Debian 13 trixie

Journald : Basic Usage2025/08/17

 

This is Basic Usage of Journald that is the Log Management Service Daemon.

[1] By default, Journald is running and many logging data on the System are collected by Journald.
Therefore, if [Journald (systemd-journald.service systemd-journald.socket systemd-journald-dev-log.socket)] would be down, collecting of many logging data will also stop.
root@dlp:~#
systemctl status systemd-journald.service

● systemd-journald.service - Journal Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-journald.service; static)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-08-15 15:27:26 JST; 3min 58s ago
 Invocation: 0c781c79728f4afd8ddd9d2b12122234
TriggeredBy: ○ systemd-journald-audit.socket
             ● systemd-journald.socket
             ● systemd-journald-dev-log.socket
       Docs: man:systemd-journald.service(8)
             man:journald.conf(5)
   Main PID: 324 (systemd-journal)
     Status: "Processing requests..."
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 4635)
   FD Store: 7 (limit: 4224)
     Memory: 10M (peak: 15M)
        CPU: 71ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-journald.service
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[2] It's possible to change settings of Journald on [/etc/systemd/journald.conf].
All options are commented out by default, however they are the default parameters of Journald on Ubuntu.
root@dlp:~#
cat /etc/systemd/journald.conf

[Journal]
#Storage=auto
#Compress=yes
#Seal=yes
#SplitMode=uid
#SyncIntervalSec=5m
#RateLimitIntervalSec=30s
#RateLimitBurst=10000
#SystemMaxUse=
#SystemKeepFree=
#SystemMaxFileSize=
#SystemMaxFiles=100
#RuntimeMaxUse=
#RuntimeKeepFree=
#RuntimeMaxFileSize=
#RuntimeMaxFiles=100
#MaxRetentionSec=0
#MaxFileSec=1month
#ForwardToSyslog=no
#ForwardToKMsg=no
#ForwardToConsole=no
#ForwardToWall=yes
#TTYPath=/dev/console
#MaxLevelStore=debug
#MaxLevelSyslog=debug
#MaxLevelKMsg=notice
#MaxLevelConsole=info
#MaxLevelWall=emerg
#MaxLevelSocket=debug
#LineMax=48K
#ReadKMsg=yes
#Audit=yes
[3] The place of stored logging data is set on [Storage=***] of [/etc/systemd/journald.conf].
For the place of stored logging data, if syslog service like Rsyslog are installed and running, they are also stored in conventional files like [/var/log/syslog] and so on by syslog service with the setting [ForwardToSyslog=yes] on Journald.
# parameters of [Storage=***]
#
# volatile   : stored only in memory : under the [/run/log/journal]
# persistent : stored on disk : under the [/var/log/journal]
#              but if impossible to write on disk like  early boot, fallback to memory
# auto       : stored on disk if [/var/log/journal] exists
#              if not exists, stored in memory
# none       : not stored all data
#              but forwarding to other targets like Syslog daemon if they are configured
#
# * storing in memory is not persistent, when system restarted, logging data are cleared

# on default settings of Ubuntu, it's set [auto] and also
# [/var/log/journal] exists, so logging data are stored in [/var/log/journal]

root@dlp:~#
grep Storage /etc/systemd/journald.conf

#Storage=auto
root@dlp:~#
ll -d /var/log/journal

drwxr-sr-x+ 3 root systemd-journal 4096 Aug 10 16:20 /var/log/journal

root@dlp:~#
ll -Rh /var/log/journal

/var/log/journal:
total 4.0K
drwxr-sr-x+ 2 root systemd-journal 4.0K Aug 10 16:32 d5f37d1d4f2b4eabb671e1b36d45aeda

/var/log/journal/d5f37d1d4f2b4eabb671e1b36d45aeda:
total 25M
-rw-r-----+ 1 root systemd-journal 8.0M Aug 10 16:21 system@00063bfdc82a84e1-e144688e3f873bda.journal~
-rw-r-----+ 1 root systemd-journal 8.0M Aug 15 15:32 system.journal
-rw-r-----+ 1 root systemd-journal 8.0M Aug 10 16:33 user-1000.journal
[4] To show stored logging data by Journald, it's possible with [journalctl] command.
# show all data without any option : results are send to [less] command
# if not send to [less], add [--no-pager] option

