13.1 Finding and Gathering Information
Linux logs things in a fair amount of detail. There are several places to
look when you have problems with your system, most of which are standard
to Linux systems in general and some of which are peculiar to
openSUSE systems. Most log files can also be viewed with YaST
().
YaST offers the possibility to collect all system information needed by
the support team. Use . Select the problem
category. When all information is gathered, attach it to your support
request.
The following is a list of the most commonly checked log files and what
they typically contain.
Table 13-1 Log Files
|
~/.xsession-errors
|
Messages from the desktop applications currently running. The
~ is the home directory of the current user.
|
|
/var/log/apparmor/
|
Log files from AppArmor, see
Novell AppArmor Administration Guide, (↑ Novell AppArmor Administration Guide )
for detailed information.
|
|
/var/log/audit/audit.log
|
Log file from Audit to track any access to files, directories, or
resources of your system and trace system calls.
|
|
/var/log/boot.msg
|
Messages from the kernel during the boot process.
|
|
/var/log/mail.*
|
Messages from the mail system.
|
|
/var/log/messages
|
Ongoing messages from the kernel and system log daemon when running.
|
|
/var/log/NetworkManager
|
Log file from NetworkManager to collect problems with network connectivity
|
|
/var/log/samba/
|
Directory containing Samba server and client log messages.
|
|
/var/log/SaX.log
|
Hardware messages from the SaX display and KVM system.
|
|
/var/log/warn
|
All messages from the kernel and system log daemon assigned WARNING
level or higher.
|
|
/var/log/wtmp
|
Binary file containing user login records for the current machine
session. View it with last.
|
|
/var/log/Xorg.*.log
|
Various start-up and runtime logs from the X Window system. It is
useful for debugging failed X start-ups.
|
|
/var/log/YaST2/
|
Directory containing YaST's actions and their results.
|
|
/var/log/zypper.log
|
Log file of zypper.
|
Apart from log files, your machine also supplies you with information
about the running system. See
System Information
Table 13-2 System Information
|
/proc/cpuinfo
|
This displays processor information, including its type, make,
model, and performance.
|
|
/proc/dma
|
This shows which DMA channels are currently being used.
|
|
/proc/interrupts
|
This shows which interrupts are in use and how many of each have
been in use.
|
|
/proc/iomem
|
This displays the status of I/O (input/output) memory.
|
|
/proc/ioports
|
This shows which I/O ports are in use at the moment.
|
|
/proc/meminfo
|
This displays memory status.
|
|
/proc/modules
|
This displays the individual modules.
|
|
/proc/mounts
|
This displays devices currently mounted.
|
|
/proc/partitions
|
This shows the partitioning of all hard disks.
|
|
/proc/version
|
This displays the current version of Linux.
|
Linux comes with a number of tools for system analysis and monitoring.
See Section 11.0, System Monitoring Utilities,
(↑ Reference ) for a selection of the most important
ones used in system diagnostics.
Each scenario included in the following begins with a header describing
the problem followed by a paragraph or two offering suggested solutions,
available references for more detailed solutions, and cross-references to
other scenarios that might be related.
