---
title: Logging
canonical_url: '/usage/troubleshooting/logging'
---

## The calico-node container
The components in the `{{site.nodecontainer}}` container all log to the directories under
`/var/log/calico` inside the container.  By default this is mapped to the
`/var/log/calico` directory on the host but can be changed by specifying a
`--log-dir` parameter on the `calicoctl node run` command.

Each component (described below) logs to its own directory. Files are
automatically rotated, and by default 10 files of 1MB each are kept. The
current log file is called `current` and rotated files have @ followed by a
timestamp detailing when the files was rotated in [tai64n](http://cr.yp.to/libtai/tai64.html#tai64n) format.

All logging is done using [svlogd](http://smarden.org/runit/svlogd.8.html).
Each component can be configured by dropping a file named `config` into that
component's logging directory.

svlogd can be configured to forward logs to syslog, to prefix each line
and to filter logs.
See the [documentation](http://smarden.org/runit/svlogd.8.html) for further details.

e.g. to configure bird to only log 4 files of 10KB each, create a file called `config` in the `/var/log/calico/bird` directory containing
```shell
#/var/log/calico/bird/config
s10000
n4
```

e.g. to configure bird to drop logs with the suffix `Netlink: File exists`, create a file called `config` in the `/var/log/calico/bird` directory containing
```shell
-*Netlink: File exists
```

See the following subsections for details on configuring the log level for
each `{{site.nodecontainer}}` component.

### Bird/Bird6

Bird and Bird6 are used for distributing IPv4 and IPv6 routes between {{site.prodname}}
enabled hosts.  The logs are output in the `bird` and `bird6` sub-directories
of the `{{site.nodecontainer}}` logging directory.

* The Debug level enables "debug all" logging for bird.
* The Info level (default) only enabled "debug {states}" logging. This is for protocol state changes (protocol going up, down, starting, stopping etc.)
* The Warning, Error and Fatal levels all turn off bird debug logging completely.

See [BGP Configuration Resource](/{{page.version}}/reference/calicoctl/resources/bgpconfig)
for details on how to modify the logging level. For example:

```
# Get the current bgpconfig settings
$ calicoctl get bgpconfig -o yaml > bgp.yaml

# Modify logSeverityScreen to desired value
#   Global change: set name to "default"
#   Node-specific change: set name to the node name, e.g. "node-1"
$ vim bgp.yaml

# Replace the current bgpconfig settings
$ calicoctl replace -f bgp.yaml
```

### Felix

Felix is the primary Calico agent that runs on each machine that hosts
endpoints.  Felix is responsible for the programming of iptables rules on the
host.  The logs are output in the `felix` sub-directory of the calico/node
logging directory.

```
# Get the current felixconfig settings
$ calicoctl get felixconfig -o yaml > felix.yaml

# Modify logSeverityScreen to none, debug, info, etc.
#   Global change: set name to "default"
#   Node-specific change: set name to the node name, e.g. "Calico-Node-1"
$ vim felix.yaml

# Replace the current felixconfig settings
$ calicoctl replace -f felix.yaml
```

### confd

The confd agent generates configuration files for Felix and Bird using
configuration data present in the etcd datastore.  The logs are output in the
`confd` sub-directory of the calico/node logging directory.

By default, the confd logging level is "debug" and cannot be changed without
editing configuration within the node image.

For more information on the allowed levels, see the
[documentation](https://github.com/kelseyhightower/confd/blob/master/docs/configuration-guide.md)
