# No systemd log files

**URL:** <https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [April 4, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316 "2024-04-04T13:09:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Renskers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/kevin_renskers/32/3298_2.png) [@Kevin\_Renskers](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Kevin_Renskers)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/1 "2024-04-04T13:09:50Z")

</div>

Today I’ve created a new account and installed Netdata on a Debian server. Basically everything worked out of the box, but I am not seeing my systemd logs. When I go to my Configurations page, I only see two tabs: Collectors and Health.

![Screenshot 2024-04-04 at 15.08.30](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/netdata2/original/2X/a/a873cd3437ded67a66a85d9335c2a172f900bb6d.png)

On another Debian server that I setup quite a long time ago, I see three tabs on the Configurations page: Collectors, Health and Logs. Under logs is systems-journal, and I do indeed have access to my logs on this server.

![Screenshot 2024-04-04 at 15.08.09](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/netdata2/original/2X/c/c8d88c56eb59ca9aae4be6d0f827c090c84ba59e.png)

I have no idea why the logs are not added to this new server, and I also don’t know how to add them. To be honest I can’t remember what steps (if any) I did all that time ago on the older server. Any ideas why I am not seeing this on the new server, and how to add it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ilyam8](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/ilyam8/32/134_2.png) [@ilyam8](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/ilyam8)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/2 "2024-04-04T13:17:09Z")

</div>

Hi. Show Netdata build info, it is

```bash
/usr/sbin/netdata -W buildinfo

# or

/opt/netdata/usr/sbin/netdata -W buildinfo

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Renskers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/kevin_renskers/32/3298_2.png) [@Kevin\_Renskers](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Kevin_Renskers)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/3 "2024-04-04T13:20:19Z")

</div>

