Configuring Server & Client Log Files with the Desktop Client

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Affected Roles: Administrator, Power User

Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum IPVMS

Software Version: DW Spectrum 6.0

Last Edit: March 25, 2025

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Server & Client Logs

DW Spectrum Server and Client Logs keep a record of all server and client interactions in basic text form. In certain cases, to speed up and simplify the troubleshooting process, you may be asked to provide support technicians with Server or Desktop Client logs.

This article will outline how to set the system logging level and how to collect log files through the desktop client interface.

How to Configure the Logging Level

Part 1 – System Component Types

Before configuring log files, it is necessary to understand the kind of information that each system component will record to the log file.

Each component has the following log levels:

NONE – no log files are written for the client (default for Desktop Client)
ERROR – only errors and critical failures are written
WARNING – warnings, errors, critical failures, and other predefined messages determined by the software developers are recorded
INFO – same as WARNING plus informational messages as determined by the software developers. (default log level for Servers)
DEBUG – same as INFO plus autogenerated messages about the actions performed by the application. (recommended when reporting an issue)
VERBOSE – same as DEBUG but also records full track of everything that the application does. This creates a large amount of data and will slow down the application. It is not recommended to be used long-term, but it may be requested by developers in certain cases. In such cases, switch to this log level, reproduce the issue, collect the log files then switch back to a different level.

Log level and additional parameters can be configured:

For Client and Server Log Settings
1. Navigate to the System Administrator > Advanced > Logs Management > Settings menu.
2. Select the components that you want to configure, then click the Settings button. It is not possible to configure logs on offline servers.

For Only Client Log Settings
1. Navigate to the Local Settings > Advanced menu.
2. Locate the Logs Management section and click the Settings button. Client logs do not require you to be logged into a system.

Part 2 – Setting Logging Level

When setting the logging level:

By default, the Logging Level setting is set to “None”.

The following settings can be configured:

- Logging Level – explained above (Part 1). Select the Logging Level and use the drop-down menu and select the desired level. The most common logging levels used by DW Technical Support are Debug and Verbose.
- Limit Max Volume – the maximum total size of the log files. Once the size hits the limit, the oldest records will be erased.
- Split File by Size – set the size of the single log file. Once the size hits the limit, the new file will be created until the Max Volume limit is reached by all log files.
- Split File by Time – if enabled, the new file will be created once in a specified period (12 hours at the example above) until the Max Volume limit is reached by all log files.
- Reset to Default – to revert settings to the original ones.

After configuring the Logging Level settings, click the OK button to apply the changes.

Collecting Log Files

To collect log files through the desktop client interface:

Download your preferred log types.

To Collect Server and/or Client Logs

Navigate to the System Administrator > Advanced > Logs Management > Settings menu.
Select the components that you want to download logs from, then click the Download button. It is not possible to download logs from offline servers.

To Collect Only the Client Log
1. Navigate to the Local Settings > Advanced menu.
2. Locate the Logs Management section and click the Download button. Client logs do not require you to be logged into a system.

Select the folder to where the log files will download.

A completion message will be displayed in the Logs Management section once the download has been completed. You may click on “Open Files Folder” to open the file location or click “Done” to close the message.