FAQ: Supported Log Formats

What sorts of log files can Sawmill process?

Short Answer

Sawmill can handle all major log formats and many minor formats, and you can create your own custom formats.

Long Answer

Sawmill is not just for web server logs, though it's well suited to that task. Sawmill also supports firewall logs, proxy logs, mail logs, antivirus logs, network logs, FTP logs, and much more.

Click here for the full list of Supported Log Formats.

It automatically detects all the formats it supports, and chooses appropriate settings for the format.

We're continually adding new log formats, so the list above will keep growing. However, due to the large number of format requests, we cannot add all the formats that are requested. If your log format is not recognized by Sawmill, and you need support for a format, we can add it to Sawmill for a fee; contact support@sawmill.net for details.

If you want to analyze a log in a different format, Sawmill also lets you create your own format description file; once you've done that, your format becomes one of the supported ones--Sawmill will autodetect it and choose good options for it, just like any built-in format.

Sawmill's format description files are very flexible; almost any possible format can be described. If you have an unsupported format and you'd like help writing a format file, please contact support@sawmill.net, and we'll write a format file for you, at no charge.