# What is the difference between the stats, access and error logs?

**URL:** <https://community.wowza.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-the-stats-access-and-error-logs/35473>\
**Category:** Wowza Streaming Engine\
**Tags:** server-administration\
**Created:** [November 3, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-the-stats-access-and-error-logs/35473 "2010-11-03T12:11:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cammil\_Taank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@Cammil\_Taank](https://community.wowza.com/u/Cammil_Taank)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-the-stats-access-and-error-logs/35473/1 "2010-11-03T12:11:43Z")

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Hi guys,

I’m really a novice at java and linux so apologies if this is not really a wowza related issue.

I have been playing around with log4j.properties and I think I have a rough idea of what is going on. Throughout my code I have used the following:

```auto
getLogger().info("some useful info");

```

I don’t understand why sometimes the message appears in the different log files (stats, access and error).

Also, am I right in thinking that I need to restart the server in order for changes to log4j.properties to take effect?

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Lanham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Richard\_Lanham](https://community.wowza.com/u/Richard_Lanham)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-the-stats-access-and-error-logs/35473/2 "2010-11-03T12:41:42Z")

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The difference between the Access and Stats appender is the Fields list.

The Error appender also has a Threshold=WARN, and different Fields list.

You can modify the Fields list of any appender.

Yes, Wowza has to be restarted for changes in /conf/log4j.properties to take effect.

Richard