20010727: hupsyslog not working; LDM log files not being rotated

>From: "Wayne Bresky" <address@hidden>
>Organization: Cornell
>Keywords: 200107261641.f6QGft109510 LDM syslog syslog.pid hupsyslog

Wayne,

>Sorry, I meant to say there isn't a var/data directory.  Just a link to
>/usr/local/ldm/data.  It's been a LONG day. :-)

OK.  There doesn't need to be a /var/data directory.  That was just used
as an example.  A long time in the past, we used to put our data in
/var/data/ldm/...  Now, we typically have a /data directory on a large
disk partition.  We then link ~ldm/data to /data/ldm and create other
directories under that.  McIDAS stuff is usually put in /data/ldm/mcidas,
GEMPAK stuff in /data/ldm/gempak, etc.  It really doesn't matter where
data is put as long as it is logically organized.

>Ok.  So pqactHUP isn't necessary if I am stopping and restarting
>the LDM server.  I didn't think so.  But what about the error?
>
>hupsyslog: couldn't open /var/run/syslogd.pid.

This is not good.  It seems to indicate that syslog is not setup corretly.

>I see AREA and MD files coming in as well as some GEMPAK
>data it looks like.  So I am decoding some data.  :-)

That is good news, but I am worried about syslog related stuff (as your
next email shows).

>Thanks for all the help.  And putting up with me.

No problem.  Better to get the installation done right and not have to
worry about things later.

>>From address@hidden Fri Jul 27 17:05:02 2001
>
>I'm noticing something strange....the initial ldm log file is empty
>
>-rw-r--r--    1 ldm      Unidata         0 Jul 27 16:48 ldmd.log
>-rwxrwxr-x    1 ldm      Unidata   6194062 Jul 27 19:01 ldmd.log.1
>
>What would cause this???

This is caused by the hupsyslog not working.  hupsyslog is used in
rotating the LDM log files.  One begins an LDM run (always as 'ldm' and
never as 'root') and logging goes into ~ldm/logs/ldmd.log.  While the
LDM is running, this file is always open.  When newlog is run (either
by itself or by ldmadmin), the existing ldmd.log file is copied to
ldmd.log.1 (after ldmd.log.1 is copied to ldmd.log.2, etc.) and
a new ldmd.log is created.  Since the file descriptor for ldmd.log
is open, logging will continue into the renamed file unless a HUP
is sent to syslog telling it to reread its configuration file.  syslog
closes all open file descriptors when it gets a HUP allowing for
the switch in ldmd.log file.  Since /var/run/syslog.pid can't be found
on your system, the HUP is not working and the log files don't get
rotated.  The cause for /var/run/syslog.pid not being found must
be determined and fixed before the log files can get properly rotated.

What I would try at this point is:

o make sure that syslog is running; if it is not, start it (it should be
  since logging _is_ proceeding into ldmd.log.1)
o try stopping syslog and restarting it (must be done as 'root')
o review your setup in syslog.conf to make sure you didn't make any typos
  (syslog.conf is picky about needing tabs instead of spaces for white space)
o if all else fails, try rebooting

If all of these fail, give us a login so we can snoop around.

Tom