Server.log : What is it and why is it so huge?

So I'm moving my server from one machine to another, and I'm wondering something; I have a file called server.log, and it's incredibly 31 GB.

What is it and why is it such a huge file?

 

The server.log logs all of your console output, sometimes if you have large errors or crashes it can get huge. Or you may just have a lot if players.

 

Okay; so I can delete it and a new one will be generated?

 

Yes, but all your log data will be lost. Ex. You won't be able to see that IP of the griefer unless you have a plugin that keeps track of it in a database. A log is generated every time you start a server, so it's not really required per se, but it is very useful.

 

Okay, thanks; the log I currently have is 7 months old, and we're closing the server for reconstruction.

 

I suggest you add the following options to your java command line:

--log-limit 524288 --log-count 10 --log-strip-color

This will cycle through 10 log files, each no larger than 500 K bytes. server.log.0 will always be the most recent (current) log file.

Note: The bukkit documentation for the log-limit option is wrong.

 

Second this.

 

How much data would each log hold?

 

500k bytes

 

Whoops, I meant how many messages is that?

 

Almost 500000 characters.

 

Okay, thanks; sorry for being a noob.

 

Naa, it's all good. I was there at some point too. Hell, I'm still a noob.

 

With the 500 KB limit, my log files average 7000 to 7300 lines.

Of course, now most of them are "End of stream..." messages.