How to solve syslog/rsyslog does not show new log messages

This document (000019658) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3

Situation

When trying to log a message e.g.:
logger "isjournalforwarding"

The following 2 situations have been identified, caused by 3 possible reasons:

Empty /var/log/messages or no new messages

Both commands will show no result:
grep "isjournalforwarding" /var/log/messages journalctl |grep isjournalforwarding

The systemd journal ( journalctl -xe ) shows messages, but e.g. /var/log/messages is not updated.

Shows result:
journalctl |grep isjournalforwarding

No result for:
grep "isjournalforwarding" /var/log/messages

Resolution

Remote server is not reachable

check network and server are reachable

journald is not forwarding:

Enable forwarding in /etc/systemd/journald.conf and restart systemd-journald.service

syslog socket down

Restarting the systemd socket: systemctl restart syslog.socket

Cause

Remote server is not reachable

The message queue fills up to maximum. The rsyslog memory usage would grow higher than usual

journald is not forwarding:

/etc/systemd/journald.conf
#ForwardToSyslog=yes

syslog socket down

Syslog does not pick up incoming dat from socket
The following command systemctl status syslog.socket
Will show the service as "running"

But testing with socat shows socked is down:
zypper in socat
printf "<13>test_printf" | socat - UNIX-CLIENT:/run/systemd/journal/syslog
2020/05/26 08:10:33 socat[58200] E connect(3, AF=1 "/run/systemd/journal/syslog", 29): Connection refused

Additional Information

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.