Log file analysis with the Nagios check_logfiles plugin

LOG TRAVELER

Article from Issue 92/2008
Author(s):

The Nagios check_logfiles plugin helps you monitor your logfiles – even if the logs rotate and change names.

The Nagios monitoring tool is a general framework for watching things. Nagios lets you keep an eye on computers, processes, devices, and network services. Another thing Nagios can watch is logfiles. The Nagios plugin collection comes with a number of options for monitoring logs. The check_log and check_log2 plugins, for example, are popular with many admins; however, these plugins sometimes have problems in situations in which an application or script is rotating the logs. The tools tend to slip up occasionally and miss a couple of lines, which is something you can’t allow if you need 100% coverage. To close the gaps, the check_logfiles plugin was developed to check every single entry – even if a log moves, changes its name, or disappears into a compressed archive during the monitoring period.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Network Monitoring Intro

    If you can’t monitor everything yourself, why not let your computers watch your computers? This month we examine some practical techniques for network monitoring.

    more »
  • Nagios Workshop

    Nagios monitors your network and provides early warning for problems with hosts and services.

    more »
  • Charly's Column – Go Access

    Just as a craftsman is unlikely to purchase a new angle grinder every month, sys admins are unlikely to change constantly their tried and trusted tools. Columnist Charly Kühnast ditches this conservative philosophy this month, lured by the charms of a new logfile tool.

    more »
  • ELK Stack

    A powerful search engine, a tool for processing and normalizing protocols, and another for visualizing the results – Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana form the ELK stack, which helps admins manage logfiles on high-volume systems.

    more »
  • Admin Workshop: Logrotate

    Every multi-purpose Linux system produces an enormous amount of log data. To prevent your hard disk from overflowing, a rotating helper application archives logs and gets rid of obsolete data.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Visit Our Shop

Trial Subscription

Digital Subscription

Subscribe

Direct Download

Read full article as PDF:

032-037_logfiles_lead.pdf (321.46 kB)

DevOps

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Events Hardware Linux Linux New Media Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source