What Is Log Rotation in Linux?
Contents

logrotate is designed to ease administration of systems that generate large numbers of log files. It allows automatic rotation, compression, removal, and mailing of log files. Each log file may be handled daily, weekly, monthly, or when it grows too large. Normally, logrotate is run as a daily cron job.

What does log rotation mean?

In information technology, log rotation is an automated process used in system administration in which log files are compressed, moved (archived), renamed or deleted once they are too old or too big (there can be other metrics that can apply here).

What is log file rotation in Linux?

Log rotation, a normal thing on Linux systems, keeps any particular log file from becoming too large, yet ensures that sufficient details on system activities are still available for proper system monitoring and troubleshooting. … Manual rotation of log files is possible through the use of the logrotate command.

James H. Sterling

James H. Sterling

Environmental Science & Climate Journalist

James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.

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