Thread: Howto: Linux monitor logfiles

Hi!

Linux logfiles are real pain in a$$. I mean there is so much information logged in. For example /var/log/message file. How do you guyes filter log messages? Do you use any automated tool?

I have tons of services running but monitoring logfiles is a pain.

I’d be thankful if someone point out tools or script for me

Download logwatch (log analyser with nice output written in Perl) from following url
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sentrytools/

It allows you to watch (monitor) logs.

Installation
Debian Linux type the following command::

Code:

apt-get install logwatch

Fedora Linux type the following command:

Code:

yum install logwatch

RedHat Enterprise Linux type the following command::

Code:

up2date logwatch

To customize logwatch go to /usr/share/doc/logwatch-*/ directory and read the file HOWTO-Customize-LogWatch

Or Open logwatch.conf file:

Code:

vi /etc/logwatch/conf/logwatch.conf

OR

Code:

vi /usr/share/logwatch/default.conf/logwatch.conf

Read man page of logwatch for more information.

What commanddo i nee to use to view system messages in real time as they are written to the system log file

use tail -f

Code:

tail -f /var/log/messages
tail -f /path/to/log/file
tail -f /var/log/httpd/access_log

how often does logwatch email

Logwatch will send mail to email ID specified in logwatch.conf daily.

# The default time range for the report...
# The current choices are All, Today, Yesterday
Range = yesterday

You can just look for specific information in running logs.

this will only print lines with error -
tail -f SystemOut.log | egrep "(WSWS3713E|WSWS3734W|WSVR0605W|javax.net.ssl.SSLH andshakeException|ThreadMonitor)"

the following will print the snippets -
tail -f /opt/WebSphere6/AppServer/profiles/Viva/logs/VivaWebClusterMemberPsc9800/SystemOut.log | sed -n '/ERROR/,/EST/p'

Regards,
vivek

Originally Posted by goku

Hi!


Linux logfiles are real pain in a$$. I mean there is so much information logged in. For example /var/log/message file. How do you guyes filter log messages? Do you use any automated tool?

I have tons of services running but monitoring logfiles is a pain.

I’d be thankful if someone point out tools or script for me