid workloads and performance. The logs record not only access information, but also system configuration errors and resource consumption (eg, memory, disk space). There are several log file maintained by Squid. Some have to be explicitely activated during compile time, others can safely be deactivated during.

• /var/log/squid/access.log : Most log file analysis program are based on the entries in access.log. You can use this file to find out who is using squid server and what they are doing etc
• /var/log/squid/cache.log : The cache.log file contains the debug and error messages that Squid generates. If you start your Squid using the default RunCache script, or start it with the -s command line option, a copy of certain messages will go into your syslog facilities. It is a matter of personal preferences to use a separate file for the squid log data.
• /var/log/squid/store.log : The store.log file covers the objects currently kept on disk or removed ones. As a kind of transaction log it is ususally used for debugging purposes. A definitive statement, whether an object resides on your disks is only possible after analysing the completeUntitled 1 log file. The release (deletion) of an object may be logged at a later time than the swap out (save to disk).
  

How do I view Squid Log files / logs?

You can use standard UNIX / Linux command such as grep / tail to view log files. You must login as root or sudo command to view log files.

Display log files in real time

Use tail command as follows:# tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log
OR$ sudo tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log

Search log files

Use grep command as follows:grep 'string-to-search' /var/log/squid/access.log

View log files

Finally you can use text editor such as vi to view log files:# vi /var/log/squid/access.log