MySQL: Log Files in Linux / UNIX / BSD

Can you tell me where are MySQL error and other log files are located under Linux / UNIX / BSD operating systems?

MySQL Server manages access to the MySQL data directory that contains databases and tables. The data directory is also the default location for other information such as log files and status files.

MySQL Log File Location Under Different Linux Distributions

1. Redhat / RHEL / CentOS / Fedora Linux – /var/log/mysqld.log
2. Debian / Ubuntu Linux – /var/log/mysql.log
3. FreeBSD – /var/db/mysql/`hostname`.err (if your hostname is db2.nixcraft.com, than log file name should be /var/db/mysql/db2.nixcraft.com.err

How Do I View MySQL Log Files?

Use the following commands as root user:

tail -f /var/log/mysql.log grep 'something' /var/log/mysql.log less /var/log/mysql.log