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How to enable persistent logging for the systemd journal (journalctl)

Donell Cox
  • Updated

Introduction

When using an OS with systemd, such as CentOS 7 or Ubuntu 20, the server will run a System Journal, which is useful for troubleshooting issues when services fail. The systemd journal is configured by default to store logs only in a small ring buffer (/run/log/journal), which is not persistent. The following procedure will show the method used to make the log persistent.

 

Procedure

The configuration file is part of systemd, a core server system. cPanel support won't perform this action on your behalf. We strongly recommend having a qualified system administrator make the following changes. This procedure presents information for your benefit.

  1. Access the server's command line as the 'root' user via SSH or "Terminal" in WHM.
  2. Backup the /etc/systemd/journald.conf configuration file.
  3. Open the /etc/systemd/journald.conf configuration file with a text-based editor that does not add CRLF metadata.
  4. Locate the Strorage line. 
    #Storage=auto
  5. Remove the # from the line and set the value to persistent. 
    Storage=persistent
  6. Save the changes and exit the text editor.
  7. Run the following command to Load the change into systemd. 
    systemctl daemon-reexec

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