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Plesk for Linux services logs and configuration files

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Leonid Gukhman
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Applicable to:

  • Plesk for Linux

Question

Where to find Plesk for Linux services logs and configuration files?

Answer

This article's sole purpose is providing information regarding the services that Plesk interacts with. Below you will find the configuration and log file locations of the services, which may be useful during a troubleshooting procedure.

A previous version of this article is available here:

  • #213398849 Plesk for Linux services logs and configuration files (Plesk 11.5)

For Plesk on Windows see the article #213911325.

Services

 

Plesk

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log and /var/log/sw-cp-server/sw-engine.log
    • Access log: /var/log/plesk/httpsd_access_log
    • Panel log: /var/log/plesk/panel.log
  • Services
    • Stop: service psa stop
    • Start: service psa start
    • Restart: service psa restart
  • Configuration
    • PHP config on RHEL-based: /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/php.ini
    • PHP config on Debian-based: /opt/psa/admin/conf/php.ini
    • Panel config on RHEL-based: /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/panel.ini
    • Panel config on Debian-based: /opt/psa/admin/conf/panel.ini
    • Web server config: /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/plesk.conf
  • User actions logging:
    • Tools & Settings > Action log

Plesk Installer

  • Logs
    • /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log
    • /tmp/autoinstaller3.log

Web Presence Builder

  • Logs
    • Error log: /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/sitebuilder.log
    • Install/upgrade logs: /usr/local/sb/tmp/
  • No service control (working via the sw-cp-server service)
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/sb/config
    • /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/plesk.conf
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/php.ini

Backup Manager

  • Logs
    • Backup logs: /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/backup-<datetime>
    • Restore log: /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/restore-<datetime>
  • Functionality is controlled by the Plesk control panel service
  • Configuration
    • /etc/psa/psa.conf

 

Plesk Migrator

  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/panel-migrator/conf/
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/modules/panel-migrator/backend/conf/
  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/panel-migrator/logs/

 

Migration Manager

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/migration-<datetime>
  • Functionality is controlled by the Plesk control panel service.

 

Website Import

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/site-import/sessions/

Health Monitor Manager

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/health-alarm.log
  • Services
    • Stop: service sw-collectd stop
    • Start: service sw-collectd start
    • Restart: service sw-collectd restart
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/health-config.xml
    • /usr/local/psa/var/custom-health-config.xml
    • /etc/sw-collectd/collectd.conf

Health Monitor Notification Daemon

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/health-alarm.log
  • Services
    • Stop: service psa-health-monitor-notificationd stop
    • Start: service psa-health-monitor-notificationd start
    • Restart: service psa-health-monitor-notificationd restart
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/health-config.xml
    • /usr/local/psa/var/custom-health-config.xml

MySQL

  • Logs

    Note: Log file location specified in my.cnf file:

    Debian/Ubuntu

    # cat /etc/mysql/my.cnf | grep log_error
    log_error = /var/log/mysql/error.log

    CentOS/RHEL

    # cat /etc/my.cnf | grep log-error
    log-error=/var/log/mariadb/mariadb.log
    /var/log/mysqld.log

  • Services
    • Stop: service mysqld stop
    • Start: service mysqld start
    • Restart: service mysqld restart

Note: Service name differs on different Linux distributives:

    • mysqld on CentOS/RHEL 5 and 6
    • mariadb on CentOS/RHEL 7
    • mysql on Debian/Ubuntu

  • Configuration

    • /etc/my.cnf
    • /etc/mysql/my.cnf (Debian/Ubuntu)

 

PostgreSQL

  • Logs
    • /var/lib/pgsql/pgstartup.log
    • /var/log/postgresql/postgresql-x.x-main.log
  • Services
    • Stop: service postgresql stop
    • Start: service postgresql start
    • Restart: service postgresql restart
  • Configuration
    • /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf

 

