Log rotation in Nginx - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is log rotation in the context of nginx?

Log rotation is the process of renaming and archiving old log files and creating new ones to prevent logs from growing too large and consuming too much disk space.

beginner

Which tool is commonly used to automate log rotation for nginx logs on Linux systems?

The logrotate tool is commonly used to automate log rotation for nginx logs on Linux systems.

intermediate

What is the purpose of the postrotate script in a logrotate configuration for nginx?

The postrotate script runs commands after rotating logs, usually to tell nginx to reopen its log files so it writes to the new log files.

intermediate

Show a simple logrotate configuration snippet for nginx access logs.

Example configuration:

/var/log/nginx/access.log {
  daily
  missingok
  rotate 7
  compress
  delaycompress
  notifempty
  create 0640 www-data adm
  sharedscripts
  postrotate
    systemctl reload nginx > /dev/null 2>&1 || true
  endscript
}

beginner

Why is it important to reload or restart nginx after log rotation?

Reloading nginx after log rotation makes nginx close the old log files and open new ones, so it continues logging correctly without losing data.

What does the rotate 7 directive mean in a logrotate config?

A Create 7 new log files

B Rotate logs every 7 minutes

C Keep 7 old log files before deleting

D Compress logs 7 times

The rotate 7 directive means to keep 7 old log files before removing the oldest.

Which command is typically used inside postrotate to reload nginx?

A systemctl reload nginx

B nginx -s stop

C service nginx restart

D killall nginx

The command systemctl reload nginx tells nginx to reload its configuration and reopen log files.

What happens if nginx is not reloaded after log rotation?

A Nginx crashes

B Nginx continues writing to old log files

C Nginx creates new log files automatically

D Nginx stops logging completely

Without reload, nginx keeps writing to the old (rotated) log files, which can cause confusion and disk space issues.

Which of these is NOT a common logrotate option?

A compress

B delaycompress

C rotate

D restart

There is no restart option in logrotate; reloading or restarting services is done in scripts like postrotate.

Where are nginx log files usually located on a Linux system?

A /var/log/nginx/

B /etc/nginx/logs/

C /usr/nginx/logs/

D /home/nginx/logs/

Nginx log files are typically stored in /var/log/nginx/.

Explain how log rotation works for nginx logs and why it is important.

Think about what happens when logs grow too big and how nginx handles log files.

Describe a basic logrotate configuration for nginx logs including key directives and scripts.

Focus on the main parts of a logrotate config and how it interacts with nginx.