Configuring the systemd journal for persistence

By default, the journal doesn't store log files on disk, only in memory or the /run/log/journal directory. This is sufficient for the recent log history (with the journal) but not for long-term log retention should you decide to go with journal only and not with any other syslog solution.

How to do it…

Configuring journald to keep more logs than memory allows is fairly simple, as follows:

1. Open /etc/systemd/journald.conf with your favorite text editor with root permissions by executing the following command:

   ~]# vim /etc/systemd/journald.conf
   

2. Ensure that the line containing Storage is either remarked or set to auto or persistent and save it, as follows:

   Storage=auto

3. If you select auto, the journal directory needs to be manually created. The following command would be useful for this:

   ~]# mkdir -p /var/log/journal
   

4. Now, restart the journal service by executing the following command:

   ~]# systemctl restart systemd-journald
   

There's more...