root@dlp:~#
journalctl

Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: Linux version 6.12.38+deb13-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc>
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.12.38+deb13-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root r>
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000009fbff] usable
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000009fc00-0x000000000009ffff] reserved
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000000f0000-0x00000000000fffff] reserved
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000100000-0x000000007ffdbfff] usable
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000007ffdc000-0x000000007fffffff] reserved
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000b0000000-0x00000000bfffffff] reserved
.....
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# [-u UNIT] : show logs of a specific UNIT

root@dlp:~#
journalctl -u cron.service

Aug 10 16:20:03 debian systemd[1]: Started cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon.
Aug 10 16:20:03 debian cron[666]: (CRON) INFO (pidfile fd = 3)
Aug 10 16:20:03 debian cron[666]: (CRON) INFO (Running @reboot jobs)
-- Boot 63155b1870654d6fa4e90ce762c0417e --
Aug 10 16:30:32 debian systemd[1]: Started cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon.
Aug 10 16:30:32 debian cron[691]: (CRON) INFO (pidfile fd = 3)
Aug 10 16:30:32 debian cron[691]: (CRON) INFO (Running @reboot jobs)
Aug 10 16:31:51 debian systemd[1]: Stopping cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon...
Aug 10 16:31:51 debian systemd[1]: cron.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 10 16:31:51 debian systemd[1]: Stopped cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon.
.....
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root@dlp:~#
journalctl -u systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer

Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: Linux version 6.12.38+deb13-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (x86_64-linux->
Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.12.38+deb13-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/debian--vg>
Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000009fbff] usable
Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000009fc00-0x000000000009ffff] reserved
Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000000f0000-0x00000000000fffff] reserved
Aug 15 15:27:26 dlp.srv.world kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000100000-0x000000007ffdbfff] usable
.....
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# [-k] : show logs of kernel message

root@dlp:~#
journalctl -k

Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: Linux version 6.1.0-9-amd64 (debian-kerne>
Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.1.0-9>
Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x001: >
Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x002: >
Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x004: >
Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x020: >
Jul 16 21:33:17 dlp.srv.world kernel: x86/fpu: Supporting XSAVE feature 0x040: >
.....
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# [-p Priority] : show logs of a specific priority

root@dlp:~#
journalctl -p err

Aug 10 16:30:39 debian dhcpcd[713]: enp1s0: DHCP lease expired
-- Boot 26bc7a4690454e2087b4258ac2e4f201 --
Aug 15 14:51:12 dlp.srv.world dhcpcd[682]: ps_bpf_recvmsg: Network is down
Aug 15 14:51:13 dlp.srv.world kernel: watchdog: watchdog0: watchdog did not stop!
.....
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# [-g PATTERN] : show logs that include specific word [PATTERN] in [MESSAGE] field

root@dlp:~#
journalctl -g "apparmor"

Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: LSM: initializing lsm=lockdown,capability,landlock,yama,apparmor,tomoyo,bpf,ipe,ima,evm
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: AppArmor: AppArmor initialized
Aug 10 16:20:01 debian kernel: AppArmor: AppArmor Filesystem Enabled
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian kernel: AppArmor: AppArmor sha256 policy hashing enabled
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian kernel: evm: security.apparmor
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian systemd[1]: systemd 257.7-1 running in system mode (+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX +APPARMOR +IMA +IPE +SM>
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian systemd[1]: Starting apparmor.service - Load AppArmor profiles...
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian apparmor.systemd[536]: Restarting AppArmor
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian apparmor.systemd[536]: Reloading AppArmor profiles
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1754810402.988:2): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" pro>
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1754810402.988:3): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" pro>
Aug 10 16:20:02 debian kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1754810402.988:4): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" pro>
.....
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# [-S DATE] : show logs Since DATE
# [-U DATE] : show logs Until DATE

root@dlp:~#
journalctl -S "2025-08-14 00:00:00" -U "2025-08-15 23:59:59"

Aug 15 14:50:45 debian kernel: Linux version 6.12.38+deb13-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc>
Aug 15 14:50:45 debian kernel: Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.12.38+deb13-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root r>
Aug 15 14:50:45 debian kernel: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
Aug 15 14:50:45 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000009fbff] usable
Aug 15 14:50:45 debian kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000009fc00-0x000000000009ffff] reserved
.....
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# show help

root@dlp:~#
journalctl --help

journalctl [OPTIONS...] [MATCHES...]

Query the journal.

Options:
     --system                Show the system journal
     --user                  Show the user journal for the current user
  -M --machine=CONTAINER     Operate on local container
  -S --since=DATE            Show entries not older than the specified date
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