Use Mac OSX Lion as a remote syslog server/client

MacOSXSyslog Server
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Enable an Apple Mac OS X machine as a syslog server

Here is a small howto that describes how your Mac OS X machine can also receive logs from remote devices such as an Apple Airport Extreme. There are some howto’s available online, but I guess that somethings have changed in 10.5, none seem to work perfectly.

Change syslogd configuration

# echo "local0.notice /var/log/airport.log" >> /etc/syslog.conf

Touch the logfile

# touch /var/log/airport.log

 

Change syslogd startup procedure

At the end of the file, uncomment the part to accept remote logging.

# cat /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.apple.syslogd</string>
<key>OnDemand</key>
<false/>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<!--
Un-comment the following lines to run syslogd with a sandbox profile.
Sandbox profiles restrict processes from performing unauthorized
operations; so it may be necessary to update the profile
(/usr/share/sandbox/syslogd.sb) if any changes are made to the syslog
configuration (/etc/syslog.conf).
-->
<!--
<string>/usr/bin/sandbox-exec</string>
<string>-f</string>
<string>/usr/share/sandbox/syslogd.sb</string>
-->
<string>/usr/sbin/syslogd</string>
</array>
<key>MachServices</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.system.logger</key>
<true/>
</dict>
<key>Sockets</key>
<dict>
<key>AppleSystemLogger</key>
<dict>
<key>SockPathName</key>
<string>/var/run/asl_input</string>
<key>SockPathMode</key>
<integer>438</integer>
</dict>
<key>BSDSystemLogger</key>
<dict>
<key>SockPathName</key>
<string>/var/run/syslog</string>
<key>SockType</key>
<string>dgram</string>
<key>SockPathMode</key>
<integer>438</integer>
</dict>
<!--
Un-comment the following lines to enable the network syslog protocol listener.
-->
<key>NetworkListener</key>
<dict>
<key>SockServiceName</key>
<string>syslog</string>
<key>SockType</key>
<string>dgram</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

 

Restart syslogd

 

# launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist
# launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.syslogd.plist

 

Open the firewall

Go the the System Preferences, click Security, open the Firewall tab and click the +. Select the file /usr/bin/syslog.
If you are unable to select the /usr directory, try this hack by opening a terminal and typing:

$ cd
$ ln -s /usr/bin
$ ln -s /usr/sbin

Now you can select the file (in your home directory) ./bin/syslog and ./sbin/syslogd

 

 

Configure remote devices

Now tell the remote devices (Like the Apple Airport Extremes) to dump their log at the IP address of your Mac OS X machine.

See the result

Now either open the application “Console” or from a terminal, run “tail -f /var/log/airport.log” to see the results as they come in.

 

Attribution: http://meinit.nl/enable-apple-mac-os-x-machine-syslog-server

 

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