Lock down your logfiles with logrotate
Setting the Records Straight
© Lead Image © macor, 123RF.com
The simple act of logging can create management and storage nightmares. Logrotate brings creative solutions to your logging needs.
When you are new to running servers and rightly worried about keeping downtime to a minimum, you inevitably find yourself facing a few problems – some predictable and others not so much. A particular aspect of systems that repeatedly causes consternation is logging and its concomitant storage.
To my mind, logging is one of the truly operational aspects of being a sys admin. Even with the best automation in the world, to get system logging right, you need to invest a little forethought along with very occasional housekeeping. After attempting to diagnose a few system problems, you soon come to realize that logs are absolutely essential. I'll reiterate that last statement by saying that they are not just important, they are truly key to keeping your servers functioning correctly.
Logfiles come in all different shapes and sizes and hold all kinds of information, both useful and relatively useless. Some logs are inconsequential if lost, whereas others are so critical to the operation of a server that their presence can mean the difference between a full server rebuild (sometimes adding several days of additional work to your busy week) or a five-minute health check.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.