How to view log...?

[SilverJS]

Guys,

This'll sound uber-stupid, but how do I view the log from the shell? (Or in any way, for that matter...)

My FreeNAS box, which was running great for a bit, has now really started acting up, and I don't know why. It started out by scrubs not auto-completing (100.00% done, but still going after 12h), and then the machine would freeze in the middle of a scrub. Now, it's to the point that it randomly freezes when simply idling.

So, I'd like to find out what's causing this, but I don't know how to give you guys the info you need. =)

TIA!

 

[ProtoSD]

The logs are in the /var/log directory, just do an 'ls' in there and you see which ones there are. The one you probably want to have a look at first is /var/log/messages
you could just do 'more /var/log/messages' or cd to the folder first and then just do 'more messages'

 

[SilverJS]

Tried that, but there are only messages starting from half an hour or so ago (when I found out about this and rebooted the box). Any way to access older messages?

 

[ProtoSD]

Only some of the logs are archived, messages is lost during a crash or reboot, but you might still look in there for a clue to what is happening. See if there are any errors or warnings.

 

[SilverJS]

In which log in particular?

 

[ProtoSD]

Try /var/log/messages & /var/log/console

 

[SilverJS]

And what am I looking for, specifically? The actual word "error", or...?

 

[ProtoSD]

It depends, could be any number of messages. You could post them up here if you are able to copy and paste (only if your using ssh), or you could copy them (your logs, messages & console) to a location on your NAS that is accessible from Windows so you can copy and paste them here. If you do that, go to 'advanced mode' when you are editing your message here, paste the log file, highlight all the text you just pasted and click on the "#" icon up above and it will put the text into a nice scrollable window in your post which will make it easier to view.