strerr Daemon

Purpose

Receives error log messages from the STREAMS log driver.

Syntax

strerr

Description

The strerr daemon receives error log messages from the STREAMS log driver and appends them to a log file. The error log files produced reside in the directory /var/adm/streams, and are named error.mm-dd, where mm is the month and dd is the day of the messages contained in each log file.

The format of an error log message is:

<seq> <time> <ticks> <flags> <mid> <sud> <text>

These fields are defined as follows:

Item Description
<seq> Error sequence number
<time> Time of message in hh:mm:ss
<ticks> Time of message in machine ticks since boot priority level
<flags> Has one of the following values:
T
The message was also sent to a tracing process
F
Indicates a fatal error
N
Send mail to the person who administers your system
<mid> Module ID number of source
<sid> Sub-ID number of source
<text> Formatted text of the error message

On multiprocessor systems, <text> is composed of two parts:

  • the number of the processor where the owner of the message has sent it,
  • the formatted text itself.

Messages that appear in the error log are intended to report exceptional conditions that require the attention of the person who administers your system. Those messages indicating the total failure of a STREAMS driver or module should have the F flag set. Those messages requiring the immediate attention of the administrator should have the N flag set, which causes the error logger to send the message to that person by way of the mail command. The priority level usually has no meaning in the error log, but does have meaning if the message is also sent to a tracer process.

Once initiated, the strerr daemon continues to execute until terminated by the user. Usually, the strerr daemon is executed asynchronously.

Note: Only one strerr daemon at a time is permitted to open the STREAMS log driver. If a module or driver is generating a large number of error messages, running the error logger causes a degradation in STREAMS performance. If a large number of messages are generated in a short time, the log driver may not be able to deliver some of the messages. This situation is indicated by gaps in the sequence numbering of the messages in the log files.

Files

Item Description
/var/adm/streams/error.mm-dd Error log file.