Error logs, what they mean and how to read them

[lindsayanng]

I haven't done much in terms of SEO and maintaining the usability of the site. I am still working on the design of my site and figured i would do all that in one clip since i am not in a rush to start selling things just yet.

 

ANWAYS, i was looking at my error logs and web stats just to see who is looking at my site without ANY SEO of any kind. Well, i found that MSN, liveseach, and google all visit my site often, and that kind of made me happy. At least i know it was being indexed by them. I do plan on doing more once i have products up there. I dont really WANT people to find it yet.

 

Anyways, i looked at the error logs and there was a LOT of weird websites that refered to my page. MOST of them were in different languages and NONE of them were directories, search engines, or anything pertaining to my type of business.

 

I was HOPING someone could make some sense to this..

 

This is an example of one of the errors under MAIN error_log

 

[Mon Jul 21 12:44:38 2008] [error] [client 66.82.9.11] Failed loading /usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer/php-4.4.x/ZendOptimizer.so: /usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer/php-4.4.x/ZendOptimizer.so: undefined symbol: executor_globals, referer: http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&...e=off&q=tub

 

[Mon Jul 21 12:44:47 2008] [error] [client 151.49.125.107] Failed loading /usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer/php-4.4.x/ZendOptimizer.so: /usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer/php-4.4.x/ZendOptimizer.so: undefined symbol: executor_globals, referer: http://gite-lecloset.com/

 

[Mon Jul 21 12:44:47 2008] [error] [client 216.184.126.142] Failed loading /usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer/php-4.4.x/ZendOptimizer.so: /usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer/php-4.4.x/ZendOptimizer.so: undefined symbol: executor_globals, referer: http://images.google.com.sv/imgres?imgurl=...6lr%3D%26sa%3DN

 

if i put those urls into my browser, it comes up with some weird stuff.. the gite-lecloset.com url pops up often too..

 

I HOPE somone can explaint o me what these things mean.

[lindsayanng]

anyone with some insight on this issue?

[Guest]

that is a bizarre error, i can't say i've ever seen it before - but at first glance it almost looks like zend optimizer is not installed correctly, or something was missed along the way.

 

if your host installed this, i'd ask them to do it again and show them the error.

if they redo it and it persists i'm sure the zend forum would have an explanation/fix.

 

also: if google is hitting your site this is a perfect reason to get this fixed ASAP! you ==do not== want to rank for any sort of error or incompatibility.. as i'm sure we all know, script kiddies scour google for fresh meat :)

i would disable any access to the site by visitors or bots until that is taken care of.

[lindsayanng]

thanks for the input. I will call my host today..

 

and sorry if this is a REALLY stupid question.. what is ZEND?

[Guest]

siteground has a pretty detailed page about what it is:

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/php-my...d_optimizer.htm

[lindsayanng]

ok.. well i contacted my host via live chat and i am just annoyed> my host usually has OUTSTANDING customer service over the phone, but their net chat isnt nearly as good. I just have a sore throat and didn't want to actually TALK.

 

anyways, their solution was to upgrade to PHP5, which i already did..

 

I can't say that it worked or not, but i am VERY suspicious that it will actually work.

 

Can someone HELP ME HERE?? has ANYONE had an error like this with a link from a completely BIZARRE website or a random GOOGLE SEARCH?? I mean, one of the urls points to an image search in google for TUBS. WHY???

 

what can i do?

 

I did search through MOST of my folders and have not found any signs of hacking.

 

Are there any contributions that help lock down my site? Or help me keep an eye on anything fishy??

 

I havent REALLY gotten to that point in my site building. I was going to get the design good, then do my SEO, then lock it down as best a can. iw asnt scared of hackers since my site is not LIVE yet

[Guest]

sometimes a simple upgrade is all it takes to get rid of fishy errors. you wouldn't believe some of the weird crap i've gotten recently and it always ended up to be a trivial fix.

