Chapter 19. Logs and Audit Trails

If I had to list ten advantages that Linux offers, logging would be in the top five. Logging is an essential component of any network operating system. This chapter focuses on logging tools and techniques that help you keep your finger on your system's daily pulse.

What Is Logging, Exactly?

If you're just now migrating to Linux, you may not be familiar with logging. (Most desktop-oriented operating systems offer minimal logging or sometimes, none at all.)

Briefly, logging is any procedure by which an operating system or application records events as they happen and preserves those records for later perusal.

It's difficult to say when logging first became a staple procedure in computing, but it hails from the discipline ...

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