Thread: Logging

Running Slackware-14.2/x86_64 and postgresql-11.5.

In /var/log/ are these files:

-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel   0 Nov 23 04:40 postgresql-11
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 723 Nov 23 04:40 postgresql-11.1
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 324 Nov 20 04:40 postgresql-11.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 320 Nov 17 04:40 postgresql-11.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 322 Nov 14 04:40 postgresql-11.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 321 Nov 10 04:40 postgresql-11.5.gz
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 325 Nov  6 04:40 postgresql-11.6.gz
-rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 337 Oct 23 04:40 postgresql-11.7.gz

I assume that they're an automatic backup that runs every 3-4 days. What's
backed up and where is this controlled?

I ask because I have a cron job that does a pg_dumpall each night at 11:30
pm. (It's a small installation for my business use so the files are not
excessive and I keep them for only short periods.)

Regards,

Rich

On 12/4/19 3:20 PM, Rich Shepard wrote:
> Running Slackware-14.2/x86_64 and postgresql-11.5.
> 
> In /var/log/ are these files:
> 
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel   0 Nov 23 04:40 postgresql-11
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 723 Nov 23 04:40 postgresql-11.1
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 324 Nov 20 04:40 postgresql-11.2.gz
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 320 Nov 17 04:40 postgresql-11.3.gz
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 322 Nov 14 04:40 postgresql-11.4.gz
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 321 Nov 10 04:40 postgresql-11.5.gz
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 325 Nov  6 04:40 postgresql-11.6.gz
> -rw-r----- 1 postgres wheel 337 Oct 23 04:40 postgresql-11.7.gz
> 
> I assume that they're an automatic backup that runs every 3-4 days. What's
> backed up and where is this controlled?

Looks like logrotate.
Take a look at the logging section of postgresql.conf to see if Postgres 
is handing off to the system and logrotate

> 
> I ask because I have a cron job that does a pg_dumpall each night at 11:30
> pm. (It's a small installation for my business use so the files are not
> excessive and I keep them for only short periods.)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rich
> 
> 


-- 
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

On Wed, 4 Dec 2019, Stephen Eilert wrote:

> Usually, this is done by logrotate or a similar mechanism in your system.
> You’ll likely find that other logs in your system follow a similar
> pattern, not just Postgresql.

Stephen,

Other logs, controlled by logrotate, rotate daily for a maximum of 4
backups.

I just checked /etc/logrotate.d/postgres and it was set at daily with rotate
7. I changed rotate to 4 but the dates are 3-4 days apart, not sequential.

Thanks,

Rich

On Wed, 4 Dec 2019, Adrian Klaver wrote:

> Take a look at the logging section of postgresql.conf to see if Postgres is 
> handing off to the system and logrotate

Adrian,

That conf file is in several places (different flavors). I'll check them
all.

Thanks,

Rich

On 2019-12-04 16:03:24 -0800, Rich Shepard wrote:
> On Wed, 4 Dec 2019, Stephen Eilert wrote:
> > Usually, this is done by logrotate or a similar mechanism in your system.
> > You’ll likely find that other logs in your system follow a similar
> > pattern, not just Postgresql.
>
> I just checked /etc/logrotate.d/postgres and it was set at daily with rotate
> 7. I changed rotate to 4 but the dates are 3-4 days apart, not sequential.

Your log files are extremely small. At only a few hundred bytes every 3
or 4 days it is very likely that nothing is logged on most days. If your
log file is empty, logrotate won't rotate it if the option "notifempty"
is set (which is probably the case).

        hp

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| |   | hjp@hjp.at         |    -- Charles Stross, "Creative writing
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