Configuring Syslog Utility to Receive Alerts

This chapter explains how to configure the syslog daemon. In case of a local data server, you can configure the syslog utility on any Prime Cable Provisioning component server to receive alerts from the system. For receiving the syslogs in a centralized server from all the Prime Cable Provisioning components, you can configure the syslog daemon either on any Prime Cable Provisioning component such as RDU, PWS, DPE, CPNR and KDC or on a separate server. These component servers are referred to as Prime Cable Provisioning server in this chapter.


Note

Configuring the syslog file is an optional task.

Syslog is a client-server protocol that manages the logging of information on UNIX. Prime Cable Provisioning generates alerts through the syslog service. Prime Cable Provisioning syslog alerts are not a logging service; they notify that a problem exists, but do not necessarily define the specific cause of the problem.

The information related to the problem resides in the appropriate Prime Cable Provisioning log files, rdu.log and dpe.log. If you choose to configure the syslog file, syslog alerts are directed to a separate log file.

On hosts that are BAC API clients, to send messages to the SysLog, the java client library utilizes a non-java native library called libnative.so. If this native library is absent, this may result in the client library throwing a ThreadDeath Error, forcing the client application to restart. Therefore, ensure to copy the libnative.so file located in the RDU installation (at $BPR_HOME/lib directory) to a directory in the application's class path in the API client.

Configuring Syslogs on a Local Server

To configure the syslog utility on a local Prime Cable Provisioning server (Linux):

Procedure

Step 1

Log in as root on the server.

Step 2

At the command line, create the log file.

For example: 


# touch /var/log/bac.log

Step 3

Open the /etc/rsyslog.conf file with a text editor, such as vi.

Step 4

Add the following lines to the /etc/rsyslog.conf file: 


local6.alert       /var/log/bac.log
local6.info        /var/log/bac.log
Note 

You must insert one or more tabs between the local6:info and /var/log/bac.log information.

Step 5

Save and close the /etc/rsyslog.conf file.

Step 6

To restart the process, use service rsyslog restart.

Configuring a Centralized Linux Server to Receive Syslogs

By default, syslog daemon on a centralized server does not expect to receive messages from the Prime Cable Provisioning servers. You must configure the centralized server for the syslog daemon to start listening to these messages.

The syslog daemon checks the /etc/syslog.conf file to determine the expected names and locations of the log files it should create. It also checks the /etc/sysconfig/syslog file to determine the various modes in which it should operate. The syslog daemon will not receive server messages unless the SYSLOGD_OPTIONS variable in this file has a -r included in it as shown below: 


# Options to syslogd
# -m 0 disables 'MARK' messages.
# -r enables logging from RDU/DPE server machines
# -x disables DNS lookups on messages received with -r
# See syslogd(8) for more details
 SYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-m 0 -r"
# Options to klogd
# -2 prints all kernel oops messages twice; once for klogd to decode, and
#    once for processing with 'ksymoops'
# -x disables all klogd processing of oops messages entirely
# See klogd(8) for more details
KLOGD_OPTIONS="-2"

You must restart the syslog daemon for the changes to take effect. The server listens on UDP port 514, which you can verify using one of the following netstat command variations:

  • # netstat -a | grep syslog

    udp 0 0 *:syslog *:*

  • # netstat -an | grep 514

    udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:514 0.0.0.0:*

Configuring a Server to Send Syslog to Centralized Server on Linux

After you configure syslog daemon on the centralized server, you must configure the Prime Cable Provisioning server to send messages to it. To do this, edit the /etc/hosts file on the server.

Procedure

Step 1

Determine the IP address and fully qualified hostname of the server logging host.
Step 2

Log in as root on the server

Step 3

To enable the server logging hostname, add the following entry in the /etc/hosts file:

For example:


IP-address    fully-qualified-domain-name    hostname    "loghost"

In the example, the /etc/hosts file has a nickname loghost, for the server.
Step 4

Edit the /etc/syslog.conf file to send the syslog messages to the server.

For example:


local6.info             @loghost
local6.info             /var/log/messages
Step 5

Restart the syslog daemon to start Prime Cable Provisioning server logging.

To test whether the syslog server is receiving the messages, stop the RDU server. The DPE and CPNR servers will send a message indicating the connection failure.