January 2003 - syslog-ng - lists.balabit.hu

does syslog-ng conflict with syslogd? how avoid
by seberino＠spawar.navy.mil 22 Jan '03

22 Jan '03

I just installed syslog-ng. If I kill syslogd and start the syslog-ng daemon will it capture messages from apps trying to talk to syslogd transparently??? So to avoid conflicts and compatibility problems I just have to kill syslogd and swap in the new daemon??? That would be great if so.... then if I could get syslog-ng.conf done right I'm in business!! Chris -- _______________________________________ Dr. Christian Seberino SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego Code 2363 49590 Lassing Road, Room A339 San Diego, CA 92152-6147 U.S.A. Phone: (619) 553-7940 Fax: (619) 553-1269 Email: seberino(a)spawar.navy.mil _______________________________________

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Where docs for syslog-ng.conf installation and remote logging??
by seberino＠spawar.navy.mil 22 Jan '03

22 Jan '03

I looked thru README and INSTALL files and table of contents for syslog-ng big doc. I cannot find anything on installing the /etc/syslog-ng.conf. I assume one must make their own and just put the file there themselves??? Can I just use my old syslog.conf as is??? Where are docs for setting up secure (ssh) remote logging??? Chris -- _______________________________________ Dr. Christian Seberino SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego Code 2363 49590 Lassing Road, Room A339 San Diego, CA 92152-6147 U.S.A. Phone: (619) 553-7940 Fax: (619) 553-1269 Email: seberino(a)spawar.navy.mil _______________________________________

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1.5.24 hangs, Red Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-98
by Greg Hartung 22 Jan '03

22 Jan '03

I upgraded from 1.4.14 to 1.5.24 because I needed support for named pipes. Now the daemon hangs every few hours or so (with or without the use of pipes). All the output files (about 90 devices) have the same last timestamp. It happens a dozen or more times a day with no obvious pattern in the timing. Does seem to be proportional to volume (doesn't hang overnight). The output actually stops mid-message. Many of the files are 2GB or more. kill -HUP or syslog-ng restart seems to clear the problem up (continues writing to the same large files). syslog-ng conf file is about 10k with about 20 filter/log/destination combo's. Any ideas? If you want to see the config, let me know, I just didn't want to clutter the list... Thanks, Greg

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Embarrassing newbie question
by rich coco 22 Jan '03

22 Jan '03

I have installed syslog-ng on two RedHat PCs (7.0 and 8.0). I first stopped syslogd/klogd. ran "syslog-ng -s" to verify that the syntax of my cfg file was ok and then ran syslog-ng. I even ran syslog-ng in debug mode, in the foreground. it spews a bunch of output to stdout as it parses the cfg file (i believe), but then gets silent afterwards...even as I run logger(1). Nothing ever appears in any log file! same result on both systems, so i have to assume it is something silly I am not doing right. Here is my painfully simple cfg file: source src { pipe("/proc/kmsg"); unix-stream("/dev/log"); internal(); }; destination messages { file("/var/log/messages"); }; # Log anything of level debug or higher. filter f_messages { level(debug); }; log { source(src); filter(f_messages); destination(messages); }; i tried testing this by running logger(1), which I understand writes output to /dev/log. Nothing ever appears in /var/log/messages. In fact, no files in /var/log *ever* get written. Well, actually, i am leaving something out...and it is very strange but probably a key clue: when i shutdown syslog-ng and restart syslogd/klogd, I *do* get output in /var/log/messages. A bunch of lines announcing the startup of syslogd/klogd and, at *after* those entries, a single line announcing the shutdown of syslog-ng (the *only* output I *ever* get from syslog-ng): Jan 21 21:08:48 ape syslog: syslogd startup succeeded Jan 21 21:08:48 ape kernel: klogd 1.3-3, log source = /proc/kmsg started. Jan 21 21:08:48 ape kernel: Inspecting /boot/System.map-2.2.19-7.0.1 Jan 21 21:08:48 ape syslog: klogd startup succeeded Jan 21 21:08:48 ape kernel: Loaded 7296 symbols from /boot/System.map-2.2.19-7.0.1. Jan 21 21:08:48 ape kernel: Symbols match kernel version 2.2.19. Jan 21 21:08:48 ape kernel: Loaded 409 symbols from 12 modules. Jan 21 21:08:26 ape syslog-ng: syslog-ng shutdown succeeded Notice that the timestamp of the last line is 22 seconds EARLIER THAN the timestamp of the preceeding line! No doubt 22 seconds passed between the time I stopped syslog-ng and restarted syslogd/klogd. But how/why did the syslog-ng appear *after* the syslogd/klogd startup announcements? Some strange buffering of syslog-ng output? Why isn't syslog-ng monitoring /dev/log as I asked it to? Did I ask it incorrectly? Is it writing output to somewhere I cannot see? HELP! this is making me nuts!!!

