nixCraft Poll

Topics

Search Linux / UNIX log files smartly for an alert or warning error

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: September 26, 2007]

So how do you find an alert or warning words in a log file over text based session? Simply use old good grep command. Usually I recommend searching following words
=> fail
=> denied
=> segfault
=> segmentation
=> rejected
=> oops
=> warn

Find an alert or warning words from log files

You need to use grep command:
grep {search-word} /path/to/log/file

Find out all segfault error from /var/log/messages file, enter the following command as privileged user:
# grep -i segfault /var/log/messages
Output:

Sep 23 12:20:09 node10 kernel: mutt[8896]: segfault at 0000000000000010 rip 0000000000439d5e rsp 00007fff36a30040 error 6
Sep 24 12:20:10 node10 kernel: mutt[20107]: segfault at 0000000000000010 rip 0000000000439d5e rsp 00007fffd99dbac0 error 6
Sep 25 12:20:09 node10 kernel: mutt[19734]: segfault at 0000000000000010 rip 0000000000439d5e rsp 00007fff5d807290 error 6

Look like node10's mutt command generated segfault error while sending daily reports attachment via email.

GUI Tools

System Log Viewer is a graphical, menu-driven viewer that you can use to view and monitor your system logs. System Log Viewer comes with a few functions that can help you manage your logs, including a calendar, log monitor and log statistics display.

Redhat / CentOS tool

Redhat (RHEL) Linux offers gui tool called Log Viewer. Type the redhat-logviewer command at a shell prompt or use GUI menus to start the same. You can set filter words (alter words) by clicking on Edit > Preferences menu > Alter tab > Add button

Debian / Ubuntu tool

Debian / Ubuntu Linux also offers GUI tool to view and search log files by setting filters. Click on Applications menu > Choose System Tools > Admin > System Log.
Debian / Ubuntu Linux also offers GUI tool to view and search log files by setting filters

Want to stay up to date with the latest Linux tips, news and announcements? Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter or RSS feed to get all updates. You can Email this page to a friend.

You may also be interested in other helpful articles:

Discussion on This Article:

  1. Eaglehawk Says:

    It would be quicker and easier if you were to do something like this.

    egrep '(fail|denied|segfault|segmentation|reject|oops|warn)' /var/log/messages

    I find when I’m looking for problems it is easier to look for that. However I enjoy reading your tips.

Leave a Reply

We encourage your comments, and suggestions. But please stay on topic, be polite, and avoid spam. Thank you very much for stopping by our site!

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word

Tags: , , , , ,

Copyright © 2004-2008 nixCraft. All rights reserved - TOS/Disclaimer - Privacy policy - Sitemap - Powered by Open source software.