System Administration Commands syslogd(1M)
NAME
syslogd - log system messages
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/syslogd [-d] [-f configfile] [-m markinterval]
[-p path] [-t | -T]
DESCRIPTION
syslogd reads and forwards system messages to the appropri-
ate log files or users, depending upon the priority of a message and the system facility from which it originates. The configuration file /etc/syslog.conf (see syslog.conf(4))controls where messages are forwarded. syslogd logs a mark
(timestamp) message every markinterval minutes (default 20)at priority LOG_INFO to the facility whose name is given as
mark in the syslog.conf file. A system message consists of a single line of text, which may be prefixed with a priority code number enclosed inangle-brackets (<>); priorities are defined in
. syslogd reads from the STREAMS log driver, /dev/log, and
from any transport provider specified in /etc/netconfig, /etc/net/transport/hosts, and /etc/net/transport/services.syslogd reads the configuration file when it starts up, and
again whenever it receives a HUP signal (see signal.h(3HEAD), at which time it also closes all files ithas open, re-reads its configuration file, and then opens
only the log files that are listed in that file. syslogd
exits when it receives a TERM signal.As it starts up, syslogd creates the file
/var/run/syslog.pid, if possible, containing its process identifier (PID).If message ID generation is enabled (see log(7D)), each mes-
sage will be preceded by an identifier in the following for-
mat: [ID msgid facility.priority]. msgid is the message's numeric identifier described in msgid(1M). facility and priority are described in syslog.conf(4). [ID 123456 kern.notice] is an example of an identifier when message ID generation is enabled.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 31 Oct 2008 1
System Administration Commands syslogd(1M)
If the message originated in a loadable kernel module or driver, the kernel module's name (for example, ufs) will bedisplayed instead of unix. See EXAMPLES for sample output
from syslogd with and without message ID generation enabled.
In an effort to reduce visual clutter, message IDs are not displayed when writing to the console; message IDs are only written to the log file. See .The /etc/default/syslogd file contains the following default
parameter settings, which are in effect if neither the -t
nor -T option is selected. See FILES.
The recommended way to allow or disallow message logging is through the use of the service management facility (smf(5)) property:svc:/system/system-log/config/log_from_remote
This property specifies whether remote messages are logged.log_from_remote=true is equivalent to the -t command-line
option and false is equivalent to the -T command-line
option. The default value for -log_from_remote is false. See
NOTES, below.LOG_FROM_REMOTE
Specifies whether remote messages are logged.LOG_FROM_REMOTE=NO is equivalent to the -t command-line
option. The default value for LOG_FROM_REMOTE is YES.
OPTIONS The following options are supported:-d
Turn on debugging. This option should only be used interactively in a root shell once the system is inmulti-user mode. It should not be used in the system
start-up scripts, as this will cause the system to hang
at the point where syslogd is started.
-f configfile
Specify an alternate configuration file.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 31 Oct 2008 2
System Administration Commands syslogd(1M)
-m markinterval
Specify an interval, in minutes, between mark messages.-p path
Specify an alternative log device name. The default is /dev/log.-T
Enable the syslogd UDP port to turn on logging of remote
messages. This is the default behavior. See .-t
Disable the syslogd UDP port to turn off logging of
remote messages. See .EXAMPLES
Example 1 syslogd Output Without Message ID Generation
EnabledThe following example shows the output from syslogd when
message ID generation is not enabled: Sep 29 21:41:18 cathy unix: alloc /: file system fullExample 2 syslogd Output with ID generation Enabled
The following example shows the output from syslogd when
message ID generation is enabled. The message ID is displayed when writing to log file/var/adm/messages. Sep 29 21:41:18 cathy ufs: [ID 845546 kern.notice] alloc /: file system fullExample 3 syslogd Output with ID Generation Enabled
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System Administration Commands syslogd(1M)
The following example shows the output from syslogd when
message ID generation is enabled when writing to the con-
sole. Even though message ID is enabled, the message ID is not displayed at the console. Sep 29 21:41:18 cathy ufs: alloc /: file system full Example 4 Enabling Acceptance of UDP Messages from Remote SystemsThe following commands enable syslogd to accept entries from
remote systems.# svccfg -s svc:/system/system-log setprop config/log_from_remote = true
# svcadm restart svc:/system/system-log
FILES /etc/syslog.conf Configuration file /var/run/syslog.pid Process ID/etc/default/syslogd
Contains default settings. You can override some of thesettings by command-line options.
/dev/log STREAMS log driver /etc/netconfig Transport providers available on the system /etc/net/transport/hostsSunOS 5.11 Last change: 31 Oct 2008 4
System Administration Commands syslogd(1M)
Network hosts for each transport /etc/net/transport/services Network services for each transportATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcs ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
logger(1), svcs(1), msgid(1M), svcadm(1M), svccfg(1M), syslog(3C), syslog.conf(4), attributes(5), signal.h(3HEAD), smf(5), log(7D) NOTES The mark message is a system time stamp, and so it is onlydefined for the system on which syslogd is running. It can
not be forwarded to other systems.When syslogd receives a HUP signal, it attempts to complete
outputting pending messages, and close all log files to which it is currently logging messages. If, for some reason,one (or more) of these files does not close within a gen-
erous grace period, syslogd discards the pending messages,
forcibly closes these files, and starts reconfiguration. If this shutdown procedure is disturbed by an unexpected errorand syslogd cannot complete reconfiguration, syslogd sends a
mail message to the superuser on the current system stating that it has shut down, and exits. Care should be taken to ensure that each window displayingmessages forwarded by syslogd (especially console windows)
is run in the system default locale (which is syslogd's
locale). If this advice is not followed, it is possible for a syslog message to alter the terminal settings for that window, possibly even allowing remote execution of arbitrary commands from that window.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 31 Oct 2008 5
System Administration Commands syslogd(1M)
The syslogd service is managed by the service management
facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:svc:/system/system-log:default
Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(1M). The service's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.When syslogd is started by means of svcadm(1M), if a value
is specified for LOG_FROM_REMOTE in the
/etc/defaults/syslogd file, the SMF property
svc:/system/system-log/config/log_from_remote is set to
correspond to the LOG_FROM_REMOTE value and the
/etc/default/syslogd file is modified to replace the
LOG_FROM_REMOTE specification with the following comment:
# LOG_FROM_REMOTE is now set using svccfg(1m), see syslogd(1m).
If neither LOG_FROM_REMOTE nor svc:/system/system-
log/config/log_from_remote are defined, the default is to
log remote messages.On installation, the initial value of svc:/system/system-
log/config/log_from_remote is false.
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