Real-time Log Monitoring using Flask and Socket.IO

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Results
• License

Introduction

This project implements a real-time log file monitoring system using Flask and Flask-SocketIO.

It allows users to visualize live updates from a server-side log file directly in a web browser.

The application behaves like the Unix tail -f command — watching a log file for new lines and sending them to the client immediately — but implemented completely in Python and streamed to a web interface.

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Features

• Real-Time Log Monitoring: Continuously monitors a log file and streams new lines to clients in real-time.
• Socket.IO Integration: Uses WebSockets (through Socket.IO) for efficient two-way communication between the server and connected clients.
• Tail -f Functionality in Python: Replicates the behavior of tail -f natively in Python.
• Web Interface: Lightweight and responsive frontend to view logs without command-line access.
• Initial Log Fetching: On connection, the last N lines (configurable) of the log file are sent to the client.
• Error Handling: Gracefully handles cases where the log file does not exist or cannot be read.

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Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Logeswaran7/Unix-tail--f-python-implementation.git
   cd Unix Tail --f Python Implementation

2. Install required dependencies:

   pip install flask flask-socketio

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Usage

1. Ensure you have a log.txt file in the same directory (or adjust the path in the code).

2. Start the server:

   python log_monitor.py

3. Open your web browser and navigate to:

   'http://localhost:5000'
   
   

4. Append or write new lines into log.txt — they will instantly appear on the web client!

5. Example to manually append a new log entry:

   for i in {1..100}; do echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') Simulated log file entry #$i" >> log.txt; sleep 1; done

   After running the above command, you will immediately see "New log entry at (current date and time)" appear in the web page without needing to refresh.

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Results

Example:
When new log entries are written to log.txt, they instantly appear in the browser. You can watch a video demonstration of this functionality below:

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Feel free to use, modify, and share it!