 

has the error returned yet?

aside from upgrading php, you may want to make sure you've got the latest version of apache (assuming you use it): http://httpd.apache.org/

make sure you have a working firewall too!

and logwatch is an awesome add on to any linux server: http://linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl8_logwatch.htm it scans your logs and reports any "interesting" finds

 

 

 

did your host suggest you were hacked or are you just misinterpreting what i said? :) i didn't mean to IMPLY you were hacked, just that it's not good to keep errors around is all.

 

check out fwr media's security pro contribution to help protect your site.

[lindsayanng]

It did return today.. again with the ODD google image searches (for things like german posters and stuff like that) and now a DIFFERENT site is popping up, some weird daycare website, a graphic designer's site.. Its all REALLY weird because i cant find out WHAT they are trying to do on the site because they are on showing up in my who's online logs. So i cant even get their IP addresses so i can see WHAT they are doing/

 

The host support didnt offer ANY suggestions as to what might be happening. He said they MIGHT not be trying to access my site since they dont show up on other logs, but WHY are they getting errors on my site??? he said it MIGHT be hackers, it MIGHT not. No help to me though :)

 

I do use apache, so i will see if there are upgrades for that. I know i have to now install a register_globals patch to make the php5 upgrade work again> Now i cant get into my oscommerce admin side because of the upgrade.

 

I will check out that info that you gave me.> THANKS!!

 

I just wish i knew WHY they are getting errors and WHY they are accessing my site. I actually sent an email to a few of the site owners of the urls just to see what they might say

[Guest]

if these strange sites are showing up as a referrer, they likely just stole a pic of yours and posted it on their site.

or they are linking to it for some reason (odd, if you have no content)

 

the results from google image are because google probably took your pic and posted it on their site.

this doesn't sound like a hack to me, at all.

 

 

if however, you end up getting indexed for that error (is that error showing ON the offending page, or just in the logs?) it could bring a lot of publicity to your site by the wrong type of people if there's hacks out their for zend. it does not mean any attempts would be successful though. :)

 

another security add-on for apache: http://www.modsecurity.org/ mod security

 

 

I just wish i knew WHY they are getting errors

try this: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26804

maybe something is just missing from your php.ini!

[lindsayanng]

alright.. I FIGURED IT OUT.. well, less figured it out more i was TOLD the answer.

 

the moron i spoke to last time was a trainee who didnt know much. I went back on to my host to see if they could help me with some broken images (caused by me enabling hotlink security) and i brought up the errors again..

 

WELL

 

the MAIN error_log is for ALL WEBSITES HOSTED ON THAT SHARED SERVER

 

so it was showing ALL of the errors for any site hosted on that server!! The rest of the errors on my page were specific to my site, but just the MAIN errors_log is for the shared server.

 

So it has NOTHING to do with my site at ALL!! makes me feel a LOT better, but scared me enough to know i NEED to get all those site monitors and lock downs for my website!!!

[Guest]

:huh: so you get to see errors from other peoples' pages? ...that means they can probably see yours too.

what benefit is that to you, or anyone else on that server?

that is the weirdest thing i've ever heard of!!

 

i'd be pretty ticked if i took the time investigating an error that ended up not even stemming from my site.

[lindsayanng]

yea.. i was annoyed, but i was also happy that i chatted with a guy who was EXTREMELY helpful, polite, and easy to talk to.. So again, i am STILL happy with their customer service.. He even asked for his name and said he would talk to the guy since he is new and do some more training..

 

I guess it shows errors on the server so you can see how many errors the server has to deal with on any given day. ??.. i dont REALLY know how good that it to me. I dont know much about the logs in general..

 

As soon as i get my site up and running and maing some money, i will DEFINITELY be investing in a dedicated server AND a private SSL

 

AND, the guy i was talking to owned SUGAR GLIDERS!! most people dont even know what one is!

