full system logging (and I mean everyting!)

gacott · 05-09-2007, 07:43 AM

Hello all!

I am looking for help in finding a full system logger. We need this for a research project we are working on and we need to be able to log everything that happens on a Linux box, and I do mean just about everything, all apps, systems calls, events, etc (not key logging). I understand that these logs would become huge, but this is what we really need. Ideally, it would be great if it was a server/client solution also allowing us to collect the data for multiple systems in one location.

The solution does not have to be ready made and perfectly fit our needs, but we do need something close and that we can extend for our needs. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Garret

Emerson · 05-09-2007, 07:52 AM

Hope it helps to get you started

http://gentoo-wiki.com/Syslog-ng

bigrigdriver · 05-09-2007, 09:06 AM

The GNU acct utilities should work.

Quote:

Seriously though, the accouting utilities can provide a system administrator with useful information about system usage—connections, programs executed, and utilization of system resources.

Information about users—their connect time, location, programs executed, and the like—is automatically recored in files by init and login. Four of them are of interest to us: wtmp, which has records for each login and logout; acct, which records each command that was run; usracct and savacct, which contain summaries of the information in acct by user and command, respectively. Each of the accounting utilities reports or summarizes information stored in these files.

You can find out more here: http://www.gnu.org/software/acct/

Yes, it will generate a huge log file in a short period of time.

gacott · 05-10-2007, 04:00 AM

Great info, your input is much appreciated!!