Login or Register to Ask a Question and Join Our Community


UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Which log files to watch for size?

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Which log files to watch for size?
# 1  
Old 08-05-2008
Which log files to watch for size?
I'm rusty with unix admin, and I was just informed by a peer in another city that I need to watch my unix log files for size, but she never told me which ones to watch - and of course, now she's gone for two weeks! I am using Sco OpenServer 5.5 (I believe), can anyone tip me off on the trouble log files I need to keep an eye on? Thanks!

Mike
# 2  
Old 08-05-2008
The system logs are in /var/adm, however they generally don't grow very much unless there's a problem with the server or some services that write to the system logs.

Best to just keep an eye on filesystem space usage using the df command, and if it is rising significantly over time use the du command to determine which files are the culprits.
# 3  
Old 08-06-2008
the log files

/var/log/syslog
/var/adm/messages
# 4  
Old 08-06-2008
well. if you dont know, as a sysadmin, what is beeing done ...
i mean, you could have, lets say, bea weblogic installed, and that beast can spawn 1gb log files so fast that looks like a spam atack, and those logs would be anywhere

you should use the find command, to find files with "log" in the name, that are larger than 100 or 200mb

usually, there are some folders where logs go, but there is always that stupid internal develop that logs where he feels like, so there is no rule "watch this one"

normal syslog files dont grow enough to worry, unless your logrotating software is malfunctioning
 
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Help with Expect script for pulling log files size larger than 500Mb;

I am new at developing EXPECT scripts. I'm trying to create a script that will automatically connect to a several UNIX (sun solaris and HPUX) database server via FTP and pull the sizes of the listener/alert log files from specified server directory on the remote machines. 1. I want the script... (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: mikebantor
7 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

Watch a directory for files with a pecific pattern

I dont know if this possible. I need to watch a directory and if any file gets appeneded with a particular entry say, nologin.php, we should get output of that. (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: anil510
1 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

Check log file size every 10 minute. Alert if log not update

How to check log size every 10min. by script (can use crontab) if log size not change with alert "Log not update" Base run on SunOS 5.8 Generic_Virtual sun4u sparc SUNW,SPARC-Enterprise logFiles="log1.log log2.log" logLocation="/usr/home/test/log/" Out put. Tue Jan 31... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: ooilinlove
3 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Watch a directory for new files

In Solaris, and other distros without the "watch" command, use the following code watch for files added to a directory. #!/bin/bash while ; do watchdir=/var/tmp newfile=$watchdir/.newer touch $newfile find $watchdir -newer $newfile; touch -a -m $newfile; ... (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: os2mac
10 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to delete some of the files in the directory, if the directory size limits the specified size

To find the whole size of a particular directory i use "du -sk /dirname".. but after finding the direcory's size how do i make conditions like if the size of the dir is more than 1 GB i hav to delete some of the files inside the dir (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: shaal89
0 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

KSH Script to watch log files for 2 strings

Hi all, How can I do a ksh script to watch a log file for 2 specific alarms that have one this string : "Connection Error" and the other one: "Failure in sending". I would like to watch for these two alarms in the log and then if each of them repeats for about 30 times to go kill 2 processes. ... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: Pouchie1
1 Replies

7. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

copy only new files or files of a different size

hello i would like to copy files from 1 location to a nother, but it has only to copy files which are newer or have a different filesize. all has to be logged to a copy.log file (als skipped files should be in the log) is this possible with the cp command (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: arnoldg
1 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Merge files of differrent size with one field common in both files using awk

hi, i am facing a problem in merging two files using awk, the problem is as stated below, file1: A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|1 M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|2 AA|BB|CC|DD|EE|FF|GG|HH|II|1 .... .... .... file2 : 1|Mn|op|qr (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: shashi1982
2 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

bash script working for small size files but not for big size files.

Hi, I have one file stat. Stat file contents are as follows: for example. H50768020040913,00260100,507680,13,0000000643,0000000643,00000,0000 H50769520040808,00260100,507695,13,0000000000,0000000000,00000,0000 H50770620040611,00260100,507706,13,0000000000,0000000000,00000,0000 Now i... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: davidpreml
1 Replies

10. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

limiting the size of syslog log files

I would like to limit the size of syslog log files. Is there a setting I can enter in syslog.conf that does this for me. Ideally I would like something along the lines of a circular buffer of N bytes. P.S. I'm a new user, and this site is awesome. I wish I found it earlier. Thanks, David (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: dmirza
1 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question