Status → Logs shows the log files of the PBX. Use the buttons at the top right to choose a log. The page shows the last 300 lines and then follows the file live: new lines appear at the bottom as they are written, as long as the page is open.
Available logs
| Button | File | Contains |
|---|---|---|
| Asterisk | /var/log/asterisk/messages | Messages of the telephony engine: registrations, failed authentications, calls that could not be connected, errors in the configuration. The most important log for telephony problems. |
| System | /var/log/messages | The system log: network, services, firewall, e-mail delivery (msmtp), updates and the privileged actions of the web interface. |
| Web application | /var/log/phonix/web.log | Messages of the PhonixPBX web interface and API, including errors while applying the configuration. |
| Monitor | /var/log/phonix/monitor.log | The security monitor: addresses that were blocked after repeated failed logins at SIP, IAX or the Asterisk Manager. |
The header of the log shows the path of the file. The log is empty or not available. appears when the file does not exist yet or contains nothing.
Reading the logs
- Reproduce the problem while the page is open, for example let a phone register or place a test call, and watch the new lines.
- In the Asterisk log,
WARNINGandERRORlines are the interesting ones. A failed registration of a phone typically shows up as aFailed to authenticatemessage with the address of the device. - The line
There are no local system nameservers configured, resorting to system resolutionappears with every SIP reload. It is harmless: name resolution works normally.
Size and lifetime
On the appliance and in an LXC/Incus system container the logs are kept in RAM, so they do not wear out the disk. They are checked every 15 minutes and rotated once they reach 1–2 MB. They are lost when the PBX or the container restarts. To keep information about a problem, copy the relevant lines before you restart the PBX.
OCI container
In an OCI container (Docker, Podman) PhonixPBX writes no log files. Asterisk, the web application and the security monitor write to the container output instead, and Status → Logs only shows the notice Logs are in the container output. Read the logs on the container host, for example with docker logs -f <container> or podman logs -f <container>. How long they are kept is decided by the log driver of the container engine.
The same logs can also be viewed on the console: console menu, View logs. AI assistants connected over MCP can read the last lines of a log with the tool tail_log, see REST API and MCP.