How to Monitor Logs in Real Time

Prerequisites

Before monitoring logs, make sure you have:

• SSH access to your VPS

Method 1: Using tail -f (Simple)

Connect to your VPS:

ssh hxroot@YOUR_SERVER_IP -p 22

sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Method 2: Monitor Multiple Logs with tail

Use separate windows or:

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log

Method 3: Using multitail (Multiple Files in One View)

Install multitail:

sudo apt install multitail -y

sudo multitail /var/log/syslog /var/log/nginx/access.log

Keyboard shortcuts:

• q – Quit
• a – Change active window
• e – Edit/configure

Method 4: Using less + F (Follow mode)

sudo less /var/log/syslog

Press F to follow (like tail -f). Press Ctrl+C to stop following, q to quit.

Method 5: Filter Logs While Monitoring

Monitor only error lines:

sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog | grep error

Monitor with color highlighting:

sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog | grep --color=auto error

Method 6: Monitor Logs from Remote Host via SSH

ssh user@remote_host "tail -f /var/log/syslog"

Method 7: Monitor Apache/Nginx Access Logs in Real Time

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log | while read line; do echo "$(date): $line"; done