After 1 year of very safe and relliable operations I start looking at some housekeeping on my Ubuntu servers. In particular I noticed the ever growing log files in var/log (ls -l output below). There is no way I am interested in looking at these detailed logs for stuff that happened motnhs ago, so in my view these are - literally - waste of space. The same question for the log files that build up in ISPConfig's /var/www/webx/log directory. Can old files and directories in there be deleted safely? Questions: Can I just remove them or what is the correct way to dispose of old log files? Is there any way to delete and remove logfiles and logile entries that are older than a month by adjusting some configuration settings? Any hints welcome. Code: -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 640678 Jan 3 08:17 auth.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 706225 Dec 28 06:47 auth.log.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 48111 Dec 21 06:47 auth.log.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 43800 Dec 14 06:47 auth.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 46787 Dec 7 06:47 auth.log.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 45194 Apr 6 2008 auth.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 186268 Feb 25 2008 auth.log.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 48736 Feb 17 2008 auth.log.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 866574 Jan 3 08:18 daemon.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 14179384 Jan 3 06:53 daemon.log.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 3268667 Jan 2 07:12 daemon.log.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 625527 Jan 1 06:47 daemon.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1695886 Dec 31 06:50 daemon.log.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 953395 Dec 30 06:57 daemon.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 610760 Dec 29 06:46 daemon.log.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 575304 Dec 28 06:47 daemon.log.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1174 Dec 18 19:45 debug.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 222 Nov 21 10:08 debug.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 214 Oct 23 03:27 debug.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 222 Sep 17 01:40 debug.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 2164 Dec 28 06:47 denyhosts.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 3253 Dec 21 06:47 denyhosts.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 1918 Dec 14 05:25 denyhosts.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 1929 Dec 7 05:21 denyhosts.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 2098 Nov 30 05:11 denyhosts.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 1877 Nov 23 03:52 denyhosts.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 root root 1952 Nov 15 20:03 denyhosts.7.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 4302 Dec 17 02:15 dmesg.0 -rw-r----- 1 root adm 2112 Nov 21 10:08 dmesg.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 2130 Sep 17 01:40 dmesg.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 1973 Aug 23 15:46 dmesg.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 1972 May 26 2008 dmesg.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 8066 Jan 1 16:03 dpkg.log -rw-r----- 1 root adm 16919 Feb 29 2008 dpkg.log.10.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 36451 Dec 18 19:29 dpkg.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 1026 Oct 16 12:17 dpkg.log.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 274 Sep 24 22:45 dpkg.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 5481 Sep 9 11:18 dpkg.log.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 3202 Jun 10 2008 dpkg.log.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 30100 May 28 2008 dpkg.log.7.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 652 Apr 16 2008 dpkg.log.8.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 2119 Mar 26 2008 dpkg.log.9.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 480096 Jun 3 2008 faillog -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 553 Dec 18 19:23 fontconfig.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 41001 May 9 2008 ispconfig_install.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 162 Dec 6 2007 ispconfig_tee.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 9881 Jan 3 06:53 kern.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 9772 Dec 27 06:51 kern.log.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 4236 Dec 20 06:55 kern.log.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 896 Dec 14 06:43 kern.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 881 Dec 7 06:39 kern.log.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 5065 Mar 9 2008 kern.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 272 Feb 22 2008 kern.log.5.gz -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 5841168 Jan 3 08:07 lastlog -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 Oct 23 2007 lpr.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 3087 Dec 10 20:49 mail.err.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 183 Dec 4 15:04 mail.err.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 147 Nov 25 07:47 mail.err.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 119 Nov 11 12:52 mail.err.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1167360 Jan 3 06:53 mail.info.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 70574 Dec 31 06:50 mail.info.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 48604 Dec 28 06:46 mail.info.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 115274 Dec 26 07:04 mail.info.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 83341 Dec 23 06:54 mail.info.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 123039 Dec 21 06:46 mail.info.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 37990 Dec 14 06:43 mail.info.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 22275 Jan 3 08:17 mail.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1178571 Jan 3 06:53 mail.log.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 70968 Dec 31 06:50 mail.log.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 87627 Dec 28 06:46 mail.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 78807 Dec 25 06:58 mail.log.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 84634 Dec 23 06:54 mail.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 42300 Dec 21 06:46 mail.log.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 105194 Dec 18 06:32 mail.log.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 165764 Dec 28 05:38 mail.warn.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 16452 Dec 21 06:44 mail.warn.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 9522 Dec 14 06:43 mail.warn.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 15006 Dec 7 06:39 mail.warn.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 6346 Apr 13 2008 mail.warn.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 8258 Apr 6 2008 mail.warn.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 28744 Dec 28 06:27 messages.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 6263 Dec 21 06:46 messages.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 2515 Dec 14 06:43 messages.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 2466 Dec 7 06:39 messages.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 6709 Mar 9 2008 messages.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1779 Feb 24 2008 messages.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 18805 Jan 3 08:15 mysql.log -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 41968 Jan 3 06:50 mysql.log.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 54382 Jan 2 07:10 mysql.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 45398 Jan 1 06:45 mysql.log.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 37370 Dec 31 06:50 mysql.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 42877 Dec 30 06:55 mysql.log.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 37293 Dec 29 06:45 mysql.log.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 34707 Dec 28 07:10 mysql.log.7.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 4 2008 pycentral.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 896371 Jan 3 08:18 syslog -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 14659477 Jan 3 06:53 syslog.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 3415037 Jan 2 07:12 syslog.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 707434 Jan 1 06:47 syslog.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1799873 Dec 31 06:50 syslog.3.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1045131 Dec 30 06:57 syslog.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 674186 Dec 29 06:46 syslog.5.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 688040 Dec 28 07:10 syslog.6.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 Dec 21 06:47 user.log -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 5040 Dec 18 19:01 user.log.0 -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 322 Nov 21 10:09 user.log.1.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 323 Sep 17 01:41 user.log.2.gz -rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 995 Aug 23 15:46 user.log.3.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14383099 Dec 25 20:39 xferlog
If you're 100% sure you won't need it you can delete them. Backing them up to DVD-R won't hurt either ________ Bdsm french ________ Marijuana Vaporizer
find the cron scripts that are doing the log rotations and adjust them [ after backing up the scripts ]