3
1
I have lost a file containing my hours worked for a particular client over the last month.
However, I am always connected to their wireless network whilst I am working for them.
Is there anyway that I can view a record of connection start times, durations or disconnection times for a given wireless network in OS X?
That way I can bill them accurately rather than just making up a figure!
Thanks
Pete
user56876
Posted 2010-11-25T15:18:23.647
Reputation: 33
3
Check out the various logs in /Applications/Utilities/Console.app.
system.log and /private/var/log/kernel.log look best (the latter was mentioned here for a similar issue). Just search them for "en1" or whatever your network's interface is (en0 is usually wired, en1 wireless).
These don't say, however, what the network's name was. But if you know the times roughly (check your email archive and version control software, for example), it might help a great deal.
Daniel Beck
Posted 2010-11-25T15:18:23.647
Reputation: 98 421
If anyone else can offer any other insights (maybe a log of all connections made to a particular ip address or possibly a way of checking the router for a connection history with my laptop) I would be very grateful – user56876 – 2010-11-25T15:50:53.307
@user56876 You might want to tell us the router model. And it only works if you have access to it at your client's. – Daniel Beck – 2010-11-25T15:55:46.057
Daniel, I am looking through system.log, but can only see records from today and yesterday. Presumably there is an archive older logs that I can access in the same way. Could you tell me how I can access those? Thanks again. p.s. I can get access to the router, the model is 'D-Link Wireless 108G MIMO ADSL 2/2+ Router'. I'm not an IT professional but know enough to log onto the router's setup screen – user56876 – 2010-11-25T16:04:01.127
@user Try the /private/var/log/system.log.X.bz2 files, they go back further. My kernel log goes back to when I installed the system in June, you might be more successful there. – Daniel Beck – 2010-11-25T16:09:57.537
@user This is the router's manual. Page 54 describes where the logs are located. Good luck.
– Daniel Beck – 2010-11-25T16:13:16.6300
While looking around /var/log on MacOS 10.11, I found this log file wifi.log. The following search will give you good perspective on the WiFi status change:
$ grep processAirPortStateChanges /var/log/wifi.log \
| grep connect \
| grep -v -e "old state=disconnected, new state=disconnected" \
-e "old state=connecting, new state=connecting" \
-e "old state=disconnected, new state=auto-join" \
-e "old state=auto-join, new state=connecting" \
| cut -d' ' -f1-5,12-
Sample output (yes, my new Comcast router is being flakey thus I came across this question looking for log file myself):
Sun Apr 3 00:46:08.540 old state=connecting, new state=4 bars
Sun Apr 3 01:46:50.509 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 01:46:52.839 old state=4 bars, new state=connecting
Sun Apr 3 01:46:53.944 old state=connecting, new state=4 bars
Sun Apr 3 02:47:36.283 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 02:47:37.900 old state=4 bars, new state=connecting
Sun Apr 3 02:47:38.385 old state=connecting, new state=4 bars
Sun Apr 3 03:49:38.732 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 04:50:24.289 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 04:50:26.313 old state=4 bars, new state=connecting
Sun Apr 3 04:50:27.026 old state=connecting, new state=4 bars
Sun Apr 3 05:51:10.288 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 06:35:17.291 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 06:35:19.983 old state=connecting, new state=4 bars
Sun Apr 3 08:18:36.758 old state=4 bars, new state=disconnected
Sun Apr 3 08:18:41.836 old state=4 bars, new state=connecting
Sun Apr 3 08:18:42.187 old state=connecting, new state=4 bars
hshib
Posted 2010-11-25T15:18:23.647
Reputation: 103
Console.app is the quick and dirty solution but for longer term issues, I found this tool useful on OS X http://superuser.com/a/980399/137921 ... It's $10 though...
– Justin – 2015-09-30T21:01:32.427