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Suggestions/enhancements miscellany
by Ted_Rule＠flextech.co.uk 22 Jan '03

22 Jan '03

Whilst at least some of the following has been mentioned before, I'd like to make a another little plea for some extra features and tidyups to syslog-ng and its associated documentation. a) SIGHUP/keep-listening feature request The current version supports the keepalive stream socket feature for both TCP and Unix-Stream which means that existing connections are kept open across a SIGHUP/reconfig. This is all well and good, and provides sufficient functionality to avoid losing a Stream Source Socket message. However, for UDP sockets, I believe the socket is closed/re-opened on SIGHUP, which thereby has the potential for loss of messages across a SIGHUP. Unix syslog client boxes in general could in theory all be reconfigured to use syslog-ng and hence use TCP, and hence avoid message drops on a central syslog server, but most embedded devices such as Cisco routers, HP printers, etc etc, can only use UDP. Hence the request to provide the "enhanced Frasier" option, as in "I'm still listening" for both types of datagram socket. I would suggest calling this option "keep-listening()". I'm well aware this may be tricky to code, but given the large population of UDP only devices, I would have thought many people would like to see it implemented. I did have a brief attempt to try and follow enough of the code layout to work out how and where it might be glued into place - but this bear of little brain got somewhat too confused to take it further. b) SIGUSR1/logrotate feature. To avoid losing UDP messages, one extra trick might be to include another signal - say SIGUSR1 - which is used merely to close all open destinations. This would be used for log rotation - I'm assuming there would never be a requirement to add open() code to this as well, as any required destination should be simply opened on demand. At present, SIGHUP is used to ensure destination closure for log rotation purposes, but this has the side-effect of closing sources, and hence potentially losing UDP messages. Adding SIGUSR1 would avoid any loss of messages during the overnight rotation, although there is obviously still the potential for message loss during any other required SIGHUP/reconfiguration without the keep-listening() feature. c) --checkconf option Once a new syslog-ng.conf has been built, it may be dangerous to SIGHUP it into life; a simple spelling error or a missed semi-colon could in theory lead to death of the running daemon, I believe. In mimicry of bind9's named-checkconf utility, can we have an extra command-line option to syslog-ng which merely checks for all potential syntactical errors in syslog-ng.conf returning non-zero error code and messaging stderr with any syntax errors thus found. I suggest "--checkconf" for the command line option name. Using this, a general init script wrapper might contain: syslog-ng.conf --checkconf && kill -HUP `cat /var/run/syslog-ng.pid` to avoid sending a signal if the configuration check fails. This option is also probably dependent on making the SIGUSR1 option available, elsewise a broken configuration file may lead to loss of log rotation. d) Default options settings documentation. This page in the current copy of the documentation: http://www.balabit.hu/static/syslog-ng/reference/x564.html would benefit greatly from a rewrite showing the default setting as an extra column for each option. Some options have their defaults listed here, but most do not. e) Working examples of regex usage. There are very few of the example configurations I have seen which show specific examples of the regex matching capabilities of the filter() functions. If anyone has some samples perhaps some more examples could be added to either the FAQ or the Documentation or both, please? Ted ************************************************************************************************ This E-mail message, including any attachments, is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, any review, retransmission, disclosure, copying, modification or other use of this E-mail message or attachments is strictly forbidden. If you have received this E-mail message in error, please contact the author and delete the message and any attachments from your computer. You are also advised that the views and opinions expressed in this E-mail message and any attachments are the author's own, and may not reflect the views and opinions of FLEXTECH Television Limited. ************************************************************************************************

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File descriptor still opened after log rotation
by Xavier de Labouret 22 Jan '03

