Ubuntu 18.04 LTS rsyslog stops writing logs after disk pressure

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Operational visibility drops as system and app logs disappear.

Environment & Reproduction

High log throughput host with near-full storage partition.

Root Cause Analysis

Queue write failures and inode pressure disrupt rsyslog persistence.

Quick Triage

Check rsyslog status, queue files, and target filesystem health.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Inspect rsyslog diagnostics and journald forwarding behavior.

Solution – Primary Fix

Free space, repair queue settings, and restart logging stack.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Route critical logs to remote collector during local recovery.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Fresh logs appear continuously across expected facilities.

Rollback Plan

Revert rsyslog config fragments and restore baseline outputs.

Prevention & Hardening

Set queue limits, retention policies, and disk alarms.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Differentiate service failure from accidental logrotate misconfiguration.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

View all Ubuntu 18.04 LTS tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

rsyslog docs and Ubuntu logging architecture references.