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Who Did It? Admin or moderator!!

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KEEF View Drop Down
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    Posted: 18 April 2011 at 2:01pm
Hi all, this is my first post so I will keep it brief.
 
I can't give the version for now as I'm not at home so don't have my passwords!
 
Anyway, recently on a forum that I administer there has been a change in one users rank and title. This is causing all sorts of grief and what I need to know is does the forum keep a log of activity at a higher level such as mod and admin actions?
 
I suspect either someone isn't being entirely honest or there has been a breach of security.
 
Thanks in advance, KEEF
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 2:55pm
If the Group is part of the ladder system the member will move up groups depending on the number of posts they have made.

For example on this forum you start in the 'Newbie' group and once you have 40 posts you move to the 'Groupie' group.

Admin and Moderator actions are not recorded by default but can be enabled by editing the includes/setup_options_inc.asp file which will then record these actions within log files.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KEEF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 3:21pm
Thanks Bruce, sorry but I didn't make myself very clear.
 
This user was 'downgraded' 1 step, his member title was also erased. I believe this was deliberate but I currently have no way to prove it.
 
I will examine the includes/setup_options_inc.asp file when I get home. If it's not enabled can you explain how I may do this? and if it is enabled what are the log files called and where will I find them?
 
Thanks.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 123Simples Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 3:55pm
Hi Keef

If you look at the file includes/setup_options_inc.asp, on lines 70 to 84, you will see this by default:

'Logging
'Web Wiz Forums is able to create log files of actions, activity, and errors. However this WILL effect performance so be careful what you enable logging for.
'Logging requires that the folder storing log files has read, write, and modify permissions for the IUSR account in order for Web Wiz Forums to create and write to log files.
'SECURITY ALERT: MAKE SURE THAT YOU MOVE THE LOG FILE LOCATION TO A FOLDER NOT ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC.
Const blnLoggingEnabled = False        'Enable logging
Dim strLogFileLocation
strLogFileLocation = Server.MapPath("log_files")     'Default log file folder, change this to a folder outside your website root if you don't want logs files to be public

Const blnModeratorLogging = True     'Log the actions of moderators
Const blnErrorLogging = True        'Log error messages
Const blnNewRegistrationLogging = True     'Log new registrations

Const blnCreatePostLogging = False     'Log the creating of new topics and posts (Don't enable this on busy forums)
Const blnEditPostLogging = False     'Log the editing of topics and posts (Don't enable this on busy forums)
Const blnDeletePostLogging = False     'Log the deletion of topics and posts


To enable logging of actions, I would recommend setting up a folder outside the wwwroot directory, name it forum-log-files

And then edit the file setup options like so:
'Logging
'Web Wiz Forums is able to create log files of actions, activity, and errors. However this WILL effect performance so be careful what you enable logging for.
'Logging requires that the folder storing log files has read, write, and modify permissions for the IUSR account in order for Web Wiz Forums to create and write to log files.
'SECURITY ALERT: MAKE SURE THAT YOU MOVE THE LOG FILE LOCATION TO A FOLDER NOT ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC.
Const blnLoggingEnabled = True        'Enable logging
Dim strLogFileLocation
strLogFileLocation = Server.MapPath("log_files")     'Default log file folder, change this to a folder outside your website root if you don't want logs files to be public

Const blnModeratorLogging = True     'Log the actions of moderators
Const blnErrorLogging = True        'Log error messages
Const blnNewRegistrationLogging = True     'Log new registrations

Const blnCreatePostLogging = False     'Log the creating of new topics and posts (Don't enable this on busy forums)
Const blnEditPostLogging = False     'Log the editing of topics and posts (Don't enable this on busy forums)
Const blnDeletePostLogging = True    'Log the deletion of topics and posts


Where I've highlighted in bold red, change that depending on how your forum is placed in the website. ../../forum-log-files

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KEEF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 4:10pm
Thanks MrTWS, a quickie question or two. If the log_files is a true destination on the server then I would assume it is already enabled so it would be a simple process of viewing it. If it is default as you have shown above and I create a new path for it, will the log_files be created automatically or will I have to do it first before it can be written to?
 
 
Edit to add: will this also log actions of Administrators or can I add that string if needed?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 4:57pm
By default the forum folder 'log_files' would store your forums log files, but as this will be a publicaly accessible folder these files could be downloaded by any one.

This means that you should create a new folder outside of your web root only accessible via FTP, that has read, write, and modify permissions, so that the folder can be written to. Then update the part mrTWS shows in red to include the path to the new folder you have created for your forum log files.

The blnModeratorLogging will record moderator actions of both moderators and admins.
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KEEF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KEEF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 5:37pm
Ok, sorry i seem to have got into the wrong area. I am home now and have just found my forum version is 8.05
 
To add to this topic, my setup_options_inc.asp file does not have the text above or anything like it so I suppose there will not be any record of past events.
 
Can the file be modified with the later text or is that not a good idea?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote 123Simples Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2011 at 5:50pm
Hi Keef

When you login to your Website Panel, you click on File Manager, and then select the website that you are working on. As an example you would initially see something like this -



Up the top click Create Folder


And call that folder whatever you would like - it might be better to keep it something simple though like forum_log_files

Now you will have this -



Obviously wwwroot is the folder that has your website files in, and then edit the includes/setup_options_inc.asp file to your particular settings. I hope that helps
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