The ErrorLog directive sets the name of the file to which the server will log any errors it encounters. If the file-path is not absolute then it is assumed to be relative to the ServerRoot .

ErrorLog "/var/log/httpd/error_log"

If the file-path begins with a pipe character " | " then it is assumed to be a command to spawn to handle the error log.

ErrorLog "|/usr/local/bin/httpd_errors"

See the notes on piped logs for more information.

Using syslog instead of a filename enables logging via syslogd(8) if the system supports it. The default is to use syslog facility local7 , but you can override this by using the syslog:facility syntax where facility can be one of the names usually documented in syslog(1). The facility is effectively global, and if it is changed in individual virtual hosts, the final facility specified affects the entire server. Same rules apply for the syslog tag, which by default uses the Apache binary name, httpd in most cases. You can also override this by using the syslog::tag syntax.

ErrorLog syslog:user
ErrorLog syslog:user:httpd.srv1
ErrorLog syslog::httpd.srv2

Additional modules can provide their own ErrorLog providers. The syntax is similar to the syslog example above.

SECURITY: See the security tips document for details on why your security could be compromised if the directory where log files are stored is writable by anyone other than the user that starts the server.

See also

• LogLevel
• Apache HTTP Server Log Files