what are messages and diaglog used for on HP-UX

[Christian Mikhael]

Hello,

I need to turn off clean_adm in the config file /etc/rc.config.d/clean to keep the curent version of sulog in place when I reboot. The problem is that /sbin/init.d/clean_adm also rotates diaglog and messages to OLDlogname.

I can't find any occurences on my systems of /var/adm/messages or /var/adm/diaglog.

I want to know what they do before I can disable clean_adm.

[Geoff Wild]

Why not just modify
/sbin/init.d/clean_adm

the line:

for LOG in sulog diaglog messages

to

for LOG in diaglog messages


The other two depend on how you configure syslog.conf

If you don't have them, then you don't need to worry - just go ahead and disable /etc/rc.config.d/clean

Rgds...Geoff

[Steven E. Protter]

On my HP-9000 server running HP-UX 11.11(11i) those files are not used at all.

My guess now is that your /etc/syslog.conf file has been custom configured to put certain logging information in those files.

That means you need to look at the syslog.conf file or whatever conf file is pointing data at those files. Then you may be able to deduce the purpose.

I do not believe that those files are standard, at least not on the Base HP-UX OS.

SEP

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi,
diaglogd is the support tool manager logging daemon cf man (1M) diaglogd.
It logs messages in /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log
They look like
DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM WARNING:
The diagnostic logging facility is no longer receiving excessive
errors from the I/O subsystem. 39 I/O error entries were lost.
DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM WARNING:
The diagnostic logging facility has started receiving excessive
errors from the I/O subsystem. I/O error entries will be lost
until the cause of the excessive I/O logging is corrected.
If the diaglogd daemon is not active, use the Daemon Startup command
in stm to start it.
If the diaglogd daemon is active, use the logtool utility in stm
to determine which I/O subsystem is logging excessive errors.
DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM WARNING:
The diagnostic logging facility is no longer receiving excessive
errors from the I/O subsystem. 24 I/O error entries were lost.



All the best
Victor

[Sridhar Bhaskarla · Accepted solution]

Hi Christian,

/var/adm/messages is generally the place holder for the output of 'dmesg' command. Generally sysadmins enable a cronjob to periodically redirect the output of 'dmesg' into this file so that won't lose any messages.

I believe 'diaglog' was used in old days of HP-UX where the OnlineDiagnostics were were not there. It's outdated and not used anymore. All the diagnostic logs go into /var/stm directory now.

It's not a good idea to modify /sbin/init.d script as they may get replaced during patch installs. So, turn off the switch in /etc/rc.config.d/clean file.

-Sri

[Christian Mikhael]

Thank you all for your quick replies. I want to clarify that I don't have those files (messages or diaglog) on any of my systems. I hust wanted to verify what they do before disabling their rotation. Also I cannot change the script /sbin/init.d/clean_adm. HP put the following at the beginning of the script:

# NOTE: This script is not configurable! Any changes made to this
# scipt will be overwritten when you upgrade to the next
# release of HP-UX.
#
# WARNING: Changing this script in any way may lead to a system that
# is unbootable. Do not modify this script.
#

#
# Move old log files out of the way.

I know that on other unix systems (old ones)they used to use messages instead of syslog. And your suspuscions on diaglog are the same as mine (its the old way they use to log diaglogd).

I just would have like to know for sure what they were used for.

Thank you all I will disable it know. I will also assign points :-).

[Christian Mikhael]

Thank you all again.