GWME-7.2.1-13 Additional NoMa Logfile Rotation Patch

Contents
Description

This update is for all GroundWork customers running GroundWork Monitor 7.2.1 who want to ensure that all NoMa logfiles are properly rotated and are not subject to infinite growth.

What is in this update?

This Technical Bulletin provides a documented and scripted method of applying the log-rotation recommendations in internal ticket GWMON-13520, which covers several NoMa logfiles that were previously overlooked.

NoMa logfiles addressed

The following NoMa-generated logfiles have not historically been under logrotate control:

/usr/local/groundwork/noma/var/noma_daemon.log
/usr/local/groundwork/noma/var/noma_downtime.log
/usr/local/groundwork/noma/var/noma_notify.log

The noma_downtime.log logfile in particular has been seen to grow huge in production.

To repair, a new /etc/logrotate.d/groundwork-noma-extras config file for logrotate is supplied that handles these files. Other logfiles generated by operation of NoMa were already handled by existing configuration, and are not dealt with by this patch.

Prerequisites
Installation Steps
Name Size Creator Creation Date Comment  
TB7.2.1-13-noma_log_rotation.tgz 4 kB Glenn Herteg Sep 10, 2020 07:47 MD5: bc4700633e908dc48e5c6197ba6f36da  
  1. As the root user, copy the attached tarball to an empty directory on the GW server already in place.
  2. Unpack the tarball using the command:
    tar xf TB7.2.1-13-noma_log_rotation.tgz
    
  3. Change into the directory created by untarring:
    cd TB7.2.1-13-noma_log_rotation
    
  4. Run the installer script:
    ./TB7.2.1-13-noma_log_rotation_install.sh
    

    The install script will test that you are on a GroundWork system running a version between 7.1.0 and 7.2.1 inclusive, that you have not already installed this patch, and that you want to go ahead.

  5. Respond to the install-confirmation prompt when it appears.
  6. A new file will be copied into place. Monitoring in general can continue while this patch is installed.
Usage

Once this is installed, the additional NoMa logfiles will eventually be rotated once they exceed a reasonable size.

The administrator might wish to look at the files listed above, a day after this patch is installed. If the initial pass of log rotation caused some of those files to be rotated, and the old copies are huge and no longer needed, manual pruning of those rotated-out copies may be desired, to recover the space. Otherwise, the space will be recovered automatically over the log run, after a sufficient number of additional logfile rotations are triggered by continued growth of the logfiles.

No further administrator action is generally needed.

Uninstalling

Reversal of this patch will remove the changes made to the GW server by removing the one added logrotate config file.

  1. As the root user, navigate to the patch-unpack directory you created when installing the patch. (If that directory no longer exists, first unpack the patch again.)
    cd TB7.2.1-13-noma_log_rotation
    
  2. Run the uninstall command:
    ./TB7.2.1-13-noma_log_rotation_uninstall.sh