Rotating files from RAM to storage for log rotation

In this section, we are going to discuss the logrotate Linux tool. Using this tool, administration of systems becomes easy. The systems generate large number of log files. This allows for automatic rotation, removal, compression, and mailing of log files.

We can handle each and every log file. We can handle them daily, weekly, and monthly. Using this tool, we can keep logs longer with less disk space. The default configuration file is /etc/logrotate.conf. Run the following command to see the contents of this file:

$ cat /etc/logrotate.conf

You will see the following:

weekly
rotate 4
create

include /etc/logrotate.d
# no packages own wtmp, or btmp -- we'll rotate them here
/var/log/wtmp {
    missingok
    monthly
    create 0664 root utmp
    rotate 1
}

/var/log/btmp {
    missingok
    monthly
    create 0660 root utmp
    rotate 1
}

# system-specific logs may be configured here

Getting ready

To use logrotator, you must be aware of the logrotate...