# Managing and checking the syslog-ng service on Linux New to AxoSyslog? AxoSyslog is a binary compatible `syslog-ng` replacement, from the original creator, developed by the same team. Same architecture, same config files, same paths. Cloud-native images, fast releases, modern observability (OTel, K8s), and powerful data processing: read more about the [differences between AxoSyslog and `syslog-ng`](). Also, it’s super easy to [install](../../docs/axosyslog-core/install/index.md), and you can [upgrade from `syslog-ng` in minutes](../../docs/axosyslog-core/install/upgrade-syslog-ng/index.md). This section describes how to start, stop and check the status of AxoSyslog service on Linux. ## Starting AxoSyslog To start AxoSyslog, execute the following command as root. For example: `systemctl start syslog-ng` If the service starts successfully, no output will be displayed. The following message indicates that AxoSyslog can not start (see [Checking AxoSyslog status](../../docs/axosyslog-core/quickstart/managing-and-checking-linux/index.md#check-syslog-ng-status)): ``` Job for syslog-ng.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See `systemctl status syslog-ng.service` and `journalctl -xe` for details. ``` ## Stop AxoSyslog To stop AxoSyslog 1. Execute the following command as root. `systemctl stop syslog-ng` 2. Check the status of AxoSyslog service (see [Checking AxoSyslog status](../../docs/axosyslog-core/quickstart/managing-and-checking-linux/index.md#check-syslog-ng-status)). ## Restart AxoSyslog To restart AxoSyslog, execute the following command as root. `systemctl restart syslog-ng` ## Reload configuration file without restarting AxoSyslog To reload the configuration file without restarting AxoSyslog, execute the following command as root. `systemctl reload syslog-ng` ## Check AxoSyslog status To check the following status-related components, observe the suggestions below. ### Check the status of AxoSyslog service To check the status of AxoSyslog service 1. Execute the following command as root. `systemctl --no-pager status syslog-ng` 2. Check the `Active:` field, which shows the status of AxoSyslog service. The following statuses are possible: * `active (running)` \- `syslog-ng` service is up and running ``` syslog-ng.service - System Logger Daemon Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/syslog-ng.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: active (running) since Tue 2019-06-25 08:58:09 CEST; 5s ago Main PID: 6575 (syslog-ng) Tasks: 3 Memory: 13.3M CPU: 268ms CGroup: /system.slice/syslog-ng.service 6575 /opt/syslog-ng/libexec/syslog-ng -F --no-caps --enable-core ``` * `inactive (dead)` \- `syslog-ng` service is stopped ``` syslog-ng.service - System Logger Daemon Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/syslog-ng.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: inactive (dead) since Tue 2019-06-25 09:14:16 CEST; 2min 18s ago Process: 6575 ExecStart=/opt/syslog-ng/sbin/syslog-ng -F --no-caps --enable-core $SYSLOGNG_OPTIONS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 6575 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Status: "Shutting down... Tue Jun 25 09:14:16 2019" Jun 25 09:14:31 as-syslog-srv systemd: Stopped System Logger Daemon. ``` ### Check the process of AxoSyslog To check the process of AxoSyslog, execute one of the following commands. * `ps u ` Expected output example: ``` USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND syslogng 6709 0.0 0.6 308680 13432 ? Ss 09:17 0:00 /opt/syslog-ng/libexec/syslog-ng -F --no-caps --enable-core ``` * `ps axu | grep syslog-ng | grep -v grep` Expected output example: ``` syslogng 6709 0.0 0.6 308680 13432 ? Ss 09:17 0:00 /opt/syslog-ng/libexec/syslog-ng -F --no-caps --enable-core ``` ### Check the internal logs of AxoSyslog The internal logs of AxoSyslog contains informal, warning and error messages. By default, AxoSyslog log messages (generated on the `internal()` source) are written to `/var/log/messages`. Check the internal logs of AxoSyslog for any issue. Note If you find error messages in the internal logs, messages aren’t processed by AxoSyslog, or you encounter any issue, you have the following options: * [Open a GitHub issue]() including the results. * [contact us]() ### Monitor AxoSyslog To monitor the performance and status of AxoSyslog for observability and monitoring, see [Statistics and metrics of AxoSyslog](../../docs/axosyslog-core/chapter-log-statistics/index.md). Last modified April 9, 2026: [Remove outdated stats info from the quickstart (b4e698fd)]()