Apache

RHEL/CentOS

  • Logs
    • Global logs:
      • Access log: /var/log/httpd/access_log
      • Error log: /var/log/httpd/error_log
    • Domain logs:
      • Access logs:
        • HTTP log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/access_log
        • HTTPS log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/access_ssl_log
      • Error log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/error_log
  • Services
    • Stop: service httpd stop
    • Start: service httpd start
    • Restart: service httpd restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
    • /etc/httpd/conf.d/zz010_psa_httpd.conf (includes generated configuration files with the rest of the vhosts and the server configuration)
    • /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/

Debian/Ubuntu

  • Logs
    • Global logs:
      • Access log: /var/log/apache2/access.log
      • Error log: /var/log/apache2/error.log
    • Domain logs:
      • Access logs:
        • HTTP log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/access_log
        • HTTPS log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/access_ssl_log
      • Error log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/error_log
  • Services
    • Stop: service apache2 stop
    • Start: service apache2 start
    • Restart: service apache2 restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
    • /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/zz010_psa_httpd.conf(includes generated configuration files with the rest of the vhosts and the server configuration)
    • /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/

 

nginx

  • Logs
    • Global logs:
      • Access log: /var/log/nginx/access.log
      • Error log: /var/log/nginx/error.log
    • Domain logs:
      • Access logs:
        • HTTP log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/proxy_access_log
        • HTTPS log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/proxy_access_ssl_log
      • Error log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/proxy_error_log
  • Services
    • nginx
      • Stop: service nginx stop
      • Start: service nginx start
      • Restart: service nginx restart
    • nginx as a reverse-proxy
      • Stop: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/nginxmng --disable
      • Start: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/nginxmng --enable
      • Status: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/nginxmng --status
  • Configuration
    • /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
    • /etc/nginx/conf.d/zz010_psa_nginx.conf (includes generated configuration files with the rest of the vhosts' and server configuration)

 

Tomcat

  • Logs
    • /var/log/tomcat/*
  • Services
    • Stop: service tomcat stop
    • Start: service tomcat start
    • Restart: service tomcat restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/tomcat/server.xml
    • /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf
  • Application configuration
    • /var/lib/tomcat/application_name/

 

FTP

  • Logs
    • /var/log/plesk/xferlog (or /usr/local/psa/var/log/xferlog)
  • Authentication logs
    • /var/log/secure - CentOS/RHEL-based distributions
    • /var/log/auth.log - Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions
  • No service control (works via the Xinetd service)
  • Configuration
    • /etc/xinetd.d/ftp_psa
    • /etc/proftpd.conf
    • /etc/proftpd.include

xinetd

  • Logs
    • /var/log/messages
  • Services
    • Stop: service xinetd stop
    • Start: service xinetd start
    • Restart: service xinetd restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/xinetd.conf
    • /etc/xinetd.d/* (files with "." in the name are ignored)

 

BIND

  • Logs
    • /var/log/messages
    • /var/log/syslog
  • Services
    • Stop: service named stop
    • Start: service named start
    • Restart: service named restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/named.conf

Note: The service is called bind9 on Debian/Ubuntu and named-chroot on CentOS 7.

 

Courier-IMAP

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: service courier-imap stop
    • Start: service courier-imap start
    • Restart: service courier-imap restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/courier-imap/imapd
    • /etc/courier-imap/imapd-ssl
    • /etc/courier-imap/pop3d
    • /etc/courier-imap/pop3d-ssl

Dovecot

  • Logs
    • Logs can be found using the /usr/sbin/dovecot log find command
  • Services
    • Stop: service dovecot stop
    • Start: service dovecot start
    • Restart: service dovecot restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
    • /etc/sysconfig/dovecot (CentOS/RHEL)
    • /etc/dovecot/conf.d/11-plesk-security-ssl.conf

Postfix

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: service postfix stop
    • Start: service postfix start
    • Restart: service postfix restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/postfix/master.cf
    • /etc/postfix/main.cf

 

Qmail

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: service qmail stop
    • Start: service qmail start
    • Restart: service qmail restart
  • Configuration
    • Control files in /var/qmail/control/
    • /etc/xinetd.d/smtp_psa
    • /etc/xinetd.d/smtps_psa
    • /etc/xinetd.d/submission_psa

 

