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Securing Linux 6
FIGURE 6-4
Display system log files in the System Log Viewer window.
To view a particular log file, click the log name in the left column. Choose a date from the calendar
in the lower-left corner to view log messages for a particular date.
Table 6-2 contains a listing of log files displayed in the System Log Viewer window, along with
other files in the /var/log directory that may interest you. (Select File???Open to open a log file
that doesn??™t appear in the left column.) Many of these files are included with most Linux systems
and are viewable only by root. Also, some Linux systems may use different file or directory names
(for example, /etc/httpd is /etc/apache on some Linux systems).
Because these logs are stored in plain-text files, you can view them using any text editor (such as vi
or gedit) or paging command (such as the less command).
TABLE 6-2
Log Files in the /var/log Directory
System Logs Name Filename Description
Boot Log boot.log Contains messages indicating which systems services have
started and shut down successfully and which (if any) have
failed to start or stop. The most recent bootup messages are
listed near the end of the file.
Cron Log cron Contains status messages from the crond, a daemon that
periodically runs scheduled jobs, such as backups and log
file rotation.
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