Log Span Tool (LogSpan.exe)

Use the Log Span tool to display SMS log file activity within a specified time range. This tool will compile log file entries for multiple log files and place the data into one text file. However, this tool will not report Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) log activity.

Log Span Runs On

Processors: i386, Alpha
Operating systems: Windows NT 4.0

Files Required for Log Span

LogSpan.exe

Log Span Syntax

logspan “timestamp1” “timestamp2” log_file

timestamp1

The beginning timestamp. For example, “Tue Nov 24 13:44:36.390 1998”.

timestamp2

The ending timestamp.

log_file

The log file or directory of log files to search. You can use variables in your search. If you do not specify a directory, Log Span searches the current directory.

Using Log Span

The Log Span tool will retrieve data from a single log file, multiple log files (that you specify by using wildcards) or all log files in the specified directory. The following command will retrieve data from all log files in the SMS\Logs directory:

logspan “Tue Nov 24 12:34:56.789 1998” “Tue Nov 24 12:50:01.234 1998” D:\SMS\Logs

The following command will retrieve data from a single log file, Colleval.log:

Logspan “Tue Nov 24 12:34:56.789 1998” “Tue Nov 24 12:50:01.234 1998” D:\SMS\Logs\Colleval.log

The resulting text file is named LogSpan?, where ? represents a number that increments automatically according to the number of LogSpan output files currently in the directory. This file contains the total results of all the log files searched. Note that some SMS log files might be large, so the Log Span tool will require more time to process these files.