Horde

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/psa-horde/psa-horde.log
  • No service control (works via the Apache web-server)
  • Configuration
    • /etc/psa-webmail/horde/horde.conf
    • /etc/psa-webmail/horde/horde/conf.php

 

Roundcube

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/plesk-roundcube/errors
  • No service control (works via the Apache web-server)
  • Configuration
    • /etc/psa-webmail/roundcube/*
    • /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/defaults.inc.php
    • Customizations: /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php

 

Mail forwarding

  • Configuration
    • /var/qmail/mailnames/<domain_name>/<user_name>/.qmail

 

Mailman

  • Logs
    • /var/log/mailman/*
  • Services
    • Stop: service mailman stop
    • Start: service mailman start
    • Restart: service mailman restart
  • Configuration
    • /usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py
    • /etc/mailman/sitelist.cfg
    • /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/server.conf - web config for Mailman on RHEL/CentOS
    • /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/server.conf - web config for Mailman on Debian/Ubuntu

 

 

SpamAssassin

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: service spamassassin stop
    • Start: service spamassassin start
    • Restart: service spamassassin restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf
    • /var/qmail/mailnames/<domain_name>/<mailbox>/.spamassassin/user_prefs

 

 Premium Antivirus

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
    • /var/drweb/log/*
  • Service control
    • Stop: service drwebd stop
    • Start: service drwebd start
    • Restart: service drwebd restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/drweb/*

 

Kaspersky Antivirus

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Service control
    • Stop: service kavehost stop
    • Start: service kavehost start
    • Restart: service kavehost restart
  • Configuration
    • /opt/kav/sdk8l3/etc/kav-handler.cfg
    • /etc/kavehost.xml

 

phpMyAdmin

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log
  • No service control (working via the sw-cp-server service).
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/htdocs/domains/databases/phpMyAdmin/libraries/config.default.php

 

phpPgAdmin

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log
  • No service control (working via the sw-cp-server service).
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/htdocs/domains/databases/phpPgAdmin/conf/config.inc.php

Logrotate

  • No service control. Executed by the daily maintenance task: /etc/cron.daily/50plesk-daily
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/logrotate.conf
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/logrotate.d/*
    • /etc/logrotate.conf
    • /etc/logrotate.d/*

Webalizer

  • No service control. Executed by the daily maintenance task: /etc/cron.daily/50plesk-daily
  • Configuration
    • /srv/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/conf/webalizer.conf

 

AWstats

  • No service control. Executed by the daily maintenance task: /etc/cron.daily/50plesk-daily
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/awstats/awstats.<domain_name>-*.conf

 

Watchdog (monit)

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/watchdog/log/wdcollect.log
    • /var/log/wdcollect.log
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/watchdog/log/monit.log
    • /var/log/plesk/modules/wdcollect.log
  • Service control
    • Stop: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/wd --stop
    • Start: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/wd --start
    • Restart: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/wd --restart
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/modules/watchdog/monitrc
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/modules/watchdog/wdcollect.inc.php

 

Watchdog (rkhunter)

  • Logs:
    • /var/log/rkhunter.log
  • Service control:
    • Start: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/rkhunter
  • Configration:
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/modules/watchdog/rkhunter.conf

 

Plesk Firewall

  • Service control
    • Stop: service psa-firewall stop
    • Start: service psa-firewall start
    • Restart: service psa-firewall restart
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/firewall-active.sh
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/firewall-emergency.sh
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/firewall-new.sh

 

Plesk Firewall (IP forwarding)

  • Service control
    • Stop: service psa-firewall-forward stop
    • Start: service psa-firewall-forward start
    • Restart: service psa-firewall-forward restart
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/*

 

IP Address Banning (Fail2Ban)

  • Service control
    • Stop: service fail2ban stop
    • Start: service fail2ban start
    • Restart: service fail2ban restart
  • Configuration: A set of IPTables rules. By default:
    • iptables -N fail2ban-plesk-login
    • iptables -A fail2ban-plesk-login -j RETURN
    • iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 8880,8443 -j fail2ban-plesk-login

 

