'\" t
.\"     Title: syslog-ng
.\"    Author: [see the "Author" section]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 02/05/2017
.\"    Manual: The syslog-ng manual page
.\"    Source: syslog-ng Open Source Edition 3.3
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "SYSLOG\-NG" "8" "02/05/2017" "syslog\-ng Open Source Edition" "The syslog-ng manual page"
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.SH "NAME"
syslog-ng \- syslog\-ng system logger application
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.HP \w'\fBsyslog\-ng\fR\ 'u
\fBsyslog\-ng\fR [options]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
This manual page is only an abstract; for the complete documentation of syslog\-ng, see
\m[blue]\fB\fBThe syslog\-ng Open Source Edition Administrator Guide\fR\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[1]\d\s+2
or
\m[blue]\fBthe official syslog\-ng website\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[2]\d\s+2\&.
.PP
The syslog\-ng OSE application is a flexible and highly scalable system logging application\&. Typically, syslog\-ng is used to manage log messages and implement centralized logging, where the aim is to collect the log messages of several devices on a single, central log server\&. The different devices \- called syslog\-ng clients \- all run syslog\-ng, and collect the log messages from the various applications, files, and other
\fIsources\fR\&. The clients send all important log messages to the remote syslog\-ng server, where the server sorts and stores them\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\fB\-\-cfgfile <file>\fR or \fB\-f <file>\fR
.RS 4
Use the specified configuration file\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-chroot <dir>\fR or \fB\-C <dir>\fR
.RS 4
Change root to the specified directory\&. The configuration file is read after chrooting so, the configuration file must be available within the chroot\&. That way it is also possible to reload the syslog\-ng configuration after chrooting\&. However, note that the
\fI\-\-user\fR
and
\fI\-\-group\fR
options are resolved before chrooting\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-debug\fR or \fB\-d\fR
.RS 4
Start syslog\-ng in debug mode\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-default\-modules\fR
.RS 4
A comma\-separated list of the modules that are loaded automatically\&. Modules not loaded automatically can be loaded by including the
\fI@module <modulename>\fR
statement in the syslog\-ng OSE configuration file\&. The following modules are loaded by default:
\fIaffile, afprog, afsocket, afuser, basicfuncs, csvparser, dbparser, syslogformat, afsql\fR\&. Available only in
syslog\-ng Open Source Edition 3\&.3
and later\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-enable\-core\fR
.RS 4
Enable syslog\-ng to write core files in case of a crash to help support and debugging\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-fd\-limit <number>\fR
.RS 4
Set the minimal number of required file descriptors (fd\-s); this sets how many files syslog\-ng can keep open simultaneously\&. Default value:
\fI4096\fR\&. Note that this does not override the global ulimit setting of the host\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-foreground\fR or \fB\-F\fR
.RS 4
Do not daemonize, run in the foreground\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-group <group>\fR or \fB\-g <group>\fR
.RS 4
Switch to the specified group after initializing the configuration file\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-help\fR or \fB\-h\fR
.RS 4
Display a brief help message\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-module\-registry\fR
.RS 4
Display the list and description of the available modules\&. Note that not all of these modules are loaded automatically, only the ones specified in the
\fB\-\-default\-modules\fR
option\&. Available only in
syslog\-ng Open Source Edition 3\&.3
and later\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-no\-caps\fR
.RS 4
Run syslog\-ng as root, without capability\-support\&. This is the default behavior\&. On Linux, it is possible to run syslog\-ng as non\-root with capability\-support if syslog\-ng was compiled with the
\fI\-\-enable\-linux\-caps\fR
option enabled\&. (Execute
\fBsyslog\-ng \-\-version\fR
to display the list of enabled build parameters\&.)
