Log Rotate

General Information

• The package “logrotate” is installed by default on most linux distros.
• Logrotate is executed via a daily cron job: /etc/cron.daily/logrotate

Checklist

• Distro(s): Enterprise Linux 6

Forcing a log rotation can be useful after implementing a new rotation file (in /etc/logrotate.d) or to test after making changes.

• To force a logrotate using a specific config file

  • /usr/sbin/logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/myapp

• To force a logrotate of ALL log files

  • /usr/sbin/logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.conf

/etc/logrotate.conf is left alone in its default installed state.

Ensure that /etc/logrotate.d is included (it is by default):

include /etc/logrotate.d

All additional log configuration files go in: /etc/logrotate.d/

Example Log Config

## Application Logs ##
/opt/myapp/logs/logs.txt {
  #Rotate monthly
  monthly
 
  #Keep 12 old log files, delete older
  rotate 12
 
  #Copy current log to rotated, then truncate in place
  copytruncate
 
  #Give rotated log file a date extension YYYYMMDD
  dateext
 
  #Compress old log files with gzip
  compress
}