ModSecurity

  • Logs
    • /var/log/modsec_audit.log
    • /var/www/vhosts/<domain_name>/logs/error_log
  • Services
    • Disable: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modsecurity_ctl -d
    • Enable: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modsecurity_ctl -e

 

Let's Encrypt

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/panel.log

Plesk-PHP

  • php.ini
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/etc/php.ini
  • .ini files:
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/etc/php.d/
  • Modules:
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/lib64/php/modules/
  • Logs:
    • /var/log/plesk-php7x-fpm/

Acronis Backup

  • Service Control
    • acronis_mms: Acronis Managed Machine Service is responsible for backup and recovery operations.
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/acronis-backup/python/python -m acronis_backup_srv.app_daemon --config=/usr/local/psa/var/modules/acronis-backup/srv/config.ini: Extension frontend is implemented with a separate persistent process, running in the background.
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/etc/php.ini
  • Logs:
    • /var/log/plesk/panel.log
    • /var/log/trueimage-setup.log
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/acronis-backup/srv/log/

 

Node.js

  • Logs:
    • Global log
      • /var/log/httpd/error_log CentOS/RHEL-based distributions
      • /var/log/apache/error_log Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions
    • Domain's log
      • /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/logs/

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Comments

21 comments

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  • Avatar
    NEO NEWCHANNEL

    Παρ' όλα αυτά, σύμφωνα με το παρακάτω link: https://intodns.com/newchannel.gr, παρατηρούμε ότι πιθανόν να υπάρχει κάποιο πρόβλημα στην DNS υπηρεσία του server σας.
    Προτείνουμε να ελέγξετε τα logs της DNS υπηρεσίας σύμφωνα με το παρακάτω σύνδεσμο:https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213403509#bind
    Επίσης, μπορείτε να δοκιμάσετε και μία επανεκκίνηση στις υπηρεσίες του server σας και να ελέγξετε τα logs του server.
    Περισσότερες πληροφορίες για τα logs του server μπορείτε να βρείτε στον παρακάτω σύνδεσμο:
    https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213403509#plesk

     

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Vitaly Zhidkov

    @NEO, in case you need technical support please feel free to submit ticket at plesk.com/support

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Unknown User

    How to disable Apache log file on hi load server, ?
    Plesk onyx and centos7

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Vitaly Zhidkov

    @Dumitru, check article https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000067345-How-to-disable-Apache-and-nginx-log-files-for-domain-domains-

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Tony Parry

    You may want to add the following command to the article which is extremely useful when troubleshooting Plesk issues.

    View all Plesk logs in a real-time tail.

    plesk log --all

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Andrey Ivanov

    Hello Tony,

    Thank you for your suggestion. This article provides information about location of configurations and logs of the main services only. As for "plesk log --all" command, this mentioned in our documentation.

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    TurnKeyWebsites

    dovecot documentation incorrect:

    /etc/rc.d/init.d/dovecot restart
    -bash: /etc/rc.d/init.d/dovecot: No such file or directory

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Yulia Plokhotnikova

    Hello @TurnKeyWebsite

    Thanks for your feedback. The command is valid for CentOs 5 only, so we edited it to the more commonly used format.

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    TurnKeyWebsites

    dovecot documentation STILL incorrect:

      • Logs can be found using the /usr/sbin/dovecot log find command

    This statement makes no sense – I see nothing in here about finding logs

    /usr/sbin/dovecot --help

    Usage: dovecot [-F] [-c <config file>] [-p] [-n] [-a] [--help] [--version]

    [--build-options] [--hostdomain] [reload] [stop]

     

    Dovecot repeatedly stops sending email with no errors. Having access to the logs would be helpful

     

      • /etc/sysconfig/dovecot

    The directory /etc/sysconfig does not exist!

     

    0
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  • Avatar
    UFHH01 (Edited )
    since the Plesk Let's Encrypt Extension v2.0.3
     
    Changes
     
    2.0.3 (13 April 2017)
    • The extension now logs its communication with the Let's Encrypt servers in the "panel.log". This enables better troubleshooting when there are some issues with requesting a certificate.

