# Performance slow down with increasing log files size? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 24, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-slow-down-with-increasing-log-files-size/55837 "2006-03-24T07:15:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Shark_Fin_S)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-slow-down-with-increasing-log-files-size/55837/1 "2006-03-24T07:15:56Z")
Dear all, I have been noticing this. Whenever I delete my log files and restart lighttpd, my rail site runs very fast. However when my log files become large, my rail site becomes slower. Then I repeat the process of deleting log files again, and my site is fast again. Is this a normal behavior? Is there something I can do to make performance scale better? Thank you, Sharkie ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Shark_Fin_S)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-slow-down-with-increasing-log-files-size/55837/2 "2006-03-24T07:33:21Z")
On Mar 23, 2006, at 10:15 PM, Shark Fin S. wrote: > is fast again. > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) ``` You should look into a log rotator. This way your logs get swapped ``` out for you in timed intervals or by filesize aqnd your site can run fast because it doesn’t have to append text to the huge log files on each request to your site. -Ezra ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Shark_Fin_S)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-slow-down-with-increasing-log-files-size/55837/3 "2006-03-24T10:45:42Z")
So is it true that appending text to a larger file takes longer than to a smaller file? The reason I am asking is, I am wondering whether the slowness really comes from my large log files. Thank you, Sharkie ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shark\_Fin\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Shark_Fin_S)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-slow-down-with-increasing-log-files-size/55837/4 "2006-03-24T14:28:33Z")
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:43:23 +0700, Shark Fin S. wrote: > So is it true that appending text to a larger file takes longer than > to a smaller file? The reason I am asking is, I am wondering whether > the slowness really comes from my large log files. That depends on what file system you’re using. In general, any improvement in a [sequential, random, keyed] [read, write, update, create, delete] operation will result in a slowdown in one of the other operation types. Different file systems optimize for different use cases. And it’s not always linear. I remember a file system that would work fine up to a certain file length, and then hit a dramatic slowdown as it reorganized its two-level tree into a three-level tree. HPFS used to have great difficulty with directories that contained more than a thousand or so files, to the point where sendmail became a write-only application, because it could never work through the queue. I’m no expert on current file systems like ext3, xfs, or Reiser, but if you would prefer not to rotate logs, you should check into these, and see which is optimal for your use. Jay L.