How to Access Raw Access Logs in cPanel

How to Access Raw Access Logs in cPanel?

Raw Access Logs contain a detailed record of every HTTP request made to your website — including the visitor's IP address, browser, pages visited, status codes, and timestamps. This data is invaluable for security analysis, SEO, and debugging.

How to Download Raw Access Logs

1. Login to cPanel.
2. Under Metrics, click Raw Access.
3. You will see your domains listed. Click the domain name to download its current access log as a .gz compressed file.
4. Extract the .gz file on your computer to read the plain text log.

Understanding a Log Entry

192.168.1.1 - - [27/May/2026:10:30:00 +0000] "GET /index.php HTTP/1.1" 200 4523 "https://google.com" "Mozilla/5.0..."

• 192.168.1.1 – Visitor IP address
• [27/May/2026:10:30:00] – Date and time
• GET /index.php – Page accessed
• 200 – HTTP status code (200 = OK)
• 4523 – Bytes transferred
• https://google.com – Referring URL

Auto-Archive Old Logs

You can configure cPanel to automatically archive old logs by enabling the option on the Raw Access page: Archive logs in your home directory at the end of each stats run and Remove the previous month's archived logs from your home directory.

Tip: Use tools like AWStats or Webalizer (available in cPanel Metrics) for a visual representation of your access logs instead of reading raw text files.

If you continue to face issues, please open a create a request.