System logs

All major software components that run on the host have an associated log. Log files have the following characteristics:
  • Each log consists of a set of files that are stored in a component-specific directory. For managers, there is one log per manager. For servers, there is one log per session, and their log files have pid identifiers, date identifiers, or both (<pid>.<yyyy-mm-dd>).
  • Each file contains one day of entries, for a default maximum of seven days.
  • Each file contains entries that have a timestamp (date and time), an entry severity type, and a message.
The system rotates log files, that is, for all the major components there are the current log files and the archived log files.
  • For all Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data and Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data System components (except postgres), the system creates a new log file at midnight if there is constant activity for that component. If, however you load data on Monday and then do not load again until Friday, the system creates a new log file dated the previous day from the new activity, in this case, Thursday. Although the size of the log files is unlimited, every 30 days the system removes all log files that were not accessed.
  • For postgres logs, by default, the system checks the size of the log file daily and rotates it to an archive file if it is greater than 1 GB in size. The system keeps 28 days (four weeks) of archived log files. (Netezza Performance Server Support can help you to customize these settings if needed.)

To view the logs, log on to the host as user nz. When you view an active logfile, use a file viewer command such as more, less, cat, tail, or similar commands. If you use a text editor such as emacs or vi, you could cause an interruption and possible information loss to log files that are actively capturing log messages while the system is running.