```auto
/usr/sbin/netdata -W buildinfo
Packaging:
    Netdata Version ____________________________________________ : v1.45.2
    Installation Type __________________________________________ : binpkg-deb
    Package Architecture _______________________________________ : x86_64
    Package Distro _____________________________________________ :
    Configure Options __________________________________________ : dummy-configure-command
Default Directories:
    User Configurations ________________________________________ : /etc/netdata
    Stock Configurations _______________________________________ : /usr/lib/netdata/conf.d
    Ephemeral Databases (metrics data, metadata) _______________ : /var/cache/netdata
    Permanent Databases ________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata
    Plugins ____________________________________________________ : /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d
    Static Web Files ___________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata/www
    Log Files __________________________________________________ : /var/log/netdata
    Lock Files _________________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata/lock
    Home _______________________________________________________ : /var/lib/netdata
Operating System:
    Kernel _____________________________________________________ : Linux
    Kernel Version _____________________________________________ : 5.10.0-21-amd64
    Operating System ___________________________________________ : Debian GNU/Linux
    Operating System ID ________________________________________ : debian
    Operating System ID Like ___________________________________ : unknown
    Operating System Version ___________________________________ : 11 (bullseye)
    Operating System Version ID ________________________________ : none
    Detection __________________________________________________ : /etc/os-release
Hardware:
    CPU Cores __________________________________________________ : 8
    CPU Frequency ______________________________________________ : 2445000000
    RAM Bytes __________________________________________________ : 32879128576
    Disk Capacity ______________________________________________ : 163842097152
    CPU Architecture ___________________________________________ : x86_64
    Virtualization Technology __________________________________ : kvm
    Virtualization Detection ___________________________________ : systemd-detect-virt
Container:
    Container __________________________________________________ : none
    Container Detection ________________________________________ : systemd-detect-virt
    Container Orchestrator _____________________________________ : none
    Container Operating System _________________________________ : none
    Container Operating System ID ______________________________ : none
    Container Operating System ID Like _________________________ : none
    Container Operating System Version _________________________ : none
    Container Operating System Version ID ______________________ : none
    Container Operating System Detection _______________________ : none
Features:
    Built For __________________________________________________ : Linux
    Netdata Cloud ______________________________________________ : YES
    Health (trigger alerts and send notifications) _____________ : YES
    Streaming (stream metrics to parent Netdata servers) _______ : YES
    Back-filling (of higher database tiers) ____________________ : YES
    Replication (fill the gaps of parent Netdata servers) ______ : YES
    Streaming and Replication Compression ______________________ : YES (zstd lz4 gzip)
    Contexts (index all active and archived metrics) ___________ : YES
    Tiering (multiple dbs with different metrics resolution) ___ : YES (5)
    Machine Learning ___________________________________________ : YES
Database Engines:
    dbengine ___________________________________________________ : YES
    alloc ______________________________________________________ : YES
    ram ________________________________________________________ : YES
    none _______________________________________________________ : YES
Connectivity Capabilities:
    ACLK (Agent-Cloud Link: MQTT over WebSockets over TLS) _____ : YES
    static (Netdata internal web server) _______________________ : YES
    h2o (web server) ___________________________________________ : YES
    WebRTC (experimental) ______________________________________ : NO
    Native HTTPS (TLS Support) _________________________________ : YES
    TLS Host Verification ______________________________________ : YES
Libraries:
    LZ4 (extremely fast lossless compression algorithm) ________ : YES
    ZSTD (fast, lossless compression algorithm) ________________ : YES
    zlib (lossless data-compression library) ___________________ : YES
    Brotli (generic-purpose lossless compression algorithm) ____ : NO
    protobuf (platform-neutral data serialization protocol) ____ : YES (system)
    OpenSSL (cryptography) _____________________________________ : YES
    libdatachannel (stand-alone WebRTC data channels) __________ : NO
    JSON-C (lightweight JSON manipulation) _____________________ : YES
    libcap (Linux capabilities system operations) ______________ : NO
    libcrypto (cryptographic functions) ________________________ : YES
    libyaml (library for parsing and emitting YAML) ____________ : YES
Plugins:
    apps (monitor processes) ___________________________________ : YES
    cgroups (monitor containers and VMs) _______________________ : YES
    cgroup-network (associate interfaces to CGROUPS) ___________ : YES
    proc (monitor Linux systems) _______________________________ : YES
    tc (monitor Linux network QoS) _____________________________ : YES
    diskspace (monitor Linux mount points) _____________________ : YES
    freebsd (monitor FreeBSD systems) __________________________ : NO
    macos (monitor MacOS systems) ______________________________ : NO
    statsd (collect custom application metrics) ________________ : YES
    timex (check system clock synchronization) _________________ : YES
    idlejitter (check system latency and jitter) _______________ : YES
    bash (support shell data collection jobs - charts.d) _______ : YES
    debugfs (kernel debugging metrics) _________________________ : YES
    cups (monitor printers and print jobs) _____________________ : YES
    ebpf (monitor system calls) ________________________________ : YES
    freeipmi (monitor enterprise server H/W) ___________________ : YES
    nfacct (gather netfilter accounting) _______________________ : YES
    perf (collect kernel performance events) ___________________ : YES
    slabinfo (monitor kernel object caching) ___________________ : YES
    Xen ________________________________________________________ : YES
    Xen VBD Error Tracking _____________________________________ : NO
    Logs Management ____________________________________________ : YES
Exporters:
    AWS Kinesis ________________________________________________ : NO
    GCP PubSub _________________________________________________ : NO
    MongoDB ____________________________________________________ : YES
    Prometheus (OpenMetrics) Exporter __________________________ : YES
    Prometheus Remote Write ____________________________________ : YES
    Graphite ___________________________________________________ : YES
    Graphite HTTP / HTTPS ______________________________________ : YES
    JSON _______________________________________________________ : YES
    JSON HTTP / HTTPS __________________________________________ : YES
    OpenTSDB ___________________________________________________ : YES
    OpenTSDB HTTP / HTTPS ______________________________________ : YES
    All Metrics API ____________________________________________ : YES
    Shell (use metrics in shell scripts) _______________________ : YES
Debug/Developer Features:
    Trace All Netdata Allocations (with charts) ________________ : NO
    Developer Mode (more runtime checks, slower) _______________ : NO

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ilyam8](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/ilyam8/32/134_2.png) [@ilyam8](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/ilyam8)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/4 "2024-04-04T13:28:00Z")

