Rotating Log Files

Most Linux distributions include the logrotate utility. Using this utility simplifies log file administration. By setting up a logrotate configuration file, you can use the utility to complete one or more of these tasks automatically: 

  • Compress and rotate log files
  • Remove log files automatically
  • Email log files to named recipients

You can configure logrotate to complete these tasks at specific intervals, or when log files reach a particular size.

If logrotate is present when Vertica is installed, then Vertica automatically sets this utility to look for configuration files. Thus, logrotate searches for configuration files in the /opt/vertica/config/logrotate directory on each node.

When you create a database, Vertica creates database-specific logrotate configurations on each node in your cluster, which are used by the logrotate utility. It then creates a file with the path /opt/vertica/config/logrotate/<dbname> for each individual database.

For information about additional settings, use the man logrotate command.

Executing the Python script Through the dbadmin logrotate cron Job

During the installation of Vertica, the installer configures a cron job for the dbadmin user. This cron job is configured to execute a Python script that runs the logrotate utility. You can view the details of this cron job by viewing the dbadmin.cron file, which is located in the /opt/vertica/config directory.

If you want to customize a cron job to configure logrotate for your Vertica database, you must create the cron job under the dbadmin user.

Using the Administration Tools Logrotate Utility

You can use the admintools logrotate option to help configure logrotate scripts for a database and distribute the scripts across the cluster. The logrotate option allows you to specify:

  • How often to rotate logs
  • How large logs can become before being rotated
  • How long to keep the logs

Example:

The following example shows you how to set up log rotation on a weekly schedule and keeps for three months (12 logs). 

$ admintools -t logrotate -d <dbname> -r weekly -k 12

See Writing Administration Tools Scripts for more usage information.

Configure logrotate for MC

The Management Console log file is: 

/opt/vconsole/log/mc/mconsole.log

To configure logrotate for MC, configure the following file:

/opt/vconsole/temp/webapp/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.xml

Edit the log4j.xml file and set these parameters as follows:

  1. Restrict the size of the log: 
    <param name="MaxFileSize" value="1MB"/>
  2. Restrict the number of file backups for the log: 
    <param name="MaxBackupIndex" value="1"/>
  3. Restart MC as the root user: 
    # etc/init.d/vertica-consoled restart

Rotating Logs Manually

To implement a custom log rotation process, follow these steps:

  1. Rename or archive the existing vertica.log file. For example:

    $ mv vertica.log vertica.log.1

  2. Send the Vertica process the USR1 signal, using either of the following approaches:

    $ killall -USR1 vertica

    or

    $ ps -ef | grep -i vertica
$ kill -USR1 process-id

See Also