Compress directory and proxy logs

Question

Hi,
Did somebody find an easy way to compress the proxy and directory logs in Sun Dir 6.3? It would be nice if it comes with something built in, but as it's not the case I was thinking on doing some scripts to compress the old logs and then also do the clean-up as they will be renamed. My doubts is if that could affect the log management process build-in in the application. Any suggestion of how you are managing the logs is welcome.
Thanks,
Federico

Answer 1

You could also use logrotate or rotatelog scripts (PERL iirc) to set up aging and removal parameters.
We have also used some in-house scripts for dump-archive management. Some scripts create "dumps" of software data (DB exports, etc.), these "dumps" fill up a directory (preferably a separate filesystem), and one script maintains a given amount of free space in the filesystem by deleting oldest dumps.
I guess this could be easily done with log files as well.
Now, if you're using Solaris 10 and ZFS, making a compressed ZFS filesystem specifically for logs is rather simple. We usually do that during post-set-up routines by:
* shutting down the server,
* creating a ZFS FS dataset,
* setting compression=on, (gzip-9 if recent OpenSolaris Nevada),
* moving the log files if any to this FS,
* setting the owner/access rights as of the previous "real" log directory,
* changing the mountpoint,
* and starting the server back.
Works well with a ZFS FS in a local ZFS dataset delegated to a Solaris zone, as well.
One noted drawback is some more manual labor for deinstallation of LDAP packages (pkgrm expects directories to be deletable) and migration of a zone.
So if you go this way, document the changes properly :)