I recently posted about a tricky syntax issue when setting Syslog.global.logDir using a host profile. In that post I also recommended that anytime you setup a shared logging datastore that you always set two advanced configuration options:
Syslog.global.logDir = specifies the name of the datastore along with the corresponding directory where the logs will be saved.
Syslog.global.logDirUnique = specifies that each host should create it’s own subdirectory under the path specified by Syslog.lglobal.logDir. This helps keep the log files organized.
In response to my post I had a couple people point out that there is no Syslog.global.logDirUnique option available in their host profile, all they have is the Syslog.global.logDir option:
This was odd because the option was clearly available in my host profile:
Digging into this what I found is if the Syslog.global.logDirUnique is left at its default value (False) on the reference host when the host profile is created, the attribute will not show up in the host profile. However, if you change the attribute to “True” before you create the host profile then it will show up. There is something in the host profile creation logic that leaves the option off the list when it’s left at its default value, but adds it if it has been changed from the default.
The good news is even if the Syslog.global.logDirUnique option is missing in your host profile it is very easy to add it. To do this select the host profile and choose “Edit Profile”. In the host profile editor right click on “Advanced configuration option” and choose “Add Profile”:
This will append a new option to the end of the list temporarily called “OptionProfile”:
Expand the “OptionProfile” and click “Advanced option”. On the right side of the screen set the option to “Configure a fixed option”, add the attribute name Syslog.global.logDirUnique and set the value to “True” (True is case sensitive):
Click OK and wait for the update to complete. Now when you edit the host profile you will see the Syslog.global.logDirUnique option at the bottom of the list. Unfortunately it appends the added attribute to the bottom of the list and doesn’t re-resort things. So you won’t see the Syslog.global.logDir and Syslog.global.logDirUnique sitting right next to each other, but at least both attributes are in the list and can now be configured using the host profile.
Note that this doesn’t only apply to the Syslog.global.logDirUnique advanced option. If you are ever editing a host profile and discover that an advanced attribute is missing, you can manually add the missing attribute by right clicking on the section header and choosing “Add Profile”.