</div>

- Can you show `ps faxu | grep [n]etdata`?
- Do you try checking the Logs tab? Do you have logs there?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Renskers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/kevin_renskers/32/3298_2.png) [@Kevin\_Renskers](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Kevin_Renskers)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/5 "2024-04-04T13:31:08Z")

</div>

```auto
ps faxu | grep [n]etdata
postgres 2964655 0.8 0.0 220940 31656 ? Ss 13:25 0:02 \_ postgres: 13/main: netdata postgres [local] idle
root 2954277 0.0 0.0 31768 11984 ? Ss 11:50 0:00 /lib/systemd/systemd-journald netdata
netdata 2959504 1.2 0.2 891120 70696 ? SNsl 12:35 0:39 /usr/sbin/netdata -P /run/netdata/netdata.pid -D
netdata 2959533 0.0 0.0 63344 13748 ? SNl 12:35 0:00 \_ /usr/sbin/netdata --special-spawn-server
netdata 2959765 1.1 0.1 210988 33808 ? SNl 12:35 0:37 \_ /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/apps.plugin 1
netdata 2959788 0.0 0.0 4080 2912 ? SN 12:35 0:01 \_ bash /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/tc-qos-helper.sh 1
netdata 2959790 0.0 0.0 42040 29072 ? SNl 12:35 0:01 \_ /usr/bin/python3 /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/python.d.plugin 1
netdata 2959792 0.7 0.2 1295792 65880 ? SNl 12:35 0:24 \_ /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/go.d.plugin 1
root 2959798 0.0 0.0 11316 2456 ? SN 12:35 0:00 \_ /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/nfacct.plugin 1
netdata 2959810 0.0 0.0 11264 2360 ? SN 12:35 0:00 \_ /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/debugfs.plugin 1
root 2959812 0.0 0.0 432328 29604 ? SNl 12:35 0:01 \_ /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/ebpf.plugin 1

```

The logs tab shows a never-ending loading indicator:

![Screenshot 2024-04-04 at 15.30.33](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/netdata2/original/2X/9/9f1661dddf5a2995fa5c1f2db0f4758a7c50b70e.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ilyam8](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/ilyam8/32/134_2.png) [@ilyam8](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/ilyam8)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/6 "2024-04-04T13:36:42Z")

</div>

System-journal plugin is not running. 🤔

Try restarting Netdata and if the problem still exists, show:

```auto
# installed plugin packages
dpkg -l | grep netdata-plugin

# plugins/permissions in the plugins.d directory
ls -l /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/

# logs since the last restart
journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Renskers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/kevin_renskers/32/3298_2.png) [@Kevin\_Renskers](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Kevin_Renskers)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 2:03pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/7 "2024-04-04T14:03:06Z")

</div>

It wasn’t installed, `apt-get install netdata-plugin-systemd-journal` and `service netdata restart` seems to have fixed it. The Logs tab show up as expected now.

Not sure why the install script didn’t install this plugin?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ilyam8](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/ilyam8/32/134_2.png) [@ilyam8](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/ilyam8)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/8 "2024-04-04T14:30:49Z")

</div>

> Not sure why the install script didn’t install this plugin?

I’m not sure either - installation output would be helpful, but I understand you didn’t save it. How did you install Netdata? Using the kickstart.sh script, right?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Renskers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/kevin_renskers/32/3298_2.png) [@Kevin\_Renskers](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Kevin_Renskers)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/9 "2024-04-04T14:33:58Z")

</div>

Yup, kickstart.sh. And no I didn’t keep the output for that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ilyam8](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/ilyam8/32/134_2.png) [@ilyam8](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/ilyam8)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/10 "2024-04-04T14:50:52Z")

</div>

Probably your system is configured not to install recommended packages by default.

```auto
grep "APT::Install-Recommends" /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/*

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Renskers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/kevin_renskers/32/3298_2.png) [@Kevin\_Renskers](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Kevin_Renskers)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/no-systemd-log-files/5316/11 "2024-04-04T15:09:42Z")

</div>

Ah, true.

It’s weird that nowhere in the integrations info or even on [systemd journal plugin | Learn Netdata](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/working-with-logs/systemd-journal) is any info about getting this installed. The script doesn’t warn about recommended packages not getting installed.

Maybe docs and/or the script can be improved? But at least my problem is solved. Thanks!