# AuditLog logfile retention problem

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditlog-logfile-retention-problem/162853>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 3, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditlog-logfile-retention-problem/162853 "2019-01-03T17:18:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mmisztal1980](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mmisztal1980/32/38519_2.png) [@mmisztal1980](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mmisztal1980)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditlog-logfile-retention-problem/162853/1 "2019-01-03T17:18:19Z")

</div>

Hello,

We are running Elastic Stack v6.5.3 and have configured the auditlog to emit events to the logfile sink.  
We'd like to ensure that the logfiles are kept with a 3-day retention. Therefore we have attempted to apply the following log4j configuration:

```auto
appender.audit_rolling.type = RollingFile
appender.audit_rolling.name = audit_rolling
appender.audit_rolling.fileName = ${sys:es.logs.base_path}${sys:file.separator}${sys:es.logs.cluster_name}_audit.log
appender.audit_rolling.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.audit_rolling.layout.pattern = {\
                "@timestamp-auditlogevent":"%d{ISO8601}"\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "node.name":"%enc{%map{node.name}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "node.id":"%enc{%map{node.id}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "host.name":"%enc{%map{host.name}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "host.ip":"%enc{%map{host.ip}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "event.type":"%enc{%map{event.type}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "event.action":"%enc{%map{event.action}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.name":"%enc{%map{user.name}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_by.name":"%enc{%map{user.run_by.name}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_as.name":"%enc{%map{user.run_as.name}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.realm":"%enc{%map{user.realm}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_by.realm":"%enc{%map{user.run_by.realm}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.run_as.realm":"%enc{%map{user.run_as.realm}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "user.roles":%map{user.roles}}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "origin.type":"%enc{%map{origin.type}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "origin.address":"%enc{%map{origin.address}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "realm":"%enc{%map{realm}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "url.path":"%enc{%map{url.path}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "url.query":"%enc{%map{url.query}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "request.body":"%enc{%map{request.body}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "action":"%enc{%map{action}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "request.name":"%enc{%map{request.name}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "indices":%map{indices}}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "opaque_id":"%enc{%map{opaque_id}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "transport.profile":"%enc{%map{transport.profile}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "rule":"%enc{%map{rule}}{JSON}"}\
                %varsNotEmpty{, "event.category":"%enc{%map{event.category}}{JSON}"}\
                }%n

appender.audit_rolling.filePattern = ${sys:es.logs.base_path}${sys:file.separator}${sys:es.logs.cluster_name}_audit-%d{yyyy-MM-dd}.log
appender.audit_rolling.policies.type = Policies
appender.audit_rolling.policies.time.type = TimeBasedTriggeringPolicy
appender.audit_rolling.policies.time.interval = 1
appender.audit_rolling.policies.time.modulate = true
appender.audit_rolling.strategy.action=Delete
appender.audit_rolling.strategy.type=DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.rolling.strategy.action.condition.nested_condition.type=IfLastModified
appender.rolling.strategy.action.condition.nested_condition.age=3D

```

However we haven't observed the old log files being deleted.  
Can you point us to a correct solution?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/auditlog-logfile-retention-problem/162853/2 "2019-01-31T17:18:24Z")

</div>

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