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Document how to change GC logging behaviour (#52879)
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Closes #43990. Describe how to change the default GC settings without changing
the default `jvm.options`. Give examples using `jvm.options.d`, and
`ES_JAVA_OPTS` with Docker.
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pugnascotia committed Feb 28, 2020
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48 changes: 45 additions & 3 deletions docs/reference/setup/important-settings/gc-logging.asciidoc
@@ -1,7 +1,49 @@
[[gc-logging]]
=== GC logging

By default, Elasticsearch enables GC logs. These are configured in
<<jvm-options,`jvm.options`>> and default to the same default location as the
Elasticsearch logs. The default configuration rotates the logs every 64 MB and
By default, {es} enables GC logs. These are configured in
<<jvm-options,`jvm.options`>> and output to the same default location as
the {es} logs. The default configuration rotates the logs every 64 MB and
can consume up to 2 GB of disk space.

You can reconfigure JVM logging using the command line options described in
https://openjdk.java.net/jeps/158[JEP 158: Unified JVM Logging]. Unless you
change the default `jvm.options` file directly, the {es} default
configuration is applied in addition to your own settings. To disable the
default configuration, first disable logging by supplying the
`-Xlog:disable` option, then supply your own command line options. This
disables __all__ JVM logging, so be sure to review the available options
and enable everything that you require.

To see further options not contained in the original JEP, see
https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/13/docs/specs/man/java.html#enable-logging-with-the-jvm-unified-logging-framework[Enable
Logging with the JVM Unified Logging Framework].

==== Examples

* Change the default GC log output location to `/opt/my-app/gc.log` by
creating `$ES_HOME/config/jvm.options.d/gc.options` with some sample
options:
+
[source,shell]
--------------------------------------------
# Turn off all previous logging configuratons
-Xlog:disable
# Default settings from JEP 158, but with `utctime` instead of `uptime` to match the next line
-Xlog:all=warning:stderr:utctime,level,tags
# Enable GC logging to a custom location with a variety of options
-Xlog:gc*,gc+age=trace,safepoint:file=/opt/my-app/gc.log:utctime,pid,tags:filecount=32,filesize=64m
--------------------------------------------

* Configure an {es} <<docker,Docker container>> to send GC debug logs to
standard error (`stderr`). This lets the container orchestrator
handle the output. If using the `ES_JAVA_OPTS` environment variable,
specify:
+
[source,sh]
--------------------------------------------
MY_OPTS="-Xlog:disable -Xlog:all=warning:stderr:utctime,level,tags -Xlog:gc=debug:stderr:utctime"
docker run -e ES_JAVA_OPTS="$MY_OPTS" # etc
--------------------------------------------
3 changes: 2 additions & 1 deletion docs/reference/setup/jvm-options.asciidoc
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You should rarely need to change Java Virtual Machine (JVM) options. If you do,
the most likely change is setting the <<heap-size,heap size>>. The remainder of
this document explains in detail how to set JVM options.
this document explains in detail how to set JVM options. You can set options
either with `jvm.options` files or with the `ES_JAVA_OPTS` environment variable.

The preferred method of setting JVM options (including system properties and JVM
flags) is via the `jvm.options` configuration file. The default location of this
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