# Monitoring WeeWX

Whether you run `weewxd` directly or in the background, `weewxd` emits
messages about its status and generates reports.  The following sections
explain how to check the status of `weewxd`, locate and view the reports
that it generates, and locate and view the log messages that it emits.

## Status

If WeeWX was configured to run as a daemon, you can use the system's `init`
tools to check the status.

=== "systemd"

    ```{ .shell .copy }
    # For Linux systems that use systemd, e.g., Debian, Redhat, SUSE
    sudo systemctl status weewx
    ```

=== "sysV"

    ```{ .shell .copy }
    # For Linux systems that use SysV init, e.g., Slackware, Devuan, Puppy
    sudo /etc/init.d/weewx status
    ```

=== "BSD"

    ```{ .shell .copy }
    # For BSD systems, e.g., FreeBSD, OpenBSD
    sudo service weewx status
    ```

Another way to see whether WeeWX is running is to use a process monitoring tool
such as `ps`, `top`, or `htop`.  For example, the following command will tell
you whether `weewxd` is running, and if it is, you will see the additional
information including process identifier (PID), memory used, and how long it
has been running.
```{ .shell .copy }
ps aux | grep weewxd
```

## Reports

When it is running properly, WeeWX will generate reports, typically every five
minutes.  The reports are not (re)generated until data have been received and
accumulated, so it could be a few minutes before you see a report or a change
to a report.

The location of the reports depends on the operating system and how WeeWX was
installed. See `HTML_ROOT` in the [*Where to find things*](where.md) section.

If everything is working, the report directory will contain a bunch of HTML
and PNG files.  Some of these will be updated each archive interval, others
will be updated less frequently, such as each day or week.

You can view the reports directly with a web browser on the computer that is
running WeeWX.  If the computer has no GUI, consider running a web server
or pushing the reports to a computer that has a web server.  These options
are explained in the section [*Web server integration*](webserver.md).

Depending on the configuration, if WeeWX cannot get data from the sensors,
then it will probably not generate or update any reports.  So if you do not
see reports, or the reports are not changing, check the log!

## Log messages

In the default configuration, messages from WeeWX go to the system logging
facility.

The following sections show how to view WeeWX log messages on systems that use
`syslog` and `systemd-journald` logging facilities. See the wiki article
[*How to view the log*](https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/view-logs) for more
details.

See the wiki article [*How to configure
logging*](https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/logging) for information and
examples about how to configure WeeWX logging.


### The `syslog` logging facility

On traditional systems, the system logging facility puts the WeeWX messages
into a file, along with other messages from the system. The location of the
system log file varies, but it is typically `/var/log/syslog` or
`/var/log/messages`.

You can view the messages using standard tools such as `tail`, `head`, `more`,
`less`, and `grep`, although the use of `sudo` may be necessary (the system logs
on most modern systems are readable only to administrative users).

For example, to see only the messages from `weewxd`:
```{.shell .copy}
sudo grep weewxd /var/log/syslog
```
To see only the latest 40 messages from `weewxd`:
```{.shell .copy}
sudo grep weewxd /var/log/syslog | tail -40
```
To see messages as they come into the log in real time (hit `ctrl-c` to stop):
```{.shell .copy}
sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog
```

### The `systemd-journald` logging facility

Some systems with `systemd` use *only* `systemd-journald` as the system logging
facility.  On these systems, you will have to use the tool `journalctl` to view
messages from WeeWX. In what follows, depending on your system, you may or may
not need `sudo`.

For example, to see only the messages from `weewxd`:
```{.shell .copy}
sudo journalctl -u weewx
```

To see only the latest 40 messages from `weewxd`:
```{.shell .copy}
sudo journalctl -u weewx --lines 40
```

To see messages as they come into the log in real time:
```{.shell .copy}
sudo journalctl -u weewx -f
```

## Logging on macOS

Unfortunately, with the introduction of macOS Monterey (12.x), the Python
logging handler
[`SysLogHandler`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.handlers.html#sysloghandler),
which is used by WeeWX, does not work[^1]. Indeed, the only handlers in the
Python [`logging`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html) facility that
work with macOS 12.x or later are standalone handlers that log to files.

[^1]: See Python issue [#91070](https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/91070).

Fortunately, there is a simple workaround. Put this at the bottom of your
`weewx.conf` configuration file:

```{.ini .copy}
[Logging]

    [[root]]
        handlers = timed_rotate,

    [[handlers]]
        [[[timed_rotate]]]
            level = DEBUG
            formatter = verbose
            class = logging.handlers.TimedRotatingFileHandler
            filename = log/{process_name}.log
            when = midnight
            backupCount = 7
```

This makes messages from the WeeWX application `weewxd` go to the file
`~/weewx-data/log/weewxd.log` instead of the system logger. Messages from
`weectl` will go to `~/weewx-data/log/weectl.log`.

For an explanation of what all these lines mean, see the wiki article on
[WeeWX logging](https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/WeeWX-v4-and-logging).