Trace and Alarm log rotation in CA Directory

Products

• CA Directory
• CA Security Command Center
• CA Data Protection (DataMinder)
• CA User Activity Reporting

Issue/Introduction

Description:

Trace and alarm logs getting too large (~2Gig) which stops DSAs from restarting.

An enhancement has been included in eTrust Directory version 8.1 build 942, which enables trace and alarm log rotation. Although turning on trace level debugging is not a best practice, it may be required for monitoring and debugging purposes over the course of days or weeks. This functionality works in exactly the same way that the other daily logs rotate, except for one small difference. The current day's trace/alarm log will always be known as "{dsaName}_trace.log" & "{dsaName}_alarm.log".

Environment

Release:
Component: ETRDIR

Resolution

Solution:

*Please note that this solution only applies to build 942 and higher.

To enable the log rotation for the Alarm and Trace logs for any DSA:

• Configure the two parameters in the configuration files for the DSA (e.g.: "$DXHOME/config/logging/default.dxc"). You must define the below statements AFTER the set rollover-trace-log has been defined and same for alarm (if set). Otherwise, the rollover settings will be set back to their default state of off.
  
  set rollover-trace-log = true;
  set rollover-alarm-log = true;
  
  
• Stop and start the DSA

There are two conditions that must be met for the rollover of the log files to take effect:

1. Roll check will only occur when any log message is being written after 1 minute past midnight.
   
   
2. There needs to be load on the DSA sufficient to write a message to ANY of the open DSA logs.

When the two conditions above are met, the current alarm and trace logs will have the names "{dsaName}_trace.log? and "{dsaName}_alarm.log". The previous day's alarm and trace logs will be renamed to "{dsaName}_trace_ccyymmdd.log" and "{dsaName}_alarm_ccyymmdd.log" respectively.