22 Jan '03

>> I have a strange behaviour with syslog-ng 1.4.16 and rotated files. It >> looks like syslog-ng keeps file descriptors opened, despite the time_reap >> parameter, in a file where very few logs are sent. This generates >> problems with log rotations. > > time_reap() is only used when a filename with macros in it is used. e.g. [Sorry for breaking the thread, i had not subscribed to the list before posting in it] Thank you for this quick answer, for i had no clue with this problem. Here are my questions: 1) Is this by design? I did not find this restriction it in the docs. In this case, it would be of great help to write explicitely in the docs that time_reap applies only to macro-generated file destinations. I can get a turnaround for this by using $FACILITY, which won't change during execution for this destination. 2) Is it planned to stay so? I am inclined to think that this feature would be helpful for any file destination, to prevent conflicts with rotations. Do you intend to extend the time_reap feature to any file destination? Regards, Xavier de Labouret

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File descriptor still opened after log rotation
by Xavier de Labouret 21 Jan '03

21 Jan '03

Hello, I have a strange behaviour with syslog-ng 1.4.16 and rotated files. It looks like syslog-ng keeps file descriptors opened, despite the time_reap parameter, in a file where very few logs are sent. This generates problems with log rotations. Here is my syslog-ng.conf (extract). --------------8<---------------- options { long_hostnames(off); sync(0); owner("root"); group("adm"); perm(0644); time_reap(30); }; source src { unix-stream("/dev/log"); internal(); udp(); }; filter f_heartbeat { facility(local7) and program(heartbeat/syslog-ng); }; destination d_heartbeat { file("/usr2/log/heartbeat.log"); }; log { source(src); filter(f_heartbeat); destination(d_heartbeat); }; -------------->8---------------- Important points are: target file is /usr2/log/heartbeat.log, time_reap is set to 30. My "heartbeat" application is logging every 5 minutes in this file, with the appname "heartbeat/syslog-ng". *This is the only line logged to this destination*. So we have 5 minutes of inactivity between 2 logs. I rotate heartbeat.log every 5 minutes too, 3 minutes after the call to the heartbeat application. I am using savelog for the rotation. My problem: syslog-ng keeps a file descriptor opened on the after the rotation. I don't understand why the time_reap parameter (set to 30) is ignored. Did i miss anything? Thank you in advance for your help, Xavier de Labouret

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Template use to log recieved time?
by Blaise St-Laurent 21 Jan '03

21 Jan '03

Has anyone had any success using the template options to log the recieved time as part of the message? I'd like to do something like: destination d_archive {file("/var/log/archive/$YEAR$MONTH$DAY/$HOST/$FACILITY" template ("$TIME_RCVD : $MSG") ) }; but goign through affile.c, i'm unsure if this is currently possible, or if it will be possible in 1.5.25 (i'm using 24) Anyone used anything similar so far? Blaise St-Laurent Senior Security Architect 613-266-4258 ____________________________________________________________________ Okiok Data http://www.okiok.com (450) 681-1681 Solutions de sécurité d'entreprise et d'affaires électroniques Enterprise and e-business security solutions This e-mail message (including attachments, if any) is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, proprietary, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender and erase this e-mail message immediately. Le présent message électronique (y compris les pièces qui y sont annexées, le cas échéant) s'adresse au destinataire indiqué et peut contenir des renseignements de caractère privé ou confidentiel. Si vous n'êtes pas le destinataire de ce document, nous vous signalons qu'il est strictement interdit de le diffuser, de le distribuer ou de le reproduire. Si ce message vous a été transmis par erreur, veuillez en informer l'expéditeur et le supprimer immédiatement.

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syslog vs syslog-ng
by Moktar KONE 20 Jan '03

20 Jan '03

hi , I have three machines A B and C which run syslog (not syslog-ng) and they send now their logs toward a remote host S. How is it possible with syslogd (running over S) to manage differents logs from A, B and C according to the log source (i.e create a file for log coming from A , an other file for log coming from B and an other file for C). the machine S, which receive logs is running syslogd , how can it manage the logs coming from the others machines according to their source. If syslog is not able to manage this , can syslog-ng do it?how? thanks

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syslog-ng and logconf
by Systems Administrator 17 Jan '03

17 Jan '03

Hi. I thought I'd write you an e-mail about a package I made called "logconf". It's basically designed to automatically generate configuration for things that interact with logs. At the moment, it only configures syslog-ng, logwatch, and logrotate. I thoguht it might interest. http://sourceforge.net/projects/logconf Thanks, Tim Nelson Systems Administrator Sunet Internet Tel: +61 3 5241 1155 Fax: +61 3 5241 6187 Web: http://www.sunet.com.au/ Email: sysadmin(a)sunet.com.au

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