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Author Topic: What is 'syslogd'?  (Read 3428 times)

Offline kbeartx

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What is 'syslogd'?
« on: January 18, 2009, 07:37:11 AM »
Over the last few days, my G5 has been periodically sluggish.  When I checked activity monitor, it showed syslogd at the top o' the list, using 88 % of CPU and 2.6 GB of VM.

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Any knowledge of this?

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Offline Paddy

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2009, 09:07:41 AM »
Perhaps some insight here:

http://smartic.us/2007/11/8/leopard-100-cp...ly-time-machine

From the comments:
QUOTE
Al Dhir Says:
November 27th, 2007 at 12:14 PM I had the same issue. Turns out a very large asl.db causes all manner of issues, notably, occasional syslogd cpu hoggage. In my case, it was 55Mb. After reading your blog post, I went on a hunt, and found, according to: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/D.../syslogd.8.html The asl.db size is supposed to be limited to a default of 25600000 bytes. Mine was way bigger. Reading further reveals this statement, in direct contradiction: "...The maximum size of the database (in bytes) may be specified using the -db_max option. If messages must be removed to limit the database size, oldest messages are removed first. By default there is no database size limit." It appears this statement is the right one (theoretically anyway - practically, mine was way over what the system was able to deal with). The fix is to edit /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist and add the db_max arg: <string>/usr/sbin/syslogd</string> <string>-db_max 5000000</string> add that second line. Adjust the max to your taste. I limited mine to 5M bytes. After that, the nightly sweep should keep this problem from occurring again.


I think you need to plow through all the comments though - there's lots of potential fixes in there:
QUOTE
Hank Hughes Says:
December 5th, 2007 at 02:45 PM It appears that this is a side effect to people who UPGRADE. Apparently the upgrade leaves some Net Info residuals which is no longer in use for Leopard. The culprit was identified as "nibindd" Here's a pointer ... Thanks Dan! http://www.blueboxmoon.com/bitweaver/blogs...p?content_id=52


The link in his post doesn't seem to work - if you go to http://www.blueboxmoon.com/bitweaver/blogs/ and scroll down to "Leopard Install Woes" you'll find the post. smile.gif

If you keep on reading the comments you'll also see that it was an identified bug - there is a response from an Apple engineer. But that was Oct. 2007 - you'd think by now that the issue would have been resolved. (?) But apparently not - there are continuing comments through Dec. 25, 2008. sad.gif

Anyway, lots of things to try in there and obviously some very knowledgeable folks posting the various fixes that worked for them.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2009, 09:18:08 AM by Paddy »
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Offline tacit

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2009, 06:03:26 PM »
QUOTE(kbeartx @ Jan 18 2009, 01:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Over the last few days, my G5 has been periodically sluggish.  When I checked activity monitor, it showed syslogd at the top o' the list, using 88 % of CPU and 2.6 GB of VM.

KB coolio.gif
Any knowledge of this?

KB coolio.gif


Syslogd is a part of all Unix systems. It is a program that runs all the time and records events in the various system logs, such as the console log and the kernel panic log. It must be present in a normally-running Unix system.

If syslogd begins eating a lot of CPU time, that usually means that you have a program running which is seriously malfunctioning and is dumping tremendous quantities of stuff into one of the system logs.

You should be able to figure out what program is malfunctioning by looking in the system logs, which you can do by running Console. Console is in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder.
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Offline cdub1988

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2009, 06:26:32 PM »
K-

If you want the man pages about those kind of things, open Terminal and type "man process_name".

In this case man syslogd.

It will give you the details right from the source.

man syslogd

Take care,

Chris
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Offline kbeartx

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2009, 07:27:49 AM »
After reading much of the thread Paddy referenced, I messed around by quitting several processes in Activity Monitor, and relaunched the Finder.

Syslogd running away w/ all the CPU cycles has not recurred.

Thanks to all who responded!

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« Last Edit: January 21, 2009, 07:28:47 AM by kbeartx »
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2009, 12:56:49 PM »
cdub1988, getting the man pages is just the start! I usually end up getting lost looking up the terms used in the original page and follow page after page as new terms come up, and I forget what I was trying to figure out in the first place! blush-anim-cl.gif laugh.gif
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Offline cdub1988

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2009, 05:41:08 PM »
QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Jan 21 2009, 12:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
cdub1988, getting the man pages is just the start! I usually end up getting lost looking up the terms used in the original page and follow page after page as new terms come up, and I forget what I was trying to figure out in the first place! blush-anim-cl.gif laugh.gif


Heh.

Yeah, the man pages have lots of references, but I find it's a GREAT resource.

Take care, ABD. Err, xABD. biggrin.gif

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Offline Paddy

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2009, 09:26:55 AM »
Interesting article at MacFixit today on related issues (one people might want to print and keep in case this situation arises - MacFixit articles are only available to non-subscribers when they're first published online)

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090122213555897
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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What is 'syslogd'?
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2009, 10:53:45 AM »
Copied. One day I may upgrade to 5.6. smile.gif Thanks!
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:
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