Provided by: varnish_6.6.1-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       VSL - Varnish Shared Memory Logging

OVERVIEW

       This  document  describes  the format and content of all the Varnish shared memory logging
       tags. These tags are  used  by  the  varnishlog(1),  varnishtop(1),  etc.   logging  tools
       supplied with Varnish.

   VSL tags
       Backend - Backend selected
              Logged when a connection is selected for handling a backend request.

              The format is:

                 %d %s %s
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +- Backend display name
                 |  +---- VCL name
                 +------- Connection file descriptor

              NOTE: This tag is currently not in use in the Varnish log.  It is mentioned here to
              document legacy versions of the  log,  or  reserved  for  possible  use  in  future
              versions.

       BackendClose - Backend connection closed
              Logged when a backend connection is closed.

              The format is:

                 %d %s %s [ %s ]
                 |  |  |    |
                 |  |  |    +- Optional reason
                 |  |  +------ "close" or "recycle"
                 |  +--------- Backend display name
                 +------------ Connection file descriptor

       BackendOpen - Backend connection opened
              Logged when a new backend connection is opened.

              The format is:

                 %d %s %s %s %s %s %s
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  +- "connect" or "reuse"
                 |  |  |  |  |  +---- Local port
                 |  |  |  |  +------- Local address
                 |  |  |  +---------- Remote port
                 |  |  +------------- Remote address
                 |  +---------------- Backend display name
                 +------------------- Connection file descriptor

       BackendReuse - Backend connection put up for reuse
              Logged when a backend connection is put up for reuse by a later connection.

              The format is:

                 %d %s
                 |  |
                 |  +- Backend display name
                 +---- Connection file descriptor

              NOTE: This tag is currently not in use in the Varnish log.  It is mentioned here to
              document legacy versions of the  log,  or  reserved  for  possible  use  in  future
              versions.

       BackendStart - Backend request start
              Start of backend processing. Logs the backend IP address and port number.

              The format is:

                 %s %s
                 |  |
                 |  +- Backend Port number
                 +---- Backend IP4/6 address

              NOTE: This tag is currently not in use in the Varnish log.  It is mentioned here to
              document legacy versions of the  log,  or  reserved  for  possible  use  in  future
              versions.

       Backend_health - Backend health check
              The result of a backend health probe.

              The format is:

                 %s %s %s %s %u %u %u %f %f %s
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  +- Probe HTTP response / error information
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  +---- Average response time
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  +------- Response time
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  +---------- Probe window size
                 |  |  |  |  |  +------------- Probe threshold level
                 |  