Limiting the Size of Your Security Log File

Security log files can get very large to the point where they can impede system performance and be cumbersome to work with. You can configure a maximum size for log files and specify a number of log files that will be used when the first file becomes too large.

If you use more than one file for logging, the system will automatically begin writing to an additional file when it reaches the limit you have specified. The system cycles through the files. For example, if you specify five log files maximum, when the system needs to begin writing to a sixth file, it will delete the content of the oldest file (that is, the "first" file) and begin writing to that. When you have multiple files, you will need to check each file until you locate the entries you are looking for.