Description

The default action to take when the logs reach their maximum size is to rotate the log files, discarding the oldest one. To configure the action taken by auditd, add or correct the line in /etc/audit/auditd.conf:

max_log_file_action = ACTION

Possible values for ACTION are described in the auditd.conf man page. These include:

• ignore
• syslog
• suspend
• rotate
• keep_logs

Set the *ACTION* to rotate to ensure log rotation occurs. This is the default. The setting is case-insensitive.

Rationale

Automatically rotating logs (by setting this to rotate) minimizes the chances of the system unexpectedly running out of disk space by being overwhelmed with log data. However, for systems that must never discard log data, or which use external processes to transfer it and reclaim space, keep_logs can be employed.