winnt/sys32/logs what logs can be deleted?

mcolao · ‎09-23-2004

I have a customer that is seeing the log files grow tremendiously and not the logs folder is at 3.5Gigs and after some time it ends up crashing the system.

The logs they have in there date back to March 1, 2004 and keep building up and up. Is there a way to limit how many files are in this folder? Can they delete the logs or back them up somewhere? Can they just keep about 1 month of data in here? Also, what are these files used for exactly and why aren't they perged or why don't they do circular logs, etc.?

I did a search to find the answers but came up short, so any help would be great...

Thanks,

---Mike

P.S. - most of the logs are data_avcsmgr_<date>.txt, and more unity logs...

lindborg · ‎09-23-2004

These log files are under your windows System 32 directory?! any of the data and diag files from Unity (of which _avcsmgr_ is one) are by default under \commserver\logs.

You can move those around if you hack the registry (which I'm assuming you didn't but should probably check). Unity cleans up log files under \commserver\logs based on the number of days you have set in the SA under the configuration pages (by default they're left around for 7 days).

If they're ending up under WinNt\System32 then someone monkied on your system or there's a process in place to copy files around out of that directoyr that was put in place or something - Unity wouldn't be putting these there on its own. I've run into a few sites that "archive" the data/diag files using a seperate service such that they can keep report info around for long periods of time. This would be my first guess based on your description.

mcolao · ‎09-23-2004

This system was installed 3 years ago so anything is possible. So would it hurt if the customer deleted these files to clear up disk space? And yes it is under the winnt\system32 and it is under a folder called "logs".

tonyw1538 · ‎09-23-2004

That is the default location for IIS logs.....

mcolao · ‎09-23-2004

Can most of them be deleted or do they have to stay there? That is the main question...and if they have to stay there then why if they are just log files?

lindborg · ‎09-23-2004

As I noted, Unity cleans up it's logs - I suspect strongly someone is fiddled with your box and is archiving logs there for whatever reason. I can't answer for you why that happened since I didn't set it up that way.

Any of the Unity log files (i.e. data_avcsmgr_xxx.txt) can be deleted no problem - these are only used for diagnostic and reports generation purposes, they have no bearing on the running system at all (other than the currently open files for today - they're cycled every night).

You can check the \commserver\logs directory and I'm betting you see logs there, too, but I'm betting non of them are over 10 days (unless you look on the SA configuration page and someone has changed the default to more than that).

If these files are being copied over to system32, you need to run down how that's happening since Unity doesn't do that.

mcolao · ‎09-23-2004

Thanks Jeff...I appreciate the feedback. I am going to look into it tomorrow in detail. I don't know who did it or why, but it needs to be fixed fast before the system crashes...