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NAME

nettlgen.conf — network tracing and logging configuration file

SYNOPSIS

/etc/nettlgen.conf

DESCRIPTION

/etc/nettlgen.conf,gpr the configuration file for Common Network Tracing and Logging commands, contains configuration information used by the nettl and netfmt commands (see nettl(1M) and netfmt(1M)). The nettlconf command (see nettlconf(1M)) maintains log and subsystem data in this file, allowing subsystems to safely add, modify, or delete existing entries in the file. nettlconf also allows system administrators to customize logging resource usage parameters and file names in the file. Changes to this file should only be made using the nettlconf command.

The file is composed of records containing fields which are separated by colons (:). Each line is a unique record containing either global log information or subsystem information. The first field in each record is the tag field which identifies the type of information contained in that record. A LOG tag identifies log information; a SS tag identifies subsystem information. Blank lines or lines beginning with # are ignored.

Log Record

The log record defines static information used to configure logging defaults such as the name of the log file and whether to turn console logging on or off. Note that only the last log record encountered in the file is used; prior log records are ignored. Users can alter the log information to suit their particular needs using the nettlconf command. For the log information changes to take effect, the system administrator must stop and restart the tracing and logging facility using the nettl command.

Log record fields are as follows:

Field  
NumberNameDescription
1tagContains LOG tag string.
2Console Logging FlagSet to 1 if console logging is to be enabled, 0 if not.
3Log Port SizeAmount of memory to reserve for internal log message buffers. Specified in Kbyte units. Valid range is 1 - 32. The default is 8.
4Maximum Log File SpaceDetermines the maximum logging file space to be allowed. Specified in Kbyte units. This value is the combined size of the 2 ping-ponged log files. Valid range is 1 - 10240. The default is 1000.
5Log File prefixPath and name of the log file, without the type and age extension (.LOG0x, where x is 0 or 1).
6Console Filter FileName of filter configuration file used for console logging.

The Console Logging Flag determines if console logging is to be enabled when the tracing and logging facility is started. Console logging is used to display log messages on the system console using criteria specified in the file named by Console Filter File. If there is no console present or console logging is not desired this feature can be turned off using the nettlconf command. During system bootup, the Console Logging Flag is always updated to reflect the value of the NETTL_CONSOLE variable in the /etc/rc.config.d/nettl file.

If more information is desired than the special terse form used for console logging, turn off console logging and start a formatter with an options file specifying the filters to use (see netfmt(1M)).

The Log Port Size defines the number of outstanding messages possible in the log queue. For logging, 256-byte buffers are used. The number chosen here indicates how much space to allocate in kilobytes. The default size is 8192 bytes (specified by 8), which is split into thirty-two 256-byte blocks. The first block is reserved by the system, leaving 31 blocks for log messages. Each log message starts on a new block, taking 64 bytes of overhead. In addition, each block takes 8 bytes of overhead. The largest message that can be stored using the default size is 7624 bytes ((31 * 256) - (31 * 8) - 64). Most log messages are fairly small, so choosing 8K of buffer is sufficient for the logging facility to keep up with a large volume of messages.

The Maximum Log File Space determines the maximum logging file space to be allowed. Log files are split into two parts. When an individual log file reaches one-half of the maximum specified here, the logging system deletes any existing old file, renames the current file to the old file, and starts a new file. The default specification allows for 1 Megabyte of total log file storage (each file does not exceed 500K bytes). Since logging is usually infrequent and log messages are fairly small, this should be more than adequate for all needs. The rate at which the file space fills up depends on what level of logging is turned on for each subsystem, the volume of traffic, frequency of connections, etc; and is very difficult to predict.

The Console Filter File specifies the name of the file containing formatter filters used for console logging. This file contains filters that control the logged information displayed on the console. The syntax of this file is the same as the filter configuration files that are used with the netfmt command. See netfmt(1M) for more details on filter configuration files.

If the console filter file does not exist, the specified file is created with a default set of filters which will display DISASTER messages on the console. If the console filter file does exist and contains a time_from filter, the time_of_day and day_of_year fields in the filter will be updated every time nettl is started.