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-persist\-file <persist\-file>\fR or \fB\-R <persist\-file>\fR
.RS 4
Set the path and name of the
syslog\-ng\&.persist
file where the persistent options and data are stored\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-pidfile <pidfile>\fR or \fB\-p <pidfile>\fR
.RS 4
Set path to the PID file where the pid of the main process is stored\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-control <ctlpath>\fR or \fB\-c <ctlpath>\fR
.RS 4
Set syslog\-ng control socket, default=/var/run/syslog\-ng\&.ctl\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-preprocess\-into <output\-file>\fR
.RS 4
After processing the configuration file and resolving included files and variables, write the resulting configuration into the specified output file\&. Available only in
syslog\-ng Open Source Edition 3\&.3
and later\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-process\-mode <mode>\fR
.RS 4
Sets how to run syslog\-ng: in the
\fIforeground\fR
(mainly used for debugging), in the
\fIbackground\fR
as a daemon, or in
\fIsafe\-background\fR
mode\&. By default, syslog\-ng runs in
\fIsafe\-background\fR
mode\&. This mode creates a supervisor process called
\fIsupervising syslog\-ng\fR
, that restarts syslog\-ng if it crashes\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-stderr\fR or \fB\-e\fR
.RS 4
Log internal messages of syslog\-ng to stderr\&. Mainly used for debugging purposes in conjunction with the
\fI\-\-foreground\fR
option\&. If not specified, syslog\-ng will log such messages to its internal source\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-syntax\-only\fR or \fB\-s\fR
.RS 4
Verify that the configuration file is syntactically correct and exit\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-user <user>\fR or \fB\-u <user>\fR
.RS 4
Switch to the specified user after initializing the configuration file (and optionally chrooting)\&. Note that it is not possible to reload the syslog\-ng configuration if the specified user has no privilege to create the
/dev/log
file\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-verbose\fR or \fB\-v\fR
.RS 4
Enable verbose logging used to troubleshoot syslog\-ng\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-version\fR or \fB\-V\fR
.RS 4
Display version number and compilation information, and also the list and short description of the available modules\&. For detailed description of the available modules, see the
\fB\-\-module\-registry\fR
option\&. Note that not all of these modules are loaded automatically, only the ones specified in the
\fB\-\-default\-modules\fR
option\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-worker\-threads\fR
.RS 4
Sets the number of worker threads syslog\-ng OSE can use, including the main syslog\-ng OSE thread\&. Note that certain operations in syslog\-ng OSE can use threads that are not limited by this option\&. This setting has effect only when syslog\-ng OSE is running in multithreaded mode\&. Available only in
syslog\-ng Open Source Edition 3\&.3
and later\&. See
\fBThe syslog\-ng Open Source Edition 3\&.3 Administrator Guide\fR
for details\&.
.RE
.SH "FILES"
.PP
/usr/
.PP
/etc/syslog\-ng/syslog\-ng\&.conf
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBsyslog\-ng\&.conf\fR(5)
.PP
\m[blue]\fB\fBThe syslog\-ng OSE 3\&.3 Administrator Guide\fR\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[1]\d\s+2
.PP
If you experience any problems or need help with syslog\-ng, visit
\m[blue]\fBvisit the syslog\-ng wiki\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[3]\d\s+2
or the
\m[blue]\fB\fBsyslog\-ng mailing list\fR\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[4]\d\s+2\&.
.PP
For news and notifications about of syslog\-ng, visit the
\m[blue]\fB\fBsyslog\-ng Insider Blog\fR\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[5]\d\s+2\&.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.PP
This manual page was written by the BalaBit Documentation Team <documentation@balabit\&.com>\&.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.SS ""
.PP
The authors grant permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this manual page under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 2 or newer (GPL v2+)\&.
.SH "NOTES"
.IP " 1." 4
\fBThe syslog-ng Open Source Edition Administrator Guide\fR
.RS 4
\%http://www.balabit.com/support/documentation/
.RE
.IP " 2." 4
the official syslog-ng website
.RS 4
\%http://www.balabit.com/network-security/syslog-ng/
.RE
.IP " 3." 4
visit the syslog-ng wiki
.RS 4
\%http://www.balabit.com/wiki/syslog-ng-faq
.RE
.IP " 4." 4
\fBsyslog-ng mailing list\fR
.RS 4
\%https://lists.balabit.hu/mailman/listinfo/syslog-ng
.RE
.IP " 5." 4
\fBsyslog-ng Insider Blog\fR
.RS 4
\%http://insider.blogs.balabit.com
.RE