_Summary_
Configuration: 4.1beta2-1, no updates.
Problem: System logs contain noise entries
_Detail_
I have been reviewing my system logs, and it seems that there are a
number of "noise" entries, that make it difficult to sort out whether
things are correct or otherwise.
For example, I get duplicate entries such as:
Jan 1 16:47:10 e-smith xinetd[402]: Starting hard reconfiguration
Jan 1 16:47:10 e-smith xinetd[402]: Starting hard reconfiguration
Jan 1 16:47:10 e-smith atalkd[2711]: done
Jan 1 16:47:10 e-smith atalkd[2711]: done
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service auth
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service auth
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service ftp
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service ftp
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service telnet
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service telnet
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service imap
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service imap
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service pop-3
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service pop-3
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service smtp
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: readjusting service smtp
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: Reconfigured: new=0 old=6 dropped=0
(services)
Jan 1 16:47:11 e-smith xinetd[402]: Reconfigured: new=0 old=6 dropped=0
(services)
This is undesirable, since it makes the logs hard to read, and
excessively long.
I think (but am not sure, I'm not a syslogd guru) that the problem lies
in the use of the *.info entry pointing to /var/log/messages, and a
daemon.* entry also pointing to /var/log/messages.
Similarly, the following entry:
Jan 1 15:01:16 e-smith dhcpd: Internet Software Consortium DHCP Server
2.0
Jan 1 15:01:16 e-smith dhcpd: Internet Software Consortium DHCP Server
2.0
Jan 1 15:01:16 e-smith dhcpd: Internet Software Consortium DHCP Server
2.0
is probably a product of the above two syslog.conf lines, and the
local0.* line.
There are also some other entries that indicate other problems, such as:
Jan 1 15:00:48 e-smith e-smith[2205]: 0 at
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/esmith/util.pm line 197.
Jan 1 15:00:48 e-smith e-smith[2205]: In
/etc/e-smith/templates//etc/ppp/pppoe.conf/10device: Use of
uninitialized value in string eq at (eval 3) line 1.
Jan 1 15:00:48 e-smith e-smith[2205]: 0 at
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/esmith/util.pm line 197.
Jan 1 15:00:48 e-smith last message repeated 2 times
and
Jan 1 15:00:47 e-smith e-smith[2205]: In
/etc/e-smith/templates//etc/ntp/step-tickers/00timeServer: Use of
uninitialized value in concatenation (.) at (eval 2) line 8.
and
Jan 1 14:39:32 e-smith e-smith[1742]: Use of uninitialized value in
chown at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/esmith/util.pm line 390, <RES> line 6.
Jan 1 14:39:32 e-smith last message repeated 3 times
These other entries are somewhat difficult to pick. I like to have a log
file that catches everything (such as you have set up with
/var/log/messages, and another one that only catches
error type messages (e.g. /var/log/errors). There should never be any
entries in /var/log/errors - if this file is non-zero length, then admin
action is required to investigate and resolve.
The last set of problems is entries of the form:
Jan 1 05:19:36 e-smith crond: crond startup succeeded
Jan 1 05:19:36 e-smith crond: ^[[60G
Jan 1 05:19:36 e-smith crond:
This is not specific to crond, I also get it with other sources, for
example:
Jan 1 05:19:30 e-smith network: Setting network parameters: succeeded
Jan 1 05:19:30 e-smith network: ^[[60G
Jan 1 05:19:30 e-smith network:
Jan 1 05:19:30 e-smith network: Bringing up interface lo:
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith network: Bringing up interface lo: succeeded
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith network: ^[[60G
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith network:
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith network: Bringing up interface eth0:
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith network: Bringing up interface eth0: succeeded
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith network:
Jan 1 05:19:31 e-smith rc: Starting network: succeeded
Jan 1 05:19:32 e-smith random: Initializing random number generator:
Jan 1 05:19:32 e-smith random: Initializing random number generator:
succeeded
Jan 1 05:19:32 e-smith random: ^[[60G
I don't think the line with ^[[60G should be present, and the blank line
shouldn't be present.
I am not sure why this is occuring - maybe in the template files?
I don't think that the problems are really important, but fixing them
would make admin a bit friendlier.
Brad Hards
