Deleting Forums / Logs

[Bill Edwards]

Dear All

I hope you all had a good Christmas.

We have a number of forums which we use for a short period of time before they are deleted. I wasn't sure who was deleting them so I checked the Admin logs. NOTHING appears in the Admin logs, yet clearly they are being deleted as they are no longer there.

I'm missing something (probably obvious), but I can't work it out. Any suggestions?

Many thanks

Bill 

[Faqole]

1 hour ago, Bill Edwards said:

Dear All

I hope you all had a good Christmas.

We have a number of forums which we use for a short period of time before they are deleted. I wasn't sure who was deleting them so I checked the Admin logs. NOTHING appears in the Admin logs, yet clearly they are being deleted as they are no longer there.

I'm missing something (probably obvious), but I can't work it out. Any suggestions?

Many thanks

Bill 

That is strange. It should be logged. See the attached screenshot.

 

[Nathan Explosion]

Any chance that you have your log pruning set a little too tight? Example: 1 day

[Bill Edwards]

I set up a test forum and deleted it and confirmed that the deletes are logged. Logs are set to prune at 90 days and we delete a forum weekly.

I'm baffled!

[Faqole]

25 minutes ago, Bill Edwards said:

I set up a test forum and deleted it and confirmed that the deletes are logged. Logs are set to prune at 90 days and we delete a forum weekly.

I'm baffled!

Do you have co-admins who have access to the database?

[Bill Edwards]

1 hour ago, Faqole said:

Do you have co-admins who have access to the database?

Yes, and I assume it's one of them who has been deleting the forums. I'll ask, but surely I should be able to find out from the logs?

[Faqole]

16 minutes ago, Bill Edwards said:

Yes, and I assume it's one of them who has been deleting the forums. I'll ask, but surely I should be able to find out from the logs?

If they have access to the database they can delete a particular action from the logs...

[Bill Edwards]

30 minutes ago, Faqole said:

If they have access to the database they can delete a particular action from the logs...

I've asked the Admin I think would have done it. I looked at the logs, but couldn't see a way to delete an entry. How is that done? And can I as site owner prevent Admin's from deleting log entries?

Thanks for your help!

[Bill Edwards]

25 minutes ago, Bill Edwards said:

I've asked the Admin I think would have done it. I looked at the logs, but couldn't see a way to delete an entry. How is that done? And can I as site owner prevent Admin's from deleting log entries?

Thanks for your help!

Sorry, I've just re-read your post - No one has access to the database. I'm assuming it can't be done through the ACP, so that really is a mystery!

[Faqole]

22 minutes ago, Bill Edwards said:

Sorry, I've just re-read your post - No one has access to the database. I'm assuming it can't be done through the ACP, so that really is a mystery!

It can be done from the acp too. At the SQL Toolbox area to be precise, assuming that they have permission to access it. 

 

[Bill Edwards]

I've spoken to the Admin I thought it was and he IS deleting the forums. Nothing appears in the logs though. I doubt he would be able to delete his log entries through the SQL toolbox. Just in case, how do I prevent him from accessing it?

Can you think of any other way that he could be deleting forums and avoiding logging?

[Faqole]

1 hour ago, Bill Edwards said:

I've spoken to the Admin I thought it was and he IS deleting the forums. Nothing appears in the logs though. I doubt he would be able to delete his log entries through the SQL toolbox. Just in case, how do I prevent him from accessing it?

 Can you think of any other way that he could be deleting forums and avoiding logging?

I think you can do that through permissions. 

I can not think of any other way as to how he has avoided logging. Did he have a valid reason to delete the forum btw?

[Bill Edwards]

Yes, they are short term, date related topics so it was legitimate, I just couldn't see how he was doing it without it being logged.

Thanks for all your help.

[Goza]

 

Members > Staff > Administrators > Group Administrators name 

then it will be 

System > Staff > Administrators 

You can check these settings if they are enabled

• Can adjust prune settings for administrator logs
• Can adjust prune settings for Admin CP login logs

You can also can check the Prune Settings (top right button)

Members > Staff > Administrators > Administrators Logs > Prune Settings (top right) 

If you have nothing in your Administrators Logs, then Prune Setting must be running. 

[Bill Edwards]

The logs aren't being pruned, the logs are visible - it's the one action by one Admin that is missing.

[Adriano Faria]

A simple way for you to make surr someone is deleting logs is simply check the IDs in a query:

select * from core_admin_logs order by id desc

If the sequence is broken (ID missing) then someone is deleting them via SQL Toolbox, since you said no one else has access to the MySQL database directly. In this case, go to ACP -> Members -> Administrators -> edit the group or users and remove the SQL Toolbox permission from them:

[newbie LAC]

Gremlins!

---

You will have an entry log if you deleted empty (without content) forum

When you try delete full (with content) forum you get a form

This action is not logged

You can submit a ticket

[Adriano Faria]

1 minute ago, newbie LAC said:

This action is not logged

It should. It’s explained then. 👏