     

    Pls. update/upgrade your extensions and afterwards, pls. repeat your steps and investigate possible issues/errors/problems in your "panel.log".
    0
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  • Avatar
    Andrey Ivanov

    Hello TurnKeyWebsites,

    1. As for the following command:

    /usr/sbin/dovecot log find

    I checked the on different Plesk and OS versions but could not reproduce behaviour that you reported. Would you mind to clarify what OS and Plesk version are you using?

    2. /etc/sysconfig/dovecot file can be found on CentOS/RHEL OSes. The article was modified accordingly.

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Klemen Balantič

    Hello, 

    I would like to change collectd interval time.

    On top of /etc/sw-collectd/collectd.conf are comments:

    #ATTENTION!
    #
    #DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE BECAUSE IT WAS GENERATED AUTOMATICALLY,
    #SO ALL YOUR CHANGES WILL BE LOST THE NEXT TIME THE FILE IS GENERATED.

    So my question is what is the correct way to change collectd config (Interval)?

     

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  • Avatar
    Konstantin Annikov

    Hello, 

    You can check this documentation page: 

    https://docs.plesk.com/en-US/onyx/administrator-guide/statistics-and-monitoring/server-health-monitor/configuring-alarms-trends-and-email-notifications.68893/

    Here you can find how to change configuration of Health Monitor. 

     

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  • Avatar
    Klemen Balantič

    @Konstantin Annikov 

    thanks for your answer. I already changed configuration of Health Monitor but collectd process interval is still set to 300. Even if I uninstall Healt Monitor, collectd process is still executed every 300 seconds.

    Does anybody know how to change this interval?

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Konstantin Annikov (Edited )

    @Klemen Balantič


    Oh, I see. 

    In case you need to change collectd interval, the only way is to edit /etc/sw-collectd/collectd.conf file, as you mentioned. 

    But it could be rewritten during installing Plesk updates (in case Health Monitor will be updated to a new version). So, the only workaround I can suggest is to create a cron task to keep the file modified. For example, the task from the screenshot can be used.(/etc/sw-collectd/collectd.conf.modified is the file with modified interval value)

     

    0
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  • Avatar
    b_p

    The details for Mailman are not fully valid for Plesk Onyx 17.5: The file <apache-conf-dir>/conf.d/mailman.conf does not exist (any more?). It seems that everything related to mailman is only defined in <apache-conf-dir>/plesk.conf.d/server.conf.

    Besides that, Ubuntu users do not find Apache configuration files under /etc/httpd/... but under /etc/apache2/...

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Nikolay Zhmuk

    @b_p 

    > It seems that everything related to mailman is only defined in <apache-conf-dir>/plesk.conf.d/server.conf.

    That is correct, even removal of mailman.conf does not breaks Mailman web interface. I have updated the article. Thank you for the input.

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Nadir Latif (Edited )

    Different Php Fpm versions have different locations for the process id file. The Watch Dog settings for Php Fpm do not allow setting the path to the Php Fpm process id file. It would be useful to have this feature.

    Currently we have to edit the Monit configuration file in order to set the path to the Php Fpm process id file. But this is not a good solution since updates to the Plesk Watchdog may overwrite the configuration changes

    0
    Permalink
  • Avatar
    Konstantin Annikov (Edited )

    Hello @Nadir, 

    As I understand, you are talking about custom Watchdog configuration to track several php-fpm handlers provided by Plesk. This solution is described in the following article:

    https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000584394-How-to-monitor-PHP-FPM-application-provided-Plesk-using-Watchdog-

    So, there is a workaround for that. If you think that this feature should be implemented in Plesk's watchdog extension, please create a request for it at our uservoice portal: 

    https://plesk.uservoice.com/

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  • Avatar
    Maghreb Services SARL

    Since at least Plesk 17.8.11, the installer logs seem to be in:

    /var/log/plesk/install

    rather than:

    /var/log/plesk/installer
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  • Avatar
    Alisa Kasyanova

    @Maghreb Services SARL
    You are absolutely right, thank you for pointing this out. I have changed the article accordingly.

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