If a server isn't starting, the first thing to run is the server log command. It will show you the console log for that server. Note, this dumps the entire log file to the console, which may be very large. We recommend using the tail or --follow tricks below.

server log
server log serverName

Tailing and Following logs

If the log is very large, use the tail command to just see the last few lines of it.

server log | tail
server log | tail lines=100

To get a live stream of the console log from a running server, use the --follow flag and the command will continue streaming new lines to the console until you press Ctrl-C to stop.

server log --follow

You can also look at your server's access log (if enabled) and rewrite log (if enabled).

server log --follow -access
server log --follow --rewrite

Start server in console mode

You can use the --console flag to the server start command to start a server in the foreground. The console log will be live-streamed to the CLI and the log will continue streaming as long as the server is running. Press Ctrl-C to stop the server and stop streaming the log file.

server start --console

Debug Logging

You can get additional information about a server start with the --debug flag. When debug is set, the start command will not exit immediately, but wait for the server to come up and live stream the debugging information and server logs to the console while the server is coming up.

server start --debug
server start --debug --console

Maximum logging! (trace)

You may still really be having issues getting your server to start up correctly due to a setting not getting picked up, rewrites not working, or maybe a jar not loading. You can "drink from the firehose" so to speak by turning on trace level logging. This works best when starting the server via the console so you can watch the logging as it streams past.

server start --trace --console