15.5.7. Logging Options
The following lists directives which affect
vsftpd's logging behavior.
dual_log_enable— When enabled in conjunction withxferlog_enable,vsftpdwrites two files simultaneously: awu-ftpd-compatible log to the file specified in thexferlog_filedirective (/var/log/xferlogby default) and a standardvsftpdlog file specified in thevsftpd_log_filedirective (/var/log/vsftpd.logby default).The default value isNO.log_ftp_protocol— When enabled in conjunction withxferlog_enableand withxferlog_std_formatset toNO, all FTP commands and responses are logged. This directive is useful for debugging.The default value isNO.syslog_enable— When enabled in conjunction withxferlog_enable, all logging normally written to the standardvsftpdlog file specified in thevsftpd_log_filedirective (/var/log/vsftpd.logby default) is sent to the system logger instead under the FTPD facility.The default value isNO.vsftpd_log_file— Specifies thevsftpdlog file. For this file to be used,xferlog_enablemust be enabled andxferlog_std_formatmust either be set toNOor, ifxferlog_std_formatis set toYES,dual_log_enablemust be enabled. It is important to note that ifsyslog_enableis set toYES, the system log is used instead of the file specified in this directive.The default value is/var/log/vsftpd.log.xferlog_enable— When enabled,vsftpdlogs connections (vsftpdformat only) and file transfer information to the log file specified in thevsftpd_log_filedirective (/var/log/vsftpd.logby default). Ifxferlog_std_formatis set toYES, file transfer information is logged but connections are not, and the log file specified inxferlog_file(/var/log/xferlogby default) is used instead. It is important to note that both log files and log formats are used ifdual_log_enableis set toYES.The default value isNO. Note, in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the value is set toYES.xferlog_file— Specifies thewu-ftpd-compatible log file. For this file to be used,xferlog_enablemust be enabled andxferlog_std_formatmust be set toYES. It is also used ifdual_log_enableis set toYES.The default value is/var/log/xferlog.xferlog_std_format— When enabled in conjunction withxferlog_enable, only awu-ftpd-compatible file transfer log is written to the file specified in thexferlog_filedirective (/var/log/xferlogby default). It is important to note that this file only logs file transfers and does not log connections to the server.The default value isNO. Note, in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the value is set toYES.
Important
To maintain compatibility with log files written by the older
wu-ftpd FTP server, the xferlog_std_format directive is set to YES under Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, this setting means that connections to the server are not logged.
To both log connections in
vsftpd format and maintain a wu-ftpd-compatible file transfer log, set dual_log_enable to YES.
If maintaining a
wu-ftpd-compatible file transfer log is not important, either set xferlog_std_format to NO, comment the line with a hash mark (#), or delete the line entirely.
