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Question: What is the location of Memcached error log?

Answer

By default, Memcached does not have an error log file. Instead, it sends all errors and messages to standard error output which can be viewed using a terminal or console.

However, you can configure Memcached to write its logs to a file by using the -vv or -vvv parameter when starting the Memcached service. These parameters enable verbose logging, with -vv being the less verbose one and -vvv being the most verbose one.

Here's an example command that starts Memcached with verbose logging and writes the logs to a file named memcached.log in the current directory:

memcached -vv > memcached.log 2>&1 &

In this command:

  • The -vv option enables verbose logging.
  • The > operator redirects standard output (which includes the logs) to a file named memcached.log.
  • The 2>&1 operator redirects standard error output to the same destination as standard output.
  • The & character sends the process to background so that the terminal becomes available for further commands.

With this configuration, all logs generated by Memcached will be written to the memcached.log file in the directory where the command was executed. You can view the contents of this file at any time by opening it with a text editor or viewing it using the tail command:

tail -f memcached.log

The -f option enables following the file as new logs are added, allowing you to monitor the logs in real-time.

Keep in mind that verbose logging can generate a lot of output, and writing logs to a file can consume disk space over time. It is recommended to use verbose logging only when necessary, and to rotate the log files periodically to prevent them from growing too large.

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