Posted On: Mar 4, 2013
We are pleased to announce a significantly easier way for you to monitor a number of log files generated by your Amazon RDS DB Instances. You so far had the option to monitor most of these database logs by querying the database. You can now view database log files directly using the AWS Management Console or download them using Amazon RDS APIs to diagnose, trouble shoot and fix database configuration or performance issues. This functionality is available for all the database engines supported by Amazon RDS -- MySQL, Oracle and SQL Server.
You have three different ways to access the log files using the AWS Management Console or Amazon RDS APIs:
- View: You can view the content of a log file as of a point in time in the AWS Management Console. Just navigate to the "logs" section corresponding to your DB Instance, select the log file you are interested in and click "View".
- Watch: You can obtain real time updates to log files directly using the AWS Management Console. Just navigate to the "logs" section corresponding to your DB Instance, select the log file you are interested in and click "Watch". You will then be able to see the last few lines of the log file and any ongoing updates being made by the database engine as they occur.
- Download: You can use the rds-download-db-logfile command to download the content of your log files. Note that this functionality is not currently available through the AWS Management Console. Visit the Downloading a Database Log File section of the Amazon RDS User Guide to learn more.
The type of log files available through this functionality by database engine are as follows:
- MySQL: You can monitor MySQL Error Log, Slow Query Log and General Log directly through the AWS Management Console or Amazon RDS APIs. While the MySQL Error Log is generated by default, you need to configure DB Parameter Groups to enable the generation of Slow Query and General Logs to the file system. All these log files are rotated every hour and only the files corresponding to the last 24 hours are retained. Visit the Working with MySQL Database Log Files section of the User Guide to learn more.
- Oracle: You can access Alert Log and Trace Files directly through the AWS Management Console or Amazon RDS APIs. These files are retained for seven days by default. You can configure the retention period as per your needs. Visit the Working with Oracle Database Log Files section of the User Guide to learn more.
- SQL Server: You can access Error Log, Agent Log and Trace Files directly through the AWS Management Console or Amazon RDS APIs. These files are retained for seven days by default. You can configure the retention period as per your needs. Visit the Working with SQL Server Database Log Files section of the User Guide to learn more.