Monitoring Greenplum Database Log Files

Know the location and content of system log files and monitor them on a regular basis and not just when problems arise.

The following table shows the locations of the various Greenplum Database log files. In file paths:

  • $GPADMIN_HOME refers to the home directory of the gpadmin operating system user.
  • $MASTER_DATA_DIRECTORY refers to the master data directory on the Greenplum Database master host.
  • $GPDATA_DIR refers to a data directory on the Greenplum Database segment host.
  • host identifies the Greenplum Database segment host name.
  • segprefix identifies the segment prefix.
  • N identifies the segment instance number.
  • date is a date in the format YYYYMMDD.
Path Description
$GPADMIN_HOME/gpAdminLogs/ Many different types of log files, directory on each server. $GPADMIN_HOME is the default location for the gpAdminLogs/ directory. You can specify a different location when you run an administrative utility command.
$GPADMIN_HOME/gpAdminLogs/gpinitsystem_date.log system initialization log
$GPADMIN_HOME/gpAdminLogs/gpstart_date.log start log
$GPADMIN_HOME/gpAdminLogs/gpstop_date.log stop log
$GPADMIN_HOME/gpAdminLogs/gpsegstart.py_host:gpadmin_date.log segment host start log
$GPADMIN_HOME/gpAdminLogs/gpsegstop.py_host:gpadmin_date.log segment host stop log
$MASTER_DATA_DIRECTORY/pg_log/startup.log, $GPDATA_DIR/segprefixN/pg_log/startup.log segment instance start log
$MASTER_DATA_DIRECTORY/gpperfmon/logs/gpmon..log gpperfmon logs
$MASTER_DATA_DIRECTORY/pg_log/.csv, $GPDATA_DIR/segprefixN/pg_log/.csv master and segment database logs
$GPDATA_DIR/mirror/segprefixN/pg_log/.csv mirror segment database logs
$GPDATA_DIR/primary/segprefixN/pg_log/.csv primary segment database logs
/var/log/messages Global Linux system messages

Use gplogfilter -t (--trouble) first to search the master log for messages beginning with ERROR:, FATAL:, or PANIC:. Messages beginning with WARNING may also provide useful information.

To search log files on the segment hosts, use the Greenplum gplogfilter utility with gpssh to connect to segment hosts from the master host. You can identify corresponding log entries in segment logs by the statement_id.

The log_rotation_age configuration parameter specifies when a new log file is automatically created while a database instance is running. By default, a new log file is created every day.

Parent topic: System Monitoring and Maintenance