The Console Filter File field is optional. If omitted the default file /var/adm/conslog.opts will be used.

Subsystem Record

The subsystem record defines the information for that subsystem, and has ten fields including the tag field. The fields are separated by colons (:); thus no field can contain a colon. An empty field can be represented by the string NULL. NOTE: the information in the subsystem records should only be changed by the subsystem using the nettlconf command during product installation. Users should not change this information unless directed by a Hewlett-Packard support representative.

Subsystem record fields are as follows:

Field  
NumberNameDescription
1tagContains SS tag string.
2Subsystem IDAn integer between 0 and 255. This number is set by the HP factory and must not be changed.
3Subsystem MnemonicA text string consisting of letters, numbers, and the underscore character. The string is set at the factory and must not be changed.
4Initial Log ClassLogging class for the subsystem when the tracing and logging facility is initialized. This is a numeric value as shown below.
5Subsystem TypeSet to s if the subsystem is streams based and exists in the kernel, k if the subsystem exists in the kernel and non-streams based, u if not.
6Subformatter Shared LibraryName of the shared library file containing the subformatter functions listed below.
7Subformatter Message CatalogBasename of the message catalog to use when formatting data for this subsystem.
8Subformatter FunctionC function in the subformatter library to call when formatting data for this subsystem.
9Subformatter OptionsC function in the subformatter library to call to get filter options for this subsystem.
10Group NameA text string to be used in the header banner line in the formatted output.

The recommended setting for the default logging level is set by the products' configuration scripts. It can be changed by the user if another level of logging is desired on initialization. The available classes are Disaster (8), Error (4), Warning (2), and Informative (1). Classes can be combined by adding the numbers; thus Disaster and Error together become 12. The logging level can also be changed at run time using the nettl -log command. Disaster class is always turned on, even if not specified in this configuration file; thus, specifying the value 14 or 6 turns on Disaster, Error and Warning.

If the subformatter library file name does not contain an absolute path, it is assumed to be under /usr/lib. The subformatter library must be a shared library.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Message catalogs are found in the path determined by the environment variable NLSPATH. Default message catalogs are found in /usr/lib/nls/%L/%N.cat where the contents of the LANG environment variable is substituted for the %L field, and the name specified in this parameter is substituted for the %N field.

EXAMPLES

The following example shows the default logging information. Console logging is enabled; logging uses 8 Kbytes to hold log messages; the log files are limited to 1000 Kbytes total (500 Kbytes per file); the log files are /var/adm/nettl.LOG00 and /var/adm/nettl.LOG01; and the console logging filter file is /var/adm/conslog.opts. Most recent data is always in the .LOG00 file.

# # LOG INFORMATION # LOG:1:8:1000:/var/adm/nettl:/var/adm/conslog.opts

The following example turns off console logging, and limits the size of the log file space to 100 Kbytes. Other values are the same as the default.

# # LOG INFORMATION # LOG:0:8:100:/var/adm/nettl:/var/adm/conslog.opts

The following example shows a typical subsystem record. These records should not be changed by the user, but are set by the subsystems using nettlconf during product installation.

# # TEST SUBSYSTEMS # SS:96:TEST_ID_1:8:u:NULL:netfmt:subsys_GENERIC_format: \ ss_96_go:FORMATTER SS:97:TEST_ID_2:8:u:NULL:netfmt:subsys_GENERIC_format: \ ss_97_go:FORMATTER

Note: The continuation marks in this example (\ at end-of-line) and the following one are placed for readability purposes only. nettl and netfmt do not understand continuation marks.

The following entry must always be included in the configuration file. This defines the subsystem for the formatter itself; if it is not in the file, the formatter will not operate properly.

# # FORMATTER SUBSYSTEMS # SS:127:FORMATTER:12:u:NULL:netfmt:subsys_GENERIC_format: \ subsys_127_get_options:FORMATTER

FILES

/etc/nettlgen.conf

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