Could a large log file be the reason cron job keeps dying?

Question

The log is 15 Gigabytes. I guess I have to back it up and delete. I have enough hard disc space, but did not realize log was so large. And overnight cron jobs suddenly started to die in the middle.

Answer 1

If you are talking about the MongoDB log file becoming too large you should take a look at the log rotation options here:

http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Logging#Logging-Rotatingthelogfiles

Short version - you can rotate the logs via an admin command within MongoDB or you can send a SIGUSR1 - combine with your favorite log management method and you should be good.

Something else to consider though is why the log is so large - unless it has been running for a long, long time, 15GB is a lot of logging. You may want to make sure that you are not starting up with logging set too high (-vv etc.). You can also check the log level with the setParameter command. For example, to set to 0 (the default), without restarting, just issue it like this:

db.adminCommand({setParameter:1, logLevel:0})