logrotate Not Rotating Application Logs on RHEL 9

📖 ~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

Expected log rotation does not occur, leading to oversized files and disk pressure.

Environment & Reproduction

Logs in /var/log keep growing despite configured rotation rules.

Root Cause Analysis

Syntax errors, missing include files, incorrect ownership, or timer/service not running.

Quick Triage

Test configuration with logrotate -d and inspect systemctl status logrotate.timer.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Correct logrotate stanza syntax, ownership, and postrotate commands.

Solution – Primary Fix

Force a controlled rotation test with logrotate -vf and validate new files.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Ensure postrotate reload or signal is correct so app switches to new log file.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

When rotating logs in custom paths, verify contexts to keep writer process access intact.

Rollback Plan

Confirm timer triggers and rotation history progresses as expected.

Prevention & Hardening

Restore previous working rotation config from backup when regression appears.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Lint logrotate snippets in CI and monitor largest log files continuously.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for rhel-9.

View all rhel-9 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

logrotate -d /etc/logrotate.conf; systemctl status logrotate.timer; journalctl -u logrotate.service