JOURNAL-REMOTE.CONF(5)

📦
version 261.3 · 15 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

🎀 JOURNAL-REMOTE.CONF(5) — the tea on journal-remote.conf & journal-remote.conf.d 🎀

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for journal-remote.conf / journal-remote.conf.d — the config files for the service that accepts remote journal uploads. yes THAT one. let's get into it 💅

✨ NAME ✨

journal-remote.conf, journal-remote.conf.d — Configuration files for the service accepting remote journal uploads. it's giving "settings for the thing that catches journal data flying in from other machines" 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

/etc/systemd/journal-remote.conf
/run/systemd/journal-remote.conf
/usr/local/lib/systemd/journal-remote.conf
/usr/lib/systemd/journal-remote.conf
/etc/systemd/journal-remote.conf.d/*.conf
/run/systemd/journal-remote.conf.d/*.conf
/usr/local/lib/systemd/journal-remote.conf.d/*.conf
/usr/lib/systemd/journal-remote.conf.d/*.conf

like, those are the spots. memorize them or don't, they're right there 😌

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

These files configure various parameters of systemd-journal-remote.service(8). and if you're like "wait what even is the syntax" — go read systemd.syntax(7) for a general description of the syntax. it's all there fr fr 🫶

🦋 CONFIGURATION DIRECTORIES AND PRECEDENCE 🦋

okay so this is the part everyone skips and then gets confused about, so pay attention bestie 👑

The default configuration is set during compilation, so configuration is only needed when it is necessary to deviate from those defaults. (read: if the defaults already slay, you literally don't have to do anything 💅)

The main configuration file is loaded from one of the listed directories in order of priority, and only the first file found is used:

  1. /etc/systemd/
  2. /run/systemd/
  3. /usr/local/lib/systemd/ [1]
  4. /usr/lib/systemd/

The vendor version of the file contains commented out entries showing the defaults as a guide to the administrator. so helpful, honestly 🌈

Local overrides can also be created by creating drop-ins, as described below. The main configuration file can also be edited for this purpose (or a copy in /etc/ if it is shipped under /usr/), however using drop-ins for local configuration is recommended over modifications to the main configuration file. like, don't touch the main one, that's not the vibe 🙈

🎀 drop-ins, aka the moment

In addition to the main configuration file, drop-in configuration snippets are read from:

  • /usr/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/
  • /usr/local/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/
  • /etc/systemd/*.conf.d/

Those drop-ins have higher precedence and override the main configuration file. periodt.

Files in the *.conf.d/ configuration subdirectories are sorted by their filename in lexicographic order, regardless of in which of the subdirectories they reside. When multiple files specify the same option:

  • for options which accept just a single value, the entry in the file sorted last takes precedence 🔥
  • for options which accept a list of values, entries are collected as they occur in the sorted files 🧺

💜 who gets to put files where

When packages need to customize the configuration, they can install drop-ins under /usr/. Files in /etc/ are reserved for the local administrator, who may use this logic to override the configuration files installed by vendor packages. Drop-ins have to be used to override package drop-ins, since the main configuration file has lower precedence. iykyk 😭

It is recommended to prefix all filenames in those subdirectories with a two-digit number and a dash, to simplify the ordering. This also defines a concept of drop-in priorities to allow OS vendors to ship drop-ins within a specific range lower than the range used by users. This should lower the risk of package drop-ins overriding accidentally drop-ins defined by users.

the sacred numbers bestie:

  • range 10-40 for drop-ins in /usr/ — vendor territory 🏭
  • range 60-90 for drop-ins in /etc/ and /run/ — your territory 👑

so local and transient drop-ins take priority over drop-ins shipped by the OS vendor. as they should 💅

🫶 how to ghost a vendor config file

To disable a configuration file supplied by the vendor, the recommended way is to place a symlink to /dev/null in the configuration directory in /etc/, with the same filename as the vendor configuration file. iconic. no notes. 🔥

⭐ OPTIONS ⭐

All options are configured in the [Remote] section. yes, that exact section name, don't be creative 🎀

  • Seal= — Periodically sign the data in the journal using Forward Secure Sealing. 🔐
    • Added in version 229.
  • SplitMode= — One of "host" or "none".
    • Added in version 220.
  • ServerKeyFile= — SSL key in PEM format.
    • Added in version 220.
  • ServerCertificateFile= — SSL certificate in PEM format.
    • Added in version 220.
  • TrustedCertificateFile= — SSL CA certificate.
    • Added in version 220.
  • MaxUse=, KeepFree=, MaxFileSize=, MaxFiles= — These are analogous to SystemMaxUse=, SystemKeepFree=, SystemMaxFileSize= and SystemMaxFiles= in journald.conf(5). it's the same energy, different file 💫
    • MaxUse= controls how much disk space the systemd-journal-remote may use up at most.
    • KeepFree= controls how much disk space systemd-journal-remote shall leave free for other uses.
    • systemd-journal-remote will respect both limits and use the smaller of the two values. 😌
    • MaxFiles= controls how many individual journal files to keep at most. Note that only archived files are deleted to reduce the number of files until this limit is reached; active files will stay around. This means that, in effect, there might still be more journal files around in total than this limit after a vacuuming operation is complete. so don't come for it when the count looks off 🙈
    • Added in version 253.
  • Compression= — Configures acceptable compression algorithms to be announced through "Accept-Encoding" HTTP header. The header suggests systemd-journal-upload to compress data to be sent. 📦
    • Takes a space separated list of compression algorithms, or "no".
    • Supported algorithms are "zstd", "xz", or "lz4".
    • When a list of algorithms is specified, "Accept-Encoding" header will be constructed with priorities based on the order of the algorithms in the list.
    • When "no", "Accept-Encoding" header will not be sent.
    • This option can be specified multiple times. If an empty string is assigned, then all the previous assignments are cleared. (yes, it wipes the slate clean 🧼)
    • Defaults to unset and all supported compression algorithms will be listed in the header.
    • Example:
Compression=zstd lz4
  • Added in version 258.

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

journald.conf(5), systemd(1), systemd-journal-remote.service(8), systemd-journald.service(8) — go read those next bestie, they're the whole friend group 🫶

💀 NOTES 💀

  1. 💣💥🧨💥💥💣 Please note that those configuration files must be available at all times. If /usr/local/ is a separate partition, it may not be available during early boot, and must not be used for configuration. this one is serious, no cap, do NOT put your config there 🚨

and that's the whole page, you ate that 💅✨ this was systemd 261.3, JOURNAL-REMOTE.CONF(5) — go forth and configure responsibly, love u, bye 🎀🦋💖

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