[NTLUG:Discuss] RH7 not writing /var/log/messages

[Neil Aggarwal]

Carl:

> Have you confirmed /etc/syslog.conf (or whatever syslog configuration file
> is named in /etc/rc.d/init.d/syslog) is intact, and is in fact requiring
> log entries?

The file /etc/rc.d/init.d/syslog contents are:
#!/bin/sh
#
# syslog        Starts syslogd/klogd.
#
#
# chkconfig: 2345 12 88
# description: Syslog is the facility by which many daemons use to log \
# messages to various system log files.  It is a good idea to always \
# run syslog.

# Source function library.
. /etc/init.d/functions

[ -f /sbin/syslogd ] || exit 0
[ -f /sbin/klogd ] || exit 0

RETVAL=0

umask 077

start() {
        echo -n "Starting system logger: "
        # we don't want the MARK ticks
        daemon syslogd -m 0
        RETVAL=$?
        echo
        echo -n "Starting kernel logger: "
        daemon klogd
        echo
        [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/syslog
        return $RETVAL
}
stop() {
        echo -n "Shutting down kernel logger: "
        killproc klogd
        echo
        echo -n "Shutting down system logger: "
        killproc syslogd
        RETVAL=$?
        echo
        [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && rm -f /var/lock/subsys/syslog
        return $RETVAL
}
rhstatus() {
        status syslogd
        status klogd
}
restart() {
        stop
        start
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        start
        ;;
  stop)
        stop
        ;;
  status)
        rhstatus
        ;;
  restart|reload)
        restart
        ;;
  condrestart)
        [ -f /var/lock/subsys/syslog ] && restart || :
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: syslog {start|stop|status|restart|condrestart}"
        exit 1
esac

exit $?

The contents of /etc/syslog.conf are:
# Log all kernel messages to the console.
# Logging much else clutters up the screen.
#kern.*                                                 /dev/console

# Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher.
# Don't log private authentication messages!
*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none                         
/var/log/messages

# The authpriv file has restricted access.
authpriv.*                                              /var/log/secure

# Log all the mail messages in one place.
mail.*                                                  /var/log/maillog


# Log cron stuff
cron.*                                                  /var/log/cron

# Everybody gets emergency messages, plus log them on another
# machine.
*.emerg                                                 *

# Save mail and news errors of level err and higher in a
# special file.
uucp,news.crit                                          /var/log/spooler

# Save boot messages also to boot.log
local.*                                         /var/log/boot.log


> Also, is syslogd running (ps ax | grep syslogd)?

ps ax | grep syslogd give me:
# ps ax | grep syslogd
  389 ?        S      0:00 syslogd -m 0
  925 pts/0    S      0:00 grep syslogd

So, it seems to be running, but I dont know about the configuration.

Thanks,
	Neil.

--
Neil Aggarwal
JAMM Consulting, Inc. -- (972) 612-6056, http://www.JAMMConsulting.com
Custom Internet Development -- Java, JSP, servlets, databases