Verifying Log File Integrity Using iguana_log_verify
Contents
Iguana stores its log messages in files contained in its log directory. You can use the iguana_log_verify command line utility to verify that log files in this directory have not been corrupted. This is useful if you are planning to back up your log files or migrate them from one server to another.
Note: How could log files get corrupted?
Iguana’s logging system has a fail-safe design that makes it highly fault-tolerant. However, because hard drives are physical devices, there is always a possibility that data stored on disk may have become corrupted. For this reason, Iguana’s logging system makes extensive use of checksum information to ensure that any data corruption that might occur results in minimal data loss.
Because of the fragile nature of hard drive disk storage, it is important to implement a backup strategy to safeguard your data.
Tip: The location of the log directory is included in the log statistics for the Iguana server. See Viewing Log Statistics for information on how to view log statistics.
iguana_log_verify is included in your installation of Iguana. It is located in the directory in which Iguana is installed (for example, C:\Program Files\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana).
The syntax for iguana_log_verify is:
iguana_log_verify <parameters>
The following table describes the parameters that can be provided with iguana_log_verify.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| –all | Verify all of the log files in the specified directory. |
| –file <filename> | Verify the log file specified by <filename>. |
| –log_dir <directory> | The directory containing the Iguana log files. If this parameter is not specified, the current working directory is assumed. |
| –no_progress | Normally, iguana_log_verify provides continuously updated progress information as it scans the log files that it is verifying. This parameter disables this progress information, which is useful if the output from iguana_log_verify is being redirected to a log file. |
| –verbose | Output additional information for each of the log files verified. |
Note: When running iguana_log_verify, you must supply either –all or –file. If both parameters are provided, –all is assumed.
The following is an example of what you see when you use iguana_log_verify to verify all of the files in the Iguana log directory:
D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguanalogs>iguana_log_verify --all iguana_log_verify 1.0.1 Directory : D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana\logs Scanning 20081230.log...100% Scanning 20090102.log...100% Scanning 20090105.log...100% Scanning 20090106.log...100% Scanning 20090107.log...100% Scanning 20090108.log...100% Scanning 20090109.log...100% Scanning 20090112.log...100% Scanning 20090113.log...100% Scanning 20090114.log...100% Scanning 20090115.log...100% Scanning 20090116.log...100% Scanning 20090119.log...100% Scanning 20090120.log...100% Scanning 20090121.log...100% Scanning 20090122.log...100% Scanning 20090123.log...100% Scanning 20090126.log...100% Scanning 20090127.log...100% Scanning 20090128.log...100% Scanning 20090129.log...100% Scanning 20090130.log...100% Scanning 20090202.log...100% Scanning 20090203.log...100% Scanning 20090204.log...100% Scanning 20090205.log...100% Scanning 20090206.log...100% Scanning 20090209.log...100% Scanning 20090210.log...100% ---SUMMARY--- Directory : D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana\logs Total : 29 files Valid : 29 files
If you specify the –verbose option, you will see detailed information about the file or files verified:
D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana\logs>iguana_log_verify --verbose --file 20090116.log
iguana_log_verify 1.0.1
File : D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana\logs\20090116.log
Scanning 20090116.log...100%
---DETAILS---
Directory : D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana\logs
20090116.log : OK
# of Messages : 139803
# of 1MB Pages : 18
Total Message Size : 16561684
Avg Message Size : 119
Avg Messages/1 MB Page: 7767
---SUMMARY---
Directory : D:\iNTERFACEWARE\Iguana\logs
Total : 1 files
Valid : 1 files
Note: If a log file was created by a beta version of Iguana that was built prior to February 10, 2009, it might not contain checksum information. iguana_log_verify cannot verify log files that do not contain checksum information.