Introduction Linux system administrators often need to look at log files for troubleshooting purposes. In fact, this is the first thing any sysadmin would do. Linux and the applications that run on it can generate all different types of messages, which are recorded in various log files. Linux uses a set of configuration files, directories, programs, commands and daemons to create, store and recycle these log messages. Knowing where the system keeps its log files and how to make use of related commands can therefore help save valuable time during troubleshooting. In this tutorial, we will have a look at different parts of the Linux logging mechanism. Disclaimer The commands in this tutorial were tested in plain vanilla installations of CentOS 6.4, Ubuntu 12 and Debian 7. Default Log File Location The default location for log files in Linux is /var/log. You can view the list of log files in this directory with a simple ls -l /var/log command. This is what I see in
Single Point Reference that I can use to come back anytime for a quick glance.