cPanel Log Locations for Beginners

Where to look when cPanel says no and the customer says it was working yesterday.

Knowing where cPanel logs live saves time. A lot of hosting issues become much easier once you know which file to check first.

Apache and website logs

/usr/local/apache/logs/error_log
/usr/local/apache/domlogs/example.com
/usr/local/apache/domlogs/example.com-ssl_log

Domlogs are useful for checking traffic, status codes, user agents and suspicious requests.

Email logs

/var/log/exim_mainlog
/var/log/exim_rejectlog
/var/log/maillog

These are useful for delivery problems, authentication issues and rejected messages.

cPanel account logs

/usr/local/cpanel/logs/access_log
/usr/local/cpanel/logs/error_log
/usr/local/cpanel/logs/login_log

AutoSSL logs

/var/cpanel/logs/autossl/

AutoSSL problems are often DNS related, so DNSNow can help check the records before you dig into the logs.

Useful command-line skills

To inspect these logs properly, you will want to be comfortable with grep, tail, awk and less. The Linux troubleshooting hub is a good place to practise.