syslog-ng reports in /var/log/messages: POLLERR occurred while idle

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4

Situation

On a system configured to send system logs to a remote host using syslog-ng, the following messages appear every 60 seconds in /var/log/messages:

Aug 21 22:27:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: POLLERR occurred while idle; fd='6'
Aug 21 22:27:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: Connection broken; time_reopen='60'
Aug 21 22:28:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: POLLERR occurred while idle; fd='6'
Aug 21 22:28:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: Connection broken; time_reopen='60'
Aug 21 22:29:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: POLLERR occurred while idle; fd='6'
Aug 21 22:29:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: Connection broken; time_reopen='60'
Aug 21 22:30:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: POLLERR occurred while idle; fd='6'
Aug 21 22:30:43 linux syslog-ng[8611]: Connection broken; time_reopen='60'

Resolution

For some reason the remote host stopped responding. Please check the log host availability and make sure it can listen on the port configured in /etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf on the sending host.

Disclaimer

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