Viewing website statistics and logs in DirectAdmin

Logs are the fastest route from “it’s broken” to “this line in this file”. DirectAdmin keeps two for each domain.

Opening the logs

1. Open System Info & Files › then Site Summary / Statistics / Logs.
2. Choose the domain.
3. Select the error log or access log.

The newest entries are at the bottom.

The error log

Records problems the web server and PHP hit. Check it first for:

• 500 Internal Server Error
• Blank pages
• 403 Forbidden
• “There has been a critical error”

A typical PHP line:

[php:error] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_connect() in /home/user/domains/yourdomain.co.uk/public_html/db.php:12

That gives the type (Fatal error), the cause (an undefined function — here, one removed in PHP 7) and the file and line (db.php, line 12). Understanding PHP error messages

The access log

Records every request: visitor IP, time, path, status code and user agent.

203.0.113.7 - - [15/Sep/2026:10:14:03 +0000] "POST /wp-login.php HTTP/1.1" 200 4520 "-" "Mozilla/5.0"

Useful for spotting:

• repeated login attempts from one address (Brute-force login attacks: how to recognise and stop them)
• which URLs return 404s
• bots crawling heavily

A good habit

Reproduce the problem, then open the error log straight away. Matching the time of your request to a log entry removes the guesswork.