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Todo #12012

closed

Improve log settings help text for file size, compression, and retention count

Added by Jim Pingle almost 3 years ago. Updated over 2 years ago.

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Logging
Target version:
Start date:
06/08/2021
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Estimated time:
Plus Target Version:
22.01
Release Notes:
Default

Description

The fields in log settings for file size and compression lack information that users need to make properly informed decisions about best practices for their settings.

I recently updated the docs with some best practice info at https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/monitoring/logs/settings.html#log-rotation-settings but those notes have not made it into the GUI yet.

Specifically, the GUI needs to emphasize:

  • The log file size is for the first log file before rotation (already mentioned) but each old log file is the same size, depending on compression settings, so the retention count can dramatically increase the size of retained log file data
  • Compression should be disabled on ZFS datasets with compression enabled (See #12011), slower systems, and for large log file sizes (but good/bad sizes would vary by hardware so it's hard to be specific)
  • When calculating the current log size and free space, it should also estimate the total maximum log size (e.g. multiply the log size by retention count and then the number of log files) regardless of compression since the max could happen in a worst case scenario where compression doesn't save much space. Unlikely with logs, but still possible.

And review the other info to make sure it's accurate and guiding the user toward best practices.

Make sure the same info is available on the main log settings page as well as the per-log settings options, or at least link back to the main log settings or docs on the per-log settings.

Actions #1

Updated by Jim Pingle over 2 years ago

  • Status changed from New to Feedback
  • % Done changed from 0 to 100
Actions #2

Updated by Jim Pingle over 2 years ago

  • Status changed from Feedback to Resolved

Text looks good now.

Actions #3

Updated by Jim Pingle over 2 years ago

  • Plus Target Version changed from 21.09 to 22.01
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