1SYSLOG-NG(8) The syslog-ng manual page SYSLOG-NG(8)
2
6 syslog-ng - syslog-ng system logger application
7
9 syslog-ng [options]
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12 This manual page is only an abstract, for the complete documentation of
13 syslog-ng, see The Administrator Guide[1] or the official syslog-ng
14 website[2].
15 The application is a flexible and highly scalable system logging
17 application. Typically, syslog-ng is used to manage log messages and
18 implement centralized logging, where the aim is to collect the log
19 messages of several devices on a single, central log server. The
20 different devices - called syslog-ng clients - all run syslog-ng, and
21 collect the log messages from the various applications, files, and
22 other sources. The clients send all important log messages to the
23 remote syslog-ng server, where the server sorts and stores them.
24
26 --caps
27 Run process with the specified POSIX capability flags.
28 · If the --no-caps option is not set, and the host supports
30 CAP_SYSLOG, uses the following capabilities:
31 "cap_net_bind_service, cap_net_broadcast, cap_net_raw,
32 cap_dac_read_search, cap_dac_override, cap_chown, cap_fowner=p
33 cap_syslog=ep"
34 · If the --no-caps option is not set, and the host does not
36 support CAP_SYSLOG, uses the following capabilities:
37 "cap_net_bind_service, cap_net_broadcast,
38 cap_net_raw,cap_dac_read_search, cap_dac_override, cap_chown,
39 cap_fowner=p cap_sys_admin=ep"
40 For example:
42 /usr/local/sbin/syslog-ng -Fv --caps cap_sys_admin,cap_chown,cap_dac_override,cap_net_bind_service,cap_fowner=pi
44 Note that the capabilities are not case sensitive, the following
46 command is also good:
47 /usr/local/sbin/syslog-ng -Fv --caps
48 CAP_SYS_ADMIN,CAP_CHOWN,CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE,CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE,CAP_FOWNER=pi
49 For details on the capability flags, see the following man pages:
51 cap_from_text(3) and capabilities(7)
52 --cfgfile <file> or -f <file>
54 Use the specified configuration file.
55 --chroot <dir> or -C <dir>
57 Change root to the specified directory. The configuration file is
58 read after chrooting so, the configuration file must be available
59 within the chroot. That way it is also possible to reload the
60 syslog-ng configuration after chrooting. However, note that the
61 --user and --group options are resolved before chrooting.
62 --control <file> or -c <file>
64 Set the location of the syslog-ng control socket. Default value:
65 /var/run/syslog-ng.ctl
66 --debug or -d
68 Start syslog-ng in debug mode.
69 --enable-core
71 Enable syslog-ng to write core files in case of a crash to help
72 support and debugging.
73 --fd-limit <number>
75 Set the minimal number of required file descriptors (fd-s). This
76 sets how many files syslog-ng can keep open simultaneously. Default
77 value: 4096. Note that this does not override the global ulimit
78 setting of the host.
79 --foreground or -F
81 Do not daemonize, run in the foreground. When running in the
82 foreground, starts from the current directory ($CWD) so it can
83 create core files (normally, starts from $PREFIX/var).
84 --group <group> or -g <group>
86 Switch to the specified group after initializing the configuration
87 file.
88 --help or -h
90 Display a brief help message.
91 --module-registry
93 Display the list and description of the available modules.
94 Available only in and later.
95 --no-caps
97 Run syslog-ng as root, without capability-support. This is the
98 default behavior. On Linux, it is possible to run syslog-ng as
99 non-root with capability-support if syslog-ng was compiled with the
100 --enable-linux-caps option enabled. (Execute syslog-ng --version to
101 display the list of enabled build parameters.)
102 To run with specific capabilities, use the --caps option.
104 --persist-file <persist-file> or -R <persist-file>
106 Set the path and name of the syslog-ng.persist file where the
107 persistent options and data are stored.
108 --pidfile <pidfile> or -p <pidfile>
110 Set path to the PID file where the pid of the main process is
111 stored.
112 --preprocess-into <output-file>
114 After processing the configuration file and resolving included
115 files and variables, write the resulting configuration into the
116 specified output file. Available only in and later.
117 --process-mode <mode>
119 Sets how to run syslog-ng: in the foreground (mainly used for
120 debugging), in the background as a daemon, or in safe-background
121 mode. By default, syslog-ng runs in safe-background mode. This mode
122 creates a supervisor process called supervising syslog-ng , that
123 restarts syslog-ng if it crashes.
124 --stderr or -e
126 Log internal messages of syslog-ng to stderr. Mainly used for
127 debugging purposes in conjunction with the --foreground option. If
128 not specified, syslog-ng will log such messages to its internal
129 source.
130 --syntax-only or -s
132 Verify that the configuration file is syntactically correct and
133 exit.
134 --user <user> or -u <user>
136 Switch to the specified user after initializing the configuration
137 file (and optionally chrooting). Note that it is not possible to
138 reload the syslog-ng configuration if the specified user has no
139 privilege to create the /dev/log file.
140 --verbose or -v
142 Enable verbose logging used to troubleshoot syslog-ng.
143 --version or -V
145 Display version number and compilation information, and also the
146 list and short description of the available modules. For detailed
147 description of the available modules, see the --module-registry
148 option.
149 --worker-threads
151 Sets the number of worker threads can use, including the main
152 thread. Note that certain operations in can use threads that are
153 not limited by this option. This setting has effect only when is
154 running in multithreaded mode. Available only in and later. See The
155 3.27 Administrator Guide for details.
156
158 /usr/local/
159 /usr/local/etc/syslog-ng.conf
161
163 syslog-ng.conf(5)
164 Note
166 For the detailed documentation of see The 3.27 Administrator
167 Guide[3]
168 If you experience any problems or need help with syslog-ng, visit
170 the syslog-ng mailing list[4].
171 For news and notifications about of syslog-ng, visit the syslog-ng
173 blogs[5].
174
176 This manual page was written by the Balabit Documentation Team
177 <documentation@balabit.com>.
178
181 1. The Administrator Guide
182 https://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/
183 2. the official syslog-ng website
185 https://www.balabit.com/log-management
186 3. The 3.27 Administrator Guide
188 https://www.balabit.com/documents/syslog-ng-ose-latest-guides/en/syslog-ng-ose-guide-admin/html/index.html
189 4. syslog-ng mailing list
191 https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
192 5. syslog-ng blogs
194 https://syslog-ng.org/blogs/
1953.27 04/30/2020 SYSLOG-NG(8)