VLLOG(5)

💖 VLLOG(5) — the AFS File Reference glow-up 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about VLLog — one of the AFS File Reference girlies, manual section 5, iykyk. ✨

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✨ NAME ✨

VLLog — she traces Volume Location Server operations. that's it, that's the whole vibe.

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the VLLog file is literally a receipt of everything the Volume Location (VL) Server — that's the vlserver process, bestie — does on the local machine. it records a trace of its operations, and it also spills all the tea about any error conditions it runs into along the way. 💅

if the VLLog file isn't already sitting in the /var/log/openafs directory when the VL Server starts up? no worries, she creates it herself and writes her little initial start-up messages into it. main character energy fr fr. 🎀

the file is in ASCII format. and here's the part u actually need to know:

• admins listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file can use the bos getlog command to display its contents 👑
• OR you can log onto the server machine and use a text editor, or a file display command like the classic UNIX cat command 🐱

by default, the mode bits on the VLLog file grant the required "r" (read) permission to all users. everybody can peek. it's giving public access. 🙈

💀 real talk though: the VL Server records operations only as it completes them, and it cannot recover from failures by reviewing the file. so don't come for her expecting a save-your-life backup plan. the log contents are useful for administrative evaluation of process failures and other problems — that's the assignment, that's what she's for.

the VL Server can record messages at several levels of detail. by default, she only records very rudimentary messages — like bare minimum, lowkey shy about it. 😭

the initial level of detail logged by the VL Server can be set using the -d command line option when it's started — and yes, you can pass that option possibly multiple times. more -d, more detail. periodt. ✨

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🌸 bumping up the detail on a running VL Server 🌸

wanna increase the level of detail logged by a VL Server that's already out there living her life? issue this command while logged onto the database server machine as the local superuser "root":

# kill -TSTP <vlserver_pid>

where <vlserver_pid> is the process ID of the vlserver process — you know, the one reported in the output from the standard UNIX ps command. 🔍

to increase to the second and third levels of detail? just repeat the command. go off, bestie. 🫶

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🚫 turning the logging off 🚫

to disable logging, issue the following command:

# kill -HUP <vlserver_pid>

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🦋 going back down a level 🦋

to decrease the level of logging, you can't just... rewind. nope. the move is:

1. first, completely disable it 💀
2. then issue the "kill -TSTP" command as many times as necessary to reach the desired level

that's the whole algorithm, no shortcuts, I don't make the rules. 🙈

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

UserList(5), bos_getlog(8), vlserver(8)

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's from the OpenAFS girlies, dated 2026-07-27, and it lives right here in VLLOG(5). go read ur logs, stay hydrated, ily 💖✨🎀🦋