> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.noxity.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Raw Access

> Download the full Apache access log per domain, configure archiving, and control how long old logs are kept.

Raw Access lets you download the full Apache access log for any of your domains as a gzipped file. It's the same log [Visitors](/web-hosting/cpanel/metrics-analytics/visitors) reads from, but without the 1,000-row cap and without the cPanel UI in the way.

<Frame caption="cPanel home → Metrics → Raw Access">
  <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/noxity/images/cpanel/metrics-analytics/raw-access/page-light.png" alt="Raw Access tool with archive options and per-domain download links" className="block dark:hidden" />

  <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/noxity/images/cpanel/metrics-analytics/raw-access/page-dark.png" alt="Raw Access tool with archive options and per-domain download links" className="hidden dark:block" />
</Frame>

## What's on the page

Two sections:

1. **Configuration** at the top. Two checkboxes that change what cPanel does with old logs.
2. **Download list** at the bottom. One row per domain, with download links for the current and any archived logs.

### The two configuration toggles

| Toggle                                                                                          | What it does                                                                                            | Recommended                       |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| **Archive logs in your home directory at the end of each month**                                | Keeps a permanent monthly archive at `~/logs/` so old data doesn't disappear when the live log rotates. | On, unless you're tight on disk.  |
| **Remove the previous month's archived logs from your home directory at the end of each month** | Deletes the archive after it's served. Keeps disk use flat.                                             | Off, unless you're tight on disk. |

The combination of "archive on, remove off" gives you a full historical record. "Archive off" means once the live log rotates (daily on most plans), older entries are gone.

## What's in the file

A standard Apache combined-format log:

```text theme={}
192.0.2.42 - - [27/Apr/2026:14:30:11 +0000] "GET /blog/post-slug HTTP/1.1" 200 18243 "https://google.com/search" "Mozilla/5.0 ..."
```

Fields, left to right: client IP, identd (always `-`), authenticated user (`-` if anonymous), timestamp, request line, status code, response size in bytes, referrer, user agent.

Compatible with every log analyzer that takes Apache combined: GoAccess, Apache Log Viewer, AWStats (when imported), `awk` one-liners.

## What to do with the download

The file is gzipped to keep the download small. On macOS or Linux:

```bash theme={}
gunzip yourdomain.com.gz
tail -100 yourdomain.com
```

Common one-liners:

```bash theme={}
# Top 20 IPs by hit count
awk '{print $1}' yourdomain.com | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20

# All 5xx responses
awk '$9 ~ /^5/' yourdomain.com

# Count of unique URLs hit today
awk '{print $7}' yourdomain.com | sort -u | wc -l
```

For a visual analyzer without leaving the browser, run [GoAccess](https://goaccess.io) over the file:

```bash theme={}
goaccess yourdomain.com -o report.html --log-format=COMBINED
```

<Tip>
  Logs rotate daily. The "current" log shown on this page is today's entries; yesterday's are already in the archive (if archiving is on) or already overwritten (if not).
</Tip>

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The download is empty or 0 bytes">
    Either no requests have hit the domain since the last rotation, or the log archive setting is off and the previous archive was already swept. Toggle archiving on, wait a day, and try again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I want logs older than the archive can hold">
    Open a support ticket. We retain server-level logs for a longer window than the per-account archive. We can pull a specific date range for you.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My home directory is filling up because of `~/logs/`">
    Tick **Remove the previous month's archived logs**, or move the directory to off-server storage on your own (e.g., a monthly cron that uploads `~/logs/*.gz` to S3 and deletes the local copy).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Need a hand?

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Open a ticket" icon="life-ring" href="https://members.noxity.io/submitticket.php">
    Best for anything that needs an account check or a config change on our end.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Live chat" icon="messages" href="https://noxity.io/contact">
    Faster for quick questions during business hours.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>