How To Use the Event Log

Entering and Navigating in the Event Log Display

The line numbers appearing in the status line continue consecutively. However, as indicated earlier, the log never contains more than 1,000 consecutive lines. For example, if the status line reads

Log events on screen 3378–3397,in memory 2845–3844. Press ’?’ for help.”

N o t e

then there are 1,000 lines in the log (it is full) and line 3378 (the 534th line in the current log contents) is at the top of the display.

The router maintains the event log in a reserved area of memory that is not affected by software reboots. This means that any reboot under software control (the Boot command, TFTP updates, and ‘‘fatal exceptions’’) preserves previous log entries. New entries are simply appended to the existing list and old entries over the 1,000-line limit are dropped.

However, the event log will be erased if either of the following occurs:

The router is cleared or reset using the Clear and/or Reset buttons.

A fatal exception occurs while the Automatic Reboot parameter is set to No.

Power to the router is interrupted.

If a fatal exception occurs, the event log will be maintained only if the Automatic Reboot parameter in the Global Parameters screen is set to Yes (the default). (If this parameter is set to ‘‘No’’, then it is necessary to reboot the router by using the Reset button, which clears the event log. To locate Automatic Reboot in the parameter hierarchy, refer to the ‘‘Parameter Locator’’ in the appendix to the Operator’s Reference. To learn more about Automatic Reboot, refer also to the Operator’s Reference.

N o t e

When the router goes down under software control, it enters this event and the reason for it in the event log. It repeats this entry when the router reboots, giving you information about the event in cases where the existing log is lost after the router goes down. This happens in instances where the router was cleared or reset as described above after going down under software control.

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