How to keep/store logs for years in Plesk for Windows?

Question

My country's legislation require storing all server logs for an extended period of time. How to store/keep website logs for years in Plesk for Windows?

Answer

Plesk recommends that you do not disable log rotation and do not store log files for a long time because it may cause excessive disk space usage and decrease server performance.

Keep in mind that removing a website in Plesk also removes all its logs. To avoid this, store required log files in a remote/external storage or in a database. You can use third-party log management software or follow the instructions below.

Exposing the IP addresses in logs and storing any personal/business data contradicts the GDPR requirements. By using these instructions, you accept the possibility of violating one or more GDPR clauses.

Note: the instructions only cover server logs rotated by Plesk, namely: 

• Client website HTTP/ModSecurity/PHP logs
• FTP logs
• Mail logs
• Plesk-related logs

Server logs that are not rotated by Plesk are not covered. A separate solution should be implemented on your side to store these logs.

To store logs for an extended period of time, do the following:

1. To preserve sensitive data, disable IP addresses anonymization in Plesk. Go to Tools&Settings > Server Settings (under "General Settings"). Clear the "Disable IP logging in IIS, FTP, and mail logs" checkbox, and then click OK:

2. Open Registry Editor in Windows by typing regedit in the search box on the taskbar, then select Registry Editor (Desktop app) from the results.

3. Configure the following keys:

• Client website HTTP/ModSecurity/PHP logs storage configuration example:
  REG ADD "HKLMSOFTWAREPLESKPSA ConfigConfig" /v SaveHTTPLogsDirectory
/t REG_SZ /d "path to directory" /reg:32 /f
• FTP logs storage configuration example: 
  REG ADD "HKLMSOFTWAREPLESKPSA ConfigConfig" /v SaveFTPLogsDirectory /t
REG_SZ /d "path to directory" /reg:32 /f
• Mail logs storage configuration example:
  REG ADD "HKLMSOFTWAREPLESKPSA ConfigConfig" /v SaveMailLogsDirectory
/t REG_SZ /d "path to directory" /reg:32 /f
• Plesk logs storage configuration example (available starting from Plesk for Windows 18.0.46 version):
  REG ADD "HKLMSOFTWAREPLESKPSA ConfigConfig" /v SavePleskLogsDirectory
/t REG_SZ /d "path to directory" /reg:32 /f

where "path to directory" is the remote/mounted storage path.

After that, logs will be copied to the specified log storage at the time of log rotation. To configure log rotation in Plesk, follow these instructions.