What happens to the logs?

Question

I've noticed that if I need to go back in the logs, that depending on the amount of activity, I can see back anywhere to only a few days or up to a couple months.
I usually use console and click on all the mail.log files in the left column. Sometimes though, some date rages are missing from the middle.
Anyway, my questions are:
1. Should I be using something other than console to read the logs?
2. When I get back as far as it lets me view, is that it? Aren't they archived somewhere, or are they gone? I'm hoping that all the logs since the server was set up are saved somewhere.
3. If the logs are not saved, is there a way to have them automatically emailed to me every time they turn over?
Thanks!
Scott

Answer 1

you may backup archived log files using RMAN and delete files after backing them up, an example script:
     RMAN> run {
     2> allocate channel dev1 type disk;
     3> backup
     4> format '/app/oracle/arch_backup/log_t%t_s%s_p%p'
     5> (archivelog all delete input);
     6> release channel dev1;
     7> }