Configure logging

Administrators of P4 Server often make use of log Helix Core Server supports human-readable logs as well as structured logs in a comma-separated value (CSV) format. The human-readable P4LOG environment variable specifies the log file for errors. The human-readable P4AUDIT environment variable specifies the log file that records file transfers to users. Structured log files are for many purposes. To learn more, see 'Logging" in P4 Server Administration Documentation. files, so configuring logging is an important task.

Error log file

Use the -L flag to p4d or the P4LOG environment variable to specify the P4 Server error output file. If no error output file is defined, errors are dumped to standard error of the p4d process. Although p4d tries to ensure that all error messages reach the user, if an error occurs and the user application disconnects before the error is received, p4d also logs these errors to its error output.

P4 Server also supports trace flags used for debugging. To learn more, see Diagnostic flags for monitoring the server.

The rate of log file growth can be rapid, especially when verbose server logging is enabled. To learn about logging levels, see Using P4LOG.

Audit log file

If your site requires that user access to files be tracked, use the -A flag to p4d or the environment variable P4AUDIT to activate auditing and specify the audit log file. When auditing is active, every time a user accesses a file, a record is stored in the audit log file. This can consume considerable disk space on an active installation. To learn more, see Auditing user file access.

Manage growth of log files

The log files defined by P4LOG and P4AUDIT continually grow.

The P4 Server rejects commands when free space falls below certain limits. To learn more, see Monitor disk space usage.

To prevent those log files from growing so large that they cause problems, consider:

  • Writing a script (or a batch file) that automatically renames or moves the log file according to the criteria you choose. You can also rename or move the log manually.

  • Your organization's retention policies for storing historical copies of log files.

When the P4LOG or P4AUDIT log files are renamed or moved, Helix Core Server automatically creates a new log file in the original location.

To supplement your use of P4LOG and P4AUDIT, consider Structured logs and Using structured logging.