Redhat - Where is the log file for the initial boot process?

mjcocat · 06-05-2008, 01:17 PM

If I wanted to see which services failed on boot, where would I look on Red Hat? I would imagine /var/log/boot.log, but that file is empty.

bigrigdriver · 06-05-2008, 01:58 PM

Try the dmesg command. Also look in /var/log/messages and boot.msg.

anomie · 06-05-2008, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjcocat

I would imagine /var/log/boot.log, but that file is empty.

It normally shouldn't be empty. Is it possible the most recent boot log has been rotated to /var/log/boot.log.1? (or .2, etc.?)

mjcocat · 06-05-2008, 03:08 PM

There is no boot.msg and I checked all of the boot.log.1 .2 etc files. This is RHEL 5

anomie · 06-05-2008, 03:17 PM

What's the uptime on that box? Not sure about RHEL5, but on RHEL4 the logrotate default for boot.log is to rotate it weekly and keep four previous weeks' worth. If you've been up longer, they're history.

Anyway, can you explain more about what you're ultimately trying to accomplish? What is the problem, exactly?

mjcocat · 06-05-2008, 03:22 PM

There really isn't a problem, more curiosity than anything. It came about when I booted the system and at the last second saw that something failed, but I didn't have time to see which service it was. I figured there had to be a log file for this.

I just rebooted the system, so I have an uptime of about 45 seconds. Still nothing in there except a couple of lines about dhclient...

anomie · 06-05-2008, 03:27 PM

Not sure if it helps, but this is my /etc/syslog.conf entry:

Code:

# Save boot messages also to boot.log
local7.*                                                /var/log/boot.log

Maybe double check yours. And double check that syslogd is running (!).

mjcocat · 06-05-2008, 03:31 PM

Same thing...This is a brand new default install. Thanks anyway for your help.