GPG encrypted server logs

Deployment: Hosted EaaSi Node
EaaSI Version: 2021.07
Browser: *Chrome Version 92.0.4515.131 *

Description: During testing of the UI and checking out my various troubleshooting and node management options, I tested the download of both the web API logs, as well as the server logs. The web API downloaded fine as a .gz file that I could open and review, but I noticed that the server log was a .gpg file.

From what I understand, this means I need to decrypt the file. I didn’t see any details related to a key in documentation, so I wanted to ask here in case this isn’t the expected behavior, or if there were other steps to review the logs that might need to be detailed.

Urgency: This request isn’t urgent, but did seem important to flag for later use cases

Hi @LaurenW! Yes, this is expected - my understanding is that the back-end logs are encrypted because their contents potentially reveal some specific server details that would not be great to post to a public forum or bug tracker. @oooleg and the OpenSLX team have the ability to decrypt them, so they are primarily for including in bug reports rather than user review.

For self-deployed/local nodes, these same logs are available (unencrypted) to anyone with command-line/sysadmin access to the EaaSI server - putting the download in the UI was meant to provide folks without direct server access a way to provide a relevant look at recent server activity without having to pester someone from IT every time something seemed off, particularly during the “beta” period the previous couple years.

I’ll bring this up internally and just check if there’s anything to review or a way to provide users meaningful error/log info without getting revealing e.g. the node’s OAI-PMH info, but this probably won’t be a high priority, particularly for the hosted service, since that is EaaSI-controlled infrastructure we’re protecting!

Makes total sense Ethan - thanks for answering with detail. I would second that this would not be a high priority for me either, but was just an item of curiosity with testing. Thanks again!

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