Lighttpd rotating log files with logrotate tool

by Vivek Gite on July 8, 2006 14 comments Last updated December 18, 2007
Last time I wrote about setting up virtual hosting for Lighttpd web server. Natu
rally next step is to setup log rotating with logrotate which rotates, compresse
s log files.
Our setup
Our sample setup has total 6 log files:
Default domain/IP log files:
/var/log/lighttpd/access.log
/var/log/lighttpd/error.log
nixcraft.com virtual domain log files:
/var/log/lighttpd/nixcraft.com/access.log
/var/log/lighttpd/error.log
theos.in virtual domain log files:
/var/log/lighttpd/theos.in/access.log
/var/log/lighttpd/theos.in/error.log
logrotate Configuration
All you need to do is open/create logrotate configuration file for lighttpd. Ope
n file /etc/logrotate.d/lighttpd:
# vi /etc/logrotate.d/lighttpd
Append following text:
"/var/log/lighttpd/*.log" "/var/log/lighttpd/nixcraft.com/*.log " "/var/log/ligh
ttpd/theos.in/*.log " {
missingok
copytruncate
rotate 7
compress
notifempty
sharedscripts
postrotate
/etc/init.d/lighttpd reload
endscript
}
Where,
"/var/log/lighttpd/*.log" "/var/log/lighttpd/nixcraft.com/*.log " "/var/log/ligh
ttpd/theos.in/*.log ": Log files with wild card specification as per our setup.
missingok: If the log file is missing, go on to the next log file without issuin
g an error message.
copytruncate: Truncate the original log file to zero size in place after creatin
g a copy, instead of moving the old log file and optionally creating a new one
rotate 7: Log files are rotated 7 times before being removed or mailed to the ad
dress specified in a mail directive. If count is 0, old versions are removed rat
her then rotated.
compress: Old versions of log files are compressed with gzip to save disk space.
notifempty: Do not rotate the log if it is empty
sharedscripts
postrotate
/etc/init.d/lighttpd reload
endscript: The lines between postrotate and endscript (both of which must appear
on lines by themselves) are executed after the log file is rotated. These direc
tives may only appear inside a log file definition. In our case we are reloading
lighttpd. Other opting could be send HUP single using kill command.
Make sure crond runs automatically after system reboot
Now your logs will rotate with logrotate command which is called from cronjob (/
etc/cron.daily/logrotate) everyday. So make sure crond is running all the time:
# /etc/init.d/crond start
# chkconfig --list crond
# chkconfig crond on
Alternatively, run text based GUI tool for same purpose (Redhat/CentOS/Fedora an
d friends):
# ntsysv
If you are using Debian Linux, type the following command to configure crond usi
ng text based GUI tools:
# rcconf
Alternatively you can use update-rc.d command (Debian / Ubuntu Linux) to start c
rond automatically after system reboot:
# update-rc.d crond defaults