SystemMaxUse does not control size limits on the journal files stored.

This document (7023206) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3 (SLES 12 SP3)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15

Situation

systemd-journald will consider all unarchived user-$UID.journal files as active and won't vacuum them despite size is excessive.

Configuration:

Enforce "size limits on the journal files stored in /var/log/journal" and journald persistent logging.

/etc/systemd/journald.conf

Storage=persistent

SystemMaxUse=$VALUE

Resolution

1) Change SplitMode=uid to SplitMode=none in /etc/systemd/journald.conf

2) Restart systemd-journald

The old logs are still readable, either by journalctl running as respective user or as root, e.g. `journalctl _UID=$UID`.

The latter invocation will merge both the previously split logs of the user and the new in the command file.

If one wants to get rid of the split files, they can be simply removed from the /var/log/journal/$MACHINE_ID directory.

Of course, only the user log records that are in the unsplit (system) file are kept.

Note: Storing all user logs in one system file will make them unreadable to the users because of the permissions.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.