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Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to resolve them.

Service Won't Start

Symptoms: The service shows stopped or fails to start after installation.

Port already in use

Another application may be using port 514 or 5000.

````powershell # Check what's using port 5000 netstat -ano | findstr :5000

# Check what's using port 514
netstat -ano | findstr :514
```

bash sudo ss -tulnp | grep -E ':514|:5000'

If another process is using the port, either stop that process or change the LuceDev Syslog port in settings.json.

Permission issues

The service runs as Local System by default. If you've moved the install directory or changed file permissions, the service may not have access to its data files.

The service runs as the lucedev system user. Ensure that user has read/write access to /var/lib/lucedev-syslog/ and /var/log/lucedev-syslog/:

```bash
sudo chown -R lucedev:lucedev /var/lib/lucedev-syslog /var/log/lucedev-syslog
```

Corrupted settings

If settings.json has invalid values, the service may crash on startup. Check the application logs:

C:\Program Files\LuceDev Syslog\logs\

bash sudo journalctl -u lucedev-syslog -n 50 or /var/log/lucedev-syslog/

To reset settings, delete settings.json and restart the service — a new default configuration will be created.

powershell Remove-Item "C:\Program Files\LuceDev Syslog\settings.json" net start LuceDevSyslog

bash sudo rm /var/lib/lucedev-syslog/settings.json sudo systemctl restart lucedev-syslog

Dashboard Won't Load

Symptoms: Browser shows "connection refused" or times out when accessing http://<server-ip>:5000.

=== "Windows" 1. Verify the service is running: sc query LuceDevSyslog 2. Check the configured port in settings.json — it may not be 5000 3. Try the Start Menu shortcut, which reads the correct port automatically 4. Check Windows Firewall isn't blocking the connection 5. If accessing from another machine, use the server's IP address, not localhost

=== "Linux" 1. Verify the service is running: sudo systemctl status lucedev-syslog 2. Check the configured port in /var/lib/lucedev-syslog/settings.json 3. Check UFW is allowing the port: sudo ufw status 4. If accessing from another machine, use the server's IP address, not localhost

Not Receiving Syslog Messages

Symptoms: The dashboard loads but shows no logs.

  1. Check the listener — The status indicator in the top-right of the dashboard shows the listening address and port
  2. Verify the source — Ensure your devices are configured to send to the correct IP and port
  3. Test locally:

=== "Windows" powershell $udp = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient $bytes = [Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes("<14>Test message") $udp.Send($bytes, $bytes.Length, "127.0.0.1", 514) $udp.Close() === "Linux" bash logger -n 127.0.0.1 -P 514 "Test syslog message"

  1. Check firewall — Both the host firewall and any network firewalls between source and server
  2. Check binding — If the host is set to 127.0.0.1, only local traffic is received. Set it to 0.0.0.0 to receive from all interfaces.

Slow Dashboard Performance

Symptoms: Pages take a long time to load, especially with many logs.

  1. Use an SSD — Spinning disks are the #1 cause of slow queries on large databases
  2. Reduce retention — Fewer days means a smaller, faster database
  3. Check available disk space — A nearly full disk significantly degrades SQLite performance

Service Restart Doesn't Work

Symptoms: Clicking "Restart Service" in Settings doesn't restart, or the page hangs.

The restart mechanism uses Windows Task Scheduler. Ensure:

1. The **Task Scheduler** service is running: `sc query Schedule`
2. The application is running as a Windows service (not `python main.py` directly)
3. The service account has permission to create scheduled tasks

!!! note "Development Mode"
    The restart button requires the application to be running as a Windows service. When running `main.py` directly for development, the restart button won't work.

If the service fails to restart from the dashboard, restart it manually:

```bash
sudo systemctl restart lucedev-syslog
sudo systemctl status lucedev-syslog
```

SmartScreen Warning During Installation (Windows)

Symptoms: Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" when running the installer.

This is because the installer is new and hasn't built download reputation yet. Click More info → Run anyway to proceed. The application is safe.

Application Logs

Check application logs for detailed error messages when troubleshooting any issue. They include startup messages, syslog receiver status, web server errors, and more.

C:\Program Files\LuceDev Syslog\logs\

```bash # Live log stream sudo journalctl -u lucedev-syslog -f

# Log files
/var/log/lucedev-syslog/
```

````