Creating Multiple syslog.log Versions

[Yosef Rosenblatt]

I need to retain more than one previous version of syslog.log. I don???t know the mechanism by which syslog.log is copied/renamed/moved to OLDsyslog.log but it would not matter to me if OLDsyslog is copied/renamed/moved to a new file or the original syslog.log is copied/renamed/moved to a new file. Is there a way this can be done.

Thanks,
Yosef Rosenblatt

[harry d brown jr]

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x2962c1c4ceddd61190050090279cd0f9,00.html

live free or die
harry

[harry d brown jr]

Here's a sample script I found:

#!/bin/sh
#
# Roll over the syslogd log files
#

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin

SYSLOGCONF=/etc/syslog.conf
PIDFILE=/var/run/syslogd.pid
OLDDIR=/var/log/.oldlogs
LIM_SIZE=300

main()
{
echo "Rotating syslog log files:"

LOGFILES=`sed -n '
/^#/d
/^$/d
s/[^ ]*[ ]*\(\/.*\)/\1/p' < $SYSLOGCONF | sort | uniq | egrep -v '^(/dev/|@)'`

for FILE in ${LOGFILES}
{
if [ -f $FILE ]; then
eachfile $FILE
fi
}

echo sending SIGHUP to syslogd
kill -1 `cat $PIDFILE`
}

eachfile()
{
size=`sum $1 | awk '{print $2}'`
if [ $size -ge $LIM_SIZE ]; then
echo "Rotating $1 file."
roll5 $1
fi
}

roll()
{
if [ -f "$1" ]; then
mv "$1" "$2"
fi
}

roll5()
{
TAIL=`echo $1 | sed 's/.*\///'`
OLDLOG="${OLDDIR}/${TAIL}"

roll "$OLDLOG".4 "$OLDLOG".5
roll "$OLDLOG".3 "$OLDLOG".4
roll "$OLDLOG".2 "$OLDLOG".3
roll "$OLDLOG".1 "$OLDLOG".2
roll "$1" "$OLDLOG".1
cp /dev/null $1
chmod 644 $1
}

main ${1+"$@"}
exit 0


live free or die
harry

[Pete Randall]

Yosef,

Also, check this recent thread:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x0cd47680e012d71190050090279cd0f9,00.html

Pete

[Christopher McCray_1]

Hello,

First thing is to make a backup copy of the /sbin/init.d/syslogd file to syslogd.bak.

edit the syslogd file and change where the syslog.log file is moved to OLDsyslog.log to change it to syslog.log with the date appended to it:

if [ -x /usr/sbin/syslogd -a -f /etc/syslog.conf ]; then
if [ -f /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log ]; then
mv /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log.$(date
+%Y%m%d).$(date +%H%M%S)

Hope this helps

Chris

[Yosef Rosenblatt]

Thanks to all that answered. I did not make a very important point clear. I run a diagnostic program that among other things panics my system peoridically. This may happen at any time of the day and may occur a few times an hour. What I need is a mechanism by which either syslog is copied to a file other than OLDsyslog and the name incremented or that OLDsyslog is copied to a new file before every shutdown.

Again thanks,
Yosef

[Yosef Rosenblatt]

Sorry I forgot to add to the last statement:

For this reason I need something that is not a manual process but is built into the way the o/s handles its shutdown procedures.

Thanks,
yosef

[Christopher McCray_1 · Accepted solution]

Then I don't understand, Yosef, because what I had proposed you do is use the existing statup script.

Every time your system panics and subsequently comes up and starts up syslogd, instead of renaming syslog.log to OLDsyslog.log, it renames it with a unique date/timestamed syslog.log

Hope this clears up my previous post.

Chris

[harry d brown jr]

You could send your syslog entries to a syslog server, or put a call to that script I gave you in a new shutdown script.

live free or die
harry

[Yosef Rosenblatt]

Chris,
I wrote my second question before i read your answer. I just tested it and it works perfectly. Thanks a lot.

Yosef