This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
Linux logs live under /var/log, and many services also write to the journal. The finder names a path for a service you pick. It does not read your server and it does not ship a log anywhere.
auth, the package manager, the web server, and the mail system are different files. Write the one you need. Do not paste a log that contains passwords or tokens into a ticket. Redact first.
A path on this page is a hint. The host in front of you may use a different file. Read the service documentation you already trust if the file is absent. Do not collect logs from a host you do not administer.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Name the service.
- Look up the usual path.
- Confirm it later on the host you administer.
- Redact secrets before any paste.
- Do not ship the log off the host from this page.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Linux Log File Locations goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A log from a host you do not administer.
- Secrets pasted into the ticket.
- The path treated as a promise on every distribution.
- The journal deleted because the file was large.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Linux Log File Locations: One service. The path is a hint you will confirm. The host is yours. Secrets are redacted. And the log was not shipped away.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The service is written. The path is written. The hostname is written. No secret is in the note. And nothing was deleted. If one of those fails, stop.
| Service | Usual place | Also look |
|---|---|---|
| SSH | /var/log/auth.log or /var/log/secure | the journal |
| Cron | /var/log/cron or syslog | the user's mail |
| Web | the site's access and error logs | the path the server config names |
| Packages | the package manager log under /var/log | the journal |
# /var/log and the journal.
# Confirm the path on the host.
# Redact secrets.
# Do not collect a log you do not administer.Before you leave the host
Linux Log File Locations ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
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