Novell Doc: Start-Up - Finding and Gathering Information

13.1 Finding and Gathering Information

Linux logs things in a fair amount of detail. There are several places to look when you have problems with your system, most of which are standard to Linux systems in general and some of which are peculiar to openSUSE systems. Most log files can also be viewed with YaST (Miscellaneous > Start-Up Log).

YaST offers the possibility to collect all system information needed by the support team. Use Miscellaneous > Support Query. Select the problem category. When all information is gathered, attach it to your support request.

The following is a list of the most commonly checked log files and what they typically contain.

Table 13-1 Log Files

Log File	Description
/var/log/boot.msg	Messages from the kernel during the boot process.
/var/log/mail.*	Messages from the mail system.
/var/log/messages	Ongoing messages from the kernel and system log daemon when running.
/var/log/NetworkManager	Log file from NetworkManager to collect problems with network connectivity
/var/log/SaX.log	Hardware messages from the SaX display and KVM system.
/home/user/.xsession-errors	Messages from the desktop applications currently running. Replace user with the actual username.
/var/log/warn	All messages from the kernel and system log daemon assigned WARNING level or higher.
/var/log/wtmp	Binary file containing user login records for the current machine session. View it with last.
/var/log/Xorg.*.log	Various start-up and runtime logs from the X Window system. It is useful for debugging failed X start-ups.
/var/log/YaST2/	Directory containing YaST's actions and their results.
/var/log/samba/	Directory containing Samba server and client log messages.

Apart from log files, your machine also supplies you with information about the running system. See System Information

Table 13-2 System Information

File	Description
/proc/cpuinfo	This displays processor information, including its type, make, model, and performance.
/proc/dma	This shows which DMA channels are currently being used.
/proc/interrupts	This shows which interrupts are in use and how many of each have been in use.
/proc/iomem	This displays the status of I/O (input/output) memory.
/proc/ioports	This shows which I/O ports are in use at the moment.
/proc/meminfo	This displays memory status.
/proc/modules	This displays the individual modules.
/proc/mounts	This displays devices currently mounted.
/proc/partitions	This shows the partitioning of all hard disks.
/proc/version	This displays the current version of Linux.

Linux comes with a number of tools for system analysis and monitoring. See Section 10.0, System Monitoring Utilities, (↑ Reference ) for a selection of the most important ones used in system diagnostics.

Each scenario included in the following begins with a header describing the problem followed by a paragraph or two offering suggested solutions, available references for more detailed solutions, and cross-references to other scenarios that might be related.