Log files can be used by both event logs and accounting logs and are stored on the compact flash devices (specifically cf1:) in the file system.
A log file is identified with a single log file ID, but a log file will generally be composed of a number individual files in the file system. A log file is configured with a rollover parameter, expressed in minutes, which represents the length of time an individual log file should be written to before a new file is created for the relevant log file ID. The rollover time is checked only when an update to the log is performed. Therefore, complying to this rule is subject to the incoming rate of the data being logged. For example, if the rate is very low, the actual rollover time may be longer than the configured value.
The retention time for a log file specifies the amount of time the file should be retained on the system based on the creation date and time of the file. The system continuously checks for log files with expired retention periods once every hour and deletes as many files as possible during a ten second interval.
When a log file is created, only the compact flash device for the log file is specified. Log files are created in specific subdirectories with standardized names depending on the type of information stored in the log file.
Event log files are always created in the \log directory on the specified compact flash device. The naming convention for event log files is:
log eeff-timestamp
where:
ee is the event log ID
ff is the log file destination ID
timestamp is the timestamp when the file is created in the form of yyyymmdd-hhmmss where:
yyyy is the four-digit year (for example, 2017)
mm is the two digit number representing the month (for example, 12 for December)
dd is the two digit number representing the day of the month (for example, 03 for the 3rd of the month)
hh is the two digit hour in a 24-hour clock (for example, 04 for 4 a.m.)
mm is the two digit minute (for example, 30 for 30 minutes past the hour)
ss is the two digit second (for example, 14 for 14 seconds)
Accounting log files are created in the \act-collect directory on a compact flash device (cf1). The naming convention for accounting log files is nearly the same as for log files except the prefix "act" is used instead of the prefix "log". The naming convention for accounting logs is:
act aaff-timestamp.xml.gz
where:
aa is the accounting policy ID
ff is the log file destination ID
timestamp is the timestamp when the file is created in the form of yyyymmdd-hhmmss where:
yyyy is the four-digit year (for example, 2007)
mm is the two digit number representing the month (for example, 12 for December)
dd is the two digit number representing the day of the month (for example, 03 for the 3rd of the month)
hh is the two digit hour in a 24-hour clock (for example, 04 for 4 a.m.)
mm is the two digit minute (for example, 30 for 30 minutes past the hour)
ss is the two digit second (for example, 14 for 14 seconds)
Accounting logs are .xml files created in a compressed format and have a .gz extension.
The \act-collect directory is where active accounting logs are written. When an accounting log is rolled over, the active file is closed and archived in the \act directory before a new active accounting log file created in \act-collect.