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    All system logs empty

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    6 Posts 4 Posters 1.3k Views
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    • M
      MrSnuggles
      last edited by MrSnuggles

      Hi everyone

      I installed pfSense on an apu2d4 and had it before on an older apu for years. On my most recent install now the system does not log anything that would show under System Logs:

      bc4a7fcd-b283-4f90-8717-9c5e674483bc-image.png

      It does not matter which tab I click on. System, Firewall, DHCP... all are empty. pfSense is installed on a 32GB SSD and 27GB are free. I tried enabling RAM disks to check whether this would work, but nah. I also restored factory defaults and logging would still not work on the fresh install, prior to importing the old configuration. What could the issue be? What can I do to figure it out?

      Checking the /var/log directory also did not help. Except for the fact that dmesg.boot does actually log stuff. So it does not seem to be a problem with partitions or permissions I believe.
      f34c32e9-a8d1-45c5-9d42-6325f2f230fd-image.png

      Every other system feature I tried works: Installing new packages (Snort, OpenVPN, pfBlockerNG) and these packages can log their own messages like snort alerts for example.

      EDIT: I'm currently running pfSense version 2.4.4
      ae629d68-e59b-4bec-ace2-809020148f63-image.png

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        What pfSense version is that? You have log files dated 2017 there, which seems wrong but I'm not sure I've ever checked on a clean install.

        Anyway I would suggest the syslog daemon is just not running. Check Status > Services. Normally I'd suggest checking the logs but....

        Check dmesg though to see if any errors are shown.

        Steve

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        • M
          MrSnuggles
          last edited by

          Hey Steve

          thanks for your reply. pfSense should be on the newest version (v4.0.11). The syslogd service is running happily. The dmesg output also did not show anything unusual (https://pastebin.com/HUng57jE).

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          • GertjanG
            Gertjan
            last edited by

            @MrSnuggles said in All system logs empty:

            pfSense should be on the newest version (v4.0.11).

            I advice you to ditch whatever you have and use the real pfSense : https://www.pfsense.org/download/

            No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
            Edit : and where are the logs ??

            M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • jimpJ
              jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
              last edited by

              Go to the settings tab and click the button to reset all your log files.

              Remember: Upvote with the ๐Ÿ‘ button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

              Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

              Do not Chat/PM for help!

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              • M
                MrSnuggles @Gertjan
                last edited by MrSnuggles

                Resolved!

                @Gertjan said in All system logs empty:

                @MrSnuggles said in All system logs empty:

                pfSense should be on the newest version (v4.0.11).

                I advice you to ditch whatever you have and use the real pfSense : https://www.pfsense.org/download/

                Oops I quoted the BIOS version (4.0.11) instead of the pfsense version (2.4.4). Should be as official as it gets. Otherwise I would be surprised ๐Ÿ˜…

                @jimp said in All system logs empty:

                Go to the settings tab and click the button to reset all your log files.

                Thanks! I had the same idea after reading what Steve pointed out about the logs being from 2017. Ran rm -rf /var/log and now the system is logging happily. I don't understand though what the problem was since the permissions look exactly the same now. At least I have logging back ๐ŸŽ‰ Thanks again!

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