Key Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Log Files

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Ashish Sukhija and Rituraj Choudhary from Commercial Technical Support]

In SBS Essentials the location of the log files is under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs. From a support perspective this can be very handy as you will always know where the log file will be located. We have compiled a list of important logs and their associated wizards below. Please note that there are a few wizards which refer to one or more logs. C:\ProgramData is hidden by default. Please use Folder Options in Windows Explorer to unhide it.

Log files on the Windows SBS 2011 Essentials Server:

	Alert viewer	ProviderRegistryService.2.log
	Server Settings	ProviderRegistryService.2.log

GETTING STARTED TASKS
Set up Server Backup	Dashboard.log
Set up Remote Web Access	Dashboard.log, SharedServiceHost-DomainManagerServiceConfig.log
Set options for sharing	Dashboard.log
Set up alert email notification	Dashboard.log
Set up Microsoft Office 365 Integration
COMMON TASKS
Add a user account	Dashboard.log
Add a shared folder	Dashboard.log

Deactivate User Account/ Activate User Account	SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.log, SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.#.log and Dashboard.log
Assign Office 365 account	SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.log, SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.2.log and Dashboard.log
Unassign Office 365 account	SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.log, SharedServiceHost-O365ProviderServiceConfig.2.log and Dashboard.log
Add a user account	Dashboard.log
Set the password policy	Dashboard.log
Remove the user account	Dashboard.log
Change the user account password	Dashboard.log

View the server properties	ProviderRegistryService.2.log
Restore files or folders for the server	SharedServiceHost-AlertServiceConfig.2.log
Customize Backup of the server	SharedServiceHost-SystemServiceConfig.2.log
View alerts for the server	ProviderRegistryService.2.log
Additional client computer backup tasks	ProviderRegistryService.2.log

Move a folder	storageservice2.log, Dashboard.log
Add a folder	storageservice2.log, Dashboard.log
View the folder properties	storageservice2.log, Dashboard.log

Change the Office 365 administrator account	OIMGettingStartedWizard.log
Link a domain to Office 365	Dashboard.log
Uninstall Office 365 Integration Module	OIMUninstallWizard.log

Other log files:

Remote Web Access browsing	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs\WebApps\RemoteAccess.log
My Home Server app on Windows 7 Phone	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs\WebApps\MobileData.log
Active Directory Domain Setup Log	DCPromo_date_time.log

Few relevant log files on the Windows SBS 2011 Essentials Client:

The log files for the Vista and later clients are located in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs. The log files on Windows XP clients are present under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Launchpad	Launchpad.log
Backup	BackupLaunchpad.log
Opening the Dashboard from the client	DashboardClient.log
Presence of Essential Server and configures the local DNS services	Launchpad.log
Windows Firewall Configuration for Remote Desktops on Clients	RemoteDesktopClientConfig.log
Backup Launchpad	BackupLaunchpad.log
Added Scheduled Tasks	RunTask-AddScheduledTasks.log
Scheduled Backup Task	RunTask-Backup.log
Customer Experience Improvement Program	Run Task-SaveCEIPData.log
Windows Small Business Server 2011 Connector	ComputerConnector.log
Client Setup	ClientCore.msi.log, ClientDeploy.log

For non-Windows client computers, the following log files are referred:
1.    System.log
2.    Library/Logs/Windows Server.log
3.    Library/Logs/CrashReporter/LaunchPad-<nnn> (all of the LaunchPad-<nnn>.crash files)
4.    Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/LaunchPad-<nnn> (all of the LaunchPad-<nnn>.crash files)

Windows Server Solutions Log Collector Tool is an efficient way to collect all of the logs and can be downloaded here.