[syslog-ng] (U) [Non-DoD Source] Re: Rotate syslog-ng log files

Thu Jun 7 12:18:30 UTC 2018

Hello,

Syslog-ng doesn't do any form of rotation - you're using macros in the 
destination filenames instead. Contents of macros like $YEAR get parsed 
from the timestamp of the incoming messages so as long as messages 
contain older timestamps syslog-ng will (re)open files reflecting these 
older timestamps and append logs there. There is no need to restart 
syslog-ng as not the restart changes where logs will get written but the 
metadata associated with the logs.

IIRC the antique 1.6.8 version you're using also has support for other 
datetime macros (prefixed with C_ or R_) which reflect the 'C'urrent or 
'R'eception timestamp so you can alter the current behaviour - although 
I wouldn't recommend switching for example to $C_YEAR-$C_MONTH-$C_DAY as 
it could be confusing to see the last few logs of a given day written to 
another file than people would expect.

Does this make sense or did I misunderstood your observation?

Regards,
Sandor

On 06/07/2018 01:06 PM, Amin, Jitesh CTR DISA JSP (US) wrote:
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> Hello,
>
> So the file rotates now successfully – but what I have noticed is that 
> after the file rotates it collects data for first few minute or so and 
> then it stops collecting data (basically the file size never grows and 
> timestamp never changes to the most latest when I check the file).
>
> I do see that syslog process/service is running. If I restart the 
> service/process, it starts collecting data until the file rotation 
> happens.
>
> Can you please let me know what would be causing this behavior?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jitesh Amin
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> *From:*Amin, Jitesh CTR DISA JSP (US)
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 5, 2018 9:59 AM
> *To:* Syslog-ng users' and developers' mailing list 
> <syslog-ng at lists.balabit.hu>
> *Subject:* RE: (U) [syslog-ng] [Non-DoD Source] Re: Rotate syslog-ng 
> log files
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> OK skipping the {} made it work and I now see a syslog file with 
> timestamp (year-month-day). Does this mean it should rotate to new log 
> file name (tomorrows timestamp) at midnight tonight? OR I need to add 
> syntax so it rolls everyday with new timestamp. Just wanted to confirm.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jitesh Amin
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> *From:*syslog-ng <syslog-ng-bounces at lists.balabit.hu> *On Behalf Of 
> *Scheidler, Balázs
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 31, 2018 5:48 AM
> *To:* Syslog-ng users' and developers' mailing list 
> <syslog-ng at lists.balabit.hu>
> *Subject:* Re: [syslog-ng] (U) [Non-DoD Source] Re: Rotate syslog-ng 
> log files
>
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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I mean syslog-ng 1.6.8
>
> On May 30, 2018 22:54, "Balazs Scheidler" 
> <bazsi77 at gmail.com < Caution-mailto:bazsi77 at gmail.com > > wrote:
>
>     syslog-ng does have template support, it just doesnt support
>     braces, which came later.
>
>     Just write $YEAR instead of ${YEAR}
>
>     On May 30, 2018 09:41, "Gergely Nagy"
>     <algernon at balabit.com < Caution-mailto:algernon at balabit.com > > wrote:
>
>         >>>>> "Amin" == Amin, Jitesh CTR DISA JSP (US)
>         <jitesh.amin.ctr at mail.mil < Caution-mailto:jitesh.amin.ctr at mail.mil > >
>         writes:
>
>             Amin> Let me ask this, with the following config = destination
>             Amin> syslog {
>         file("/var/log/syslog-${YEAR}-${MONTH}-${DAY}.log");
>             Amin> };
>
>             Amin> It created new file and started writing to it
>         (versus creating
>             Amin> new syslog.log). Question, if we plan to accept this
>         for now,
>             Amin> with above config, would it create a new file ever
>         day with
>             Amin> following file names or no it would not work with v1.6.8
>
>         With syslog-ng 1.6.8, it would not create a new file every
>         day, and
>         would continue writing to syslog-{YEAR}-{MONTH}-{DAY}.log.
>         With newer
>         versions, it would create files like `syslog-2018-05-30.log`.
>         No `.0`,
>         `.1` or the like would be appended. That's a convention of
>         logrotate.
>         With syslog-ng, you get filenames that match the template,
>         they will
>         have nothing appended or prepended that is not in the filename
>         template.
>
>         -- 
>         |8]
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