SYSLOG-NG(8) The syslog-ng manual page SYSLOG-NG(8)NAMEsyslog-ng - syslog-ng system logger application
SYNOPSISsyslog-ng [options]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page is only an abstract; for the complete documentation of
syslog-ng, see The syslog-ng Open Source Edition Administrator Guide[1]
or the official syslog-ng website[2].
The syslog-ng OSE application is a flexible and highly scalable system
logging application. Typically, syslog-ng is used to manage log
messages and implement centralized logging, where the aim is to collect
the log messages of several devices on a single, central log server.
The different devices - called syslog-ng clients - all run syslog-ng,
and collect the log messages from the various applications, files, and
other sources. The clients send all important log messages to the
remote syslog-ng server, where the server sorts and stores them.
OPTIONS--cfgfile <file> or -f <file>
Use the specified configuration file.
--chroot <dir> or -C <dir>
Change root to the specified directory. The configuration file is
read after chrooting so, the configuration file must be available
within the chroot. That way it is also possible to reload the
syslog-ng configuration after chrooting. However, note that the
--user and --group options are resolved before chrooting.
--debug or -d
Start syslog-ng in debug mode.
--default-modules
A comma-separated list of the modules that are loaded
automatically. Modules not loaded automatically can be loaded by
including the @module <modulename> statement in the syslog-ng OSE
configuration file. The following modules are loaded by default:
affile,afprog,afsocket,afuser,basicfuncs,csvparser,dbparser,syslogformat,afsql.
Available only in syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.3 and later.
--enable-core
Enable syslog-ng to write core files in case of a crash to help
support and debugging.
--fd-limit <number>
Set the minimal number of required file descriptors (fd-s); this
sets how many files syslog-ng can keep open simultaneously. Default
value: 4096. Note that this does not override the global ulimit
setting of the host.
--foreground or -F
Do not daemonize, run in the foreground.
--group <group> or -g <group>
Switch to the specified group after initializing the configuration
file.
--help or -h
Display a brief help message.
--module-registry
Display the list and description of the available modules. Note
that not all of these modules are loaded automatically, only the
ones specified in the --default-modules option. Available only in
syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.3 and later.
--no-caps
Run syslog-ng as root, without capability-support. This is the
default behavior. On Linux, it is possible to run syslog-ng as
non-root with capability-support if syslog-ng was compiled with the
--enable-linux-caps option enabled. (Execute syslog-ng--version to
display the list of enabled build parameters.)
--persist-file <persist-file> or -R <persist-file>
Set the path and name of the syslog-ng.persist file where the
persistent options and data are stored.
--pidfile <pidfile> or -p <pidfile>
Set path to the PID file where the pid of the main process is
stored.
--control <ctlpath> or -c <ctlpath>
Set syslog-ng control socket, default=/var/run/syslog-ng.ctl.
--preprocess-into <output-file>
After processing the configuration file and resolving included
files and variables, write the resulting configuration into the
specified output file. Available only in syslog-ng Open Source
Edition 3.3 and later.
--process-mode <mode>
Sets how to run syslog-ng: in the foreground (mainly used for
debugging), in the background as a daemon, or in safe-background
mode. By default, syslog-ng runs in safe-background mode. This mode
creates a supervisor process called supervising syslog-ng , that
restarts syslog-ng if it crashes.
--stderr or -e
Log internal messages of syslog-ng to stderr. Mainly used for
debugging purposes in conjunction with the --foreground option. If
not specified, syslog-ng will log such messages to its internal
source.
--syntax-only or -s
Verify that the configuration file is syntactically correct and
exit.
--user <user> or -u <user>
Switch to the specified user after initializing the configuration
file (and optionally chrooting). Note that it is not possible to
reload the syslog-ng configuration if the specified user has no
privilege to create the /dev/log file.
--verbose or -v
Enable verbose logging used to troubleshoot syslog-ng.
--version or -V
Display version number and compilation information, and also the
list and short description of the available modules. For detailed
description of the available modules, see the --module-registry
option. Note that not all of these modules are loaded
automatically, only the ones specified in the --default-modules
option.
--worker-threads
Sets the number of worker threads syslog-ng OSE can use, including
the main syslog-ng OSE thread. Note that certain operations in
syslog-ng OSE can use threads that are not limited by this option.
This setting has effect only when syslog-ng OSE is running in
multithreaded mode. Available only in syslog-ng Open Source Edition
3.3 and later. See The syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.3
Administrator Guide for details.
FILES
/usr/local/
/usr/local/etc/syslog-ng.conf
SEE ALSOsyslog-ng.conf(5)
The syslog-ng OSE 3.3 Administrator Guide[1]
If you experience any problems or need help with syslog-ng, visit visit
the syslog-ng wiki[3] or the syslog-ng mailing list[4].
For news and notifications about of syslog-ng, visit the syslog-ng
Insider Blog[5].
AUTHOR
This manual page was written by the BalaBit Documentation Team
<documentation@balabit.com>.
COPYRIGHT
The authors grant permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this
manual page under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 2
or newer (GPL v2+).
NOTES
1. The syslog-ng Open Source Edition Administrator Guide
http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/
2. the official syslog-ng website
http://www.balabit.com/network-security/syslog-ng/
3. visit the syslog-ng wiki
http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
4. syslog-ng mailing list
https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
5. syslog-ng Insider Blog
http://insider.blogs.balabit.com
syslog-ng Open Source Edition 10/27/2015 SYSLOG-NG(8)