[Guest]

i am still trying to figure out why they show their clients the server error logs. i can't possibly see why anyone would find that useful.. if anything, i would think it would make them look bad that they loan server space out to people who ignore program errors like that. (what else are they ignoring?)

 

i understand the host's need for it, but to show to customers.. odd!

 

I dont know much about the logs in general..

ooh. do as much as you can now to understand them. once you have an active site you're gonna be ripping your hair out if you don't already know what they mean!

 

logs = royal pain in the butt

but a necessary evil.

[lindsayanng]

gotcha.. I will be doing more and more research on the lovely system that is the server stats. :)

If you have any informational websites that you know of, iw ould be very appreciative if you posted them.

 

As for the server, i have no idea what the actual use of the main error_logs are. I mean, i dont know what exactly it is telling me, or them for that fact.

 

I did figure out the whos online and all the main stats on my website though! I am able to see who came to my site and where they went, but thats about it.

[Guest]

not necessarily "informational" about any one specific thing, but can be helpful when you can't get the answers you need here: webmasterworld & webhostingtalk..

 

these, and troubleshooting errors by pasting the error description from your logs into a search engine give you can provide a plethora of good (and sometimes bad/horrible/misleading) explanations and advice.

 

is your host's error log interfering with yours? for instance, if you go to your site and try to access the page: mysite.com/dgds - does the 404 response get logged somewhere where it's showing data strictly related to your site? you need a log exclusive to your site to be able to understand what's broken or needs fixing.

[lindsayanng]

yes.. my host just shows the MAIN error logs at the top of the error page, but then if i scroll down i see ones that are specific to my site and are VERY descriptive. I read all those and i acutally was able to tell what i was doing and when to my site.. so it was a good thing..

 

Next time i get into the error logs, i will post the rest of them just so you can see.. it was just the MAIN logs that scared the CRAP outt me.. although its not a big deal soon because once my store is open, i will choose some kind of dedicated package

[Guest]

i would have been scared if that type of error showed for me too :)

 

basic 404's show up from time to time and that's ok (if it's a valid non-existent page and not actually something that should be there), but any application errors need fixing immediately (to me, anyway). it's easier to fix something BEFORE it gets to the point of dragging down your site.

 

be careful with dedicated hosting, there's a lot of crap being offered out there for really cheap right now (you get what you pay for). if it's a new store, a shared will probably suffice until you profit enough to justify a dedicated (or even vps). i started out on shared and worked my way up the ladder and moved each time my site started performing poorly (slow). i went through 3 shared providers before getting a vps, that took about 6 years, lasted on a vps 1.. dedicated i been on for a few months.

[lindsayanng]

what would be BAD about a dedicated host?? i am just curious. as of right now, i am VERY happy with my host, except that ONE issue i had, they have been MORE than helpful. When i started the website, i didnt even know HOW to use an FTP program> I basically made an HTML site and wanted to get on the net, i called my host who actually walked me through my dreamweaver set up and gave me a bunch of tips and tricks on using DREAMWEAVER, which really they didnt HAVE to do.. the guy stayed on the phone with me for almost a half hour being more than helpful!!

 

AND i have never had any down time or any host related issues.. It was just my luck that time that i got a trainee that didnt have his trainer sitting next to him

[Guest]

a bad dedicated host could offer you your own box, but with damaged/faulty or ready to break hardware. pieces that a good provider would have thrown out. (not something you'd be able to see from the other side of the country, but you can usually get a feel of these places by researching online)

 

and of course, one that is really really cheap, but the speed of the service they're giving mirrors that of a dsl line. by some of the reviews on wht you'd think there's a group of 14 year olds offering PC's for their customers dedicated plans from their parents' home internet.

the closer you are to a "cheap" dedicated provider, the more likely you'll encounter this.

 

 

the host you're currently with sounds like they are a place i'd stick with for as long as my site could handle.

i would be in no rush to move, if i were you

they should consider hiding the server logs from their customers though. that is a little weird :)