systemctl status exim log output configuration

[PeteS]

Running systemctl status dovecot shows the service status and tails the service log (/var/log/maillog) showing the last 10 lines.

Running systemctl status exim does the same EXCEPT the 10 lines that it shows of its service log (/var/log/exim_maillog) are are NOT the last 10 lines of the file. Instead it shows the last 10 line where an incoming email was marked as spam by spamassasin and a filter moves it to INBOX.Trash.

The case for dovecot seems default behavior from what I can tell, the the exim log output seems to have been configured "somewhere" but I haven't been able to find out where.

I'm wondering if this is a cPanel tweak in a config file (not necessarily in WHM), and if so, where this behavior is configured.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello Pete,

This isn't something you can modify in cPanel & WHM. It's an OS-level setting. As I understand, the output comes from the journalctl utility. For example, you will see the same output when running the following command:

journalctl UNIT=exim.service

The following third-party URL offers some insight into how this works:

Systemd Essentials: Working with Services, Units, and the Journal | DigitalOcean

Thank you.

 

[PeteS]

Thanks Michael,

My assumption also was that it's an OS level config (which I have yet to find), but before going further I wanted to see if anything cPanel did affected this. (Such as a customized config file dropped in by cPanel, not something in the WHM interface itself.) I didn't want to "fight the system."

I've looked into the journalctl command you suggested already, and it actually produces a much different output, so I'll have to dig into how it is configured.

Thanks for the link. I had scanned it previously, but I'll revisit it.

If/when I find the answer I'll post back here...

 

[PeteS]

I posted a reply to you earlier this morning. Now it's gone and your post shows it was posted <20 minutes ago. What's going on?

 

[PeteS]

Weird, now it's back, but yours still shows <20 minutes ago...

Sorry for extraneous post, but I guess I don't have edit or delete rights (yet?).

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello,

I'm not seeing the same behavior. Are you using a proxy or any custom browser configurations? Or, can you reproduce the issue on another browser?

Thank you.

 

[PeteS]

Update: I now see that $ sysytemctl status foo.service posts from the system journal, NOT the service log file (exim_mainlog in this case). The output was the same for a while in my case, but it was merely coincidense. Nothing is actually configured differently/specially for exim, as I originally thought.

$ systemctl -u exim | tail gives the same result (last 10 of journal, not log file) as does $ systemctl status exim

-Pete

PS - BTW, Micheal, now your post time is normal again. Something wonky with how this forum was displaying for a while...

 

[PeteS]

Hello,

I'm not seeing the same behavior. Are you using a proxy or any custom browser configurations? Or, can you reproduce the issue on another browser?

Thank you.

No, none of that applies, and I can't even reproduce it in the same browser... but it seems to have straightened out now. Possibly due in part to a caching issue, but I've not seen it do this in the past.

 

[PeteS]

Forgot to share this helpful link that was off of the one referenced above: How To Use Journalctl to View and Manipulate Systemd Logs | DigitalOcean