Connection Log

The Connection log answers "what happened on my network". Which device reached which site, when, on which port. It is on the Wi-Fi page, next to the device list.

What a log entry holds

Each entry is one connection: the device, the site it reached, the address and port behind it, and the time. Search it by any of those, which is how you get from "the PC in the corner" or "that site" to the entries that matter.

It logs where a device went. It does not log what was said: the traffic itself is encrypted and the gateway does not open it.

Acting on an entry

Two things can be done from the log without typing anything out:

• Block the site. The address goes onto the block list. Like every other change, it is staged and goes live when you apply it.
• Block the device. Same, for the machine rather than the site. See Devices and speed for what blocking a device does and does not stop.

This is the path most cafes actually use for filtering: something turns up in the log, one press puts it on the list, apply.

How long entries are kept

Ninety days by default. You can lower that, raise it, or turn the log off altogether. Older entries are deleted from the gateway on their own, with nothing to run and nothing to clean up.

When entries go missing

The log may say that entries were dropped because the gateway's buffer was full. That happens under heavy traffic: the gateway keeps the network running and drops the bookkeeping rather than the other way around. The missing entries are gone, and a busier cafe will see this more often.

Exporting

The log can be exported when you need it outside HandyCafe, for a question from a landlord, an insurer or an authority. Export what the question needs rather than the whole log.

What the log is for, and what it costs you

It is for answering a question about your own network: why a line was saturated at nine last night, whether a station was reaching something it should not, which device is behind a complaint.

It is also a log of your customers' browsing. Keep it as long as you have a reason to and no longer, treat the gateway PC as a machine holding personal data, and check what your local rules say about how long such a log may or must be kept. Turning the log off entirely is a legitimate choice for a cafe that has no use for it.

The gateway's own log

Different thing, same word. The gateway's own page, at https://127.0.0.1:8443/ on the gateway PC, carries a technical log of what the gateway software itself is doing. That is where to look when the gateway is misbehaving rather than a device on it. See Troubleshooting.