Which log files to backup?

[karmic-koala]

Hi all, I somehow convinced my manager to let me handle administration of a dell poweredge 2950 server some time back and so far everything's gone well.

I was asked by the system admin team to backup log files for compliance reasons.

My question, which log files should I backup? Currently I tar the whole /var/log folder every night and keep it safe. Is that how its supposed to be done? How do seasoned system admins do it?

[Bachstelze]

You'd probably be better off asking your sys admin team... Maybe which log files you should save is company policy.

[chrisbay90]

Also keep in mind that log files rotate very rapidly, especially on busy machines. So you may need to hold onto those files for a good period of time.