How to Manage IIS Log Files

The Microsoft Windows Server operating system comes with an administrative feature called Internet Information Services, also known as IIS, which allows you to host multiple websites from your server. By default, IIS records all activity related to your hosted websites and stores them in log files. As an administrator, you have the ability to view and manage these log files in order to check on the status of your server.

• 1

  Log on to your Windows server with an account that has administrative privileges.

• 2

  Open the "Start" menu, navigate to the "Administrative Tools" submenu and click on "Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager."

• 3

  Expand the "Websites" folder on the left side of the window.

• 4

  Right-click on the name of the website for which you want to manage logs and select "Properties."

• 5

  Go to the "Website" tab at the top of the window.

• 6

  Check the box next to "Enable logging" if you want Windows to record all website events. If you want to shut off website logging, you can uncheck this box.

• 7

  Press the "Properties" button next to the "Active log format" field. At the bottom of the pop-up window, you will see the file path on your local hard drive where IIS logs are stored. You may click the "Browse" button to change the location.

• 8

  Open the "Start" menu again, click on "Computer" or "My Computer" and navigate to the file path you found in Step 7. Double-clicking on a log file will open it in the Notepad application so that you may review it.