Chapter 5. Configuring audit logging policies
You can control MicroShift audit log file rotation and retention by using configuration values.
5.1. About setting limits on audit log files
Controlling the rotation and retention of the MicroShift audit log file by using configuration values helps keep the limited storage capacities of far-edge devices from being exceeded. On such devices, logging data accumulation can limit host system or cluster workloads, potentially causing the device stop working. Setting audit log policies can help ensure that critical processing space is continually available.
The values you set to limit MicroShift audit logs enable you to enforce the size, number, and age limits of audit log backups. Field values are processed independently of one another and without prioritization.
You can set fields in combination to define a maximum storage limit for retained logs. For example:
-
Set both
maxFileSize
andmaxFiles
to create a log storage upper limit. -
Set a
maxFileAge
value to automatically delete files older than the timestamp in the file name, regardless of themaxFiles
value.
5.1.1. Default audit log values
MicroShift includes the following default audit log rotation values:
Audit log parameter | Default setting | Definition |
---|---|---|
|
| How long log files are retained before automatic deletion. The default value means that a log file is never deleted based on age. This value can be configured. |
|
| The total number of log files retained. By default, MicroShift retains 10 log files. The oldest is deleted when an excess file is created. This value can be configured. |
|
|
By default, when the |
|
|
The |
The maximum default storage usage for audit log retention is 2000Mb if there are 10 or fewer files.
If you do not specify a value for a field, the default value is used. If you remove a previously set field value, the default value is restored after the next MicroShift service restart.
You must configure audit log retention and rotation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for logs that are generated by application pods. These logs print to the console and are saved. Ensure that your log preferences are configured for the RHEL /var/log/audit/audit.log
file to maintain MicroShift cluster health.
Additional resources
- Configuring auditd for a secure environment
- Understanding Audit log files
- How to use logrotate utility to rotate log files (Solutions, dated 7 August 2024)
5.2. About audit log policy profiles
Audit log profiles define how to log requests that come to the OpenShift API server and the Kubernetes API server.
MicroShift supports the following predefined audit policy profiles:
Profile | Description |
---|---|
| Logs only metadata for read and write requests; does not log request bodies except for OAuth access token requests. This is the default policy. |
|
In addition to logging metadata for all requests, logs request bodies for every write request to the API servers ( |
|
In addition to logging metadata for all requests, logs request bodies for every read and write request to the API servers ( |
| No requests are logged, including OAuth access token requests and OAuth authorize token requests. Warning
Do not disable audit logging by using the |
-
Sensitive resources, such as
Secret
,Route
, andOAuthClient
objects, are only logged at the metadata level.
By default, MicroShift uses the Default
audit log profile. You can use another audit policy profile that also logs request bodies, but be aware of the increased resource usage such as CPU, memory, and I/O.
5.3. Configuring audit log values
You can configure audit log settings by using the MicroShift service configuration file.
Procedure
-
Make a copy of the provided
config.yaml.default
file in the/etc/microshift/
directory, renaming itconfig.yaml
. Keep the new MicroShiftconfig.yaml
you create in the/etc/microshift/
directory. The newconfig.yaml
is read whenever the MicroShift service starts. After you create it, theconfig.yaml
file takes precedence over built-in settings. Replace the default values in the
auditLog
section of the YAML with your desired valid values.Example default
auditLog
configurationapiServer: # .... auditLog: maxFileAge: 7 1 maxFileSize: 200 2 maxFiles: 1 3 profile: Default 4 # ....
- 1
- Specifies the maximum time in days that log files are kept. Files older than this limit are deleted. In this example, after a log file is more than 7 days old, it is deleted. The files are deleted regardless of whether or not the live log has reached the maximum file size specified in the
maxFileSize
field. File age is determined by the timestamp written in the name of the rotated log file, for example,audit-2024-05-16T17-03-59.994.log
. When the value is0
, the limit is disabled. - 2
- The maximum audit log file size in megabytes. In this example, the file is rotated as soon as the live log reaches the 200 MB limit. When the value is set to
0
, the limit is disabled. - 3
- The maximum number of rotated audit log files retained. After the limit is reached, the log files are deleted in order from oldest to newest. In this example, the value
1
results in only 1 file of sizemaxFileSize
being retained in addition to the current active log. When the value is set to0
, the limit is disabled. - 4
- Logs only metadata for read and write requests; does not log request bodies except for OAuth access token requests. If you do not specify this field, the
Default
profile is used.
Optional: To specify a new directory for logs, you can stop MicroShift, and then move the
/var/log/kube-apiserver
directory to your desired location:Stop MicroShift by running the following command:
$ sudo systemctl stop microshift
Move the
/var/log/kube-apiserver
directory to your desired location by running the following command:$ sudo mv /var/log/kube-apiserver <~/kube-apiserver> 1
- 1
- Replace <~/kube-apiserver> with the path to the directory that you want to use.
If you specified a new directory for logs, create a symlink to your custom directory at
/var/log/kube-apiserver
by running the following command:$ sudo ln -s <~/kube-apiserver> /var/log/kube-apiserver 1
- 1
- Replace <~/kube-apiserver> with the path to the directory that you want to use. This enables the collection of logs in sos reports.
If you are configuring audit log policies on a running instance, restart MicroShift by entering the following command:
$ sudo systemctl restart microsohift
5.4. Troubleshooting audit log configuration
Use the following steps to troubleshoot custom audit log settings and file locations.
Procedure
Check the current values that are configured by running the following command:
$ sudo microshift show-config --mode effective
Example output
auditLog: maxFileSize: 200 maxFiles: 1 maxFileAge: 7 profile: AllRequestBodies
Check the
audit.log
file permissions by running the following command:$ sudo ls -ltrh /var/log/kube-apiserver/audit.log
Example output
-rw-------. 1 root root 46M Mar 12 09:52 /var/log/kube-apiserver/audit.log
List the contents of the current log directory by running the following command:
$ sudo ls -ltrh /var/log/kube-apiserver/
Example output
total 6.0M -rw-------. 1 root root 2.0M Mar 12 10:56 audit-2024-03-12T14-56-16.267.log -rw-------. 1 root root 2.0M Mar 12 10:56 audit-2024-03-12T14-56-49.444.log -rw-------. 1 root root 962K Mar 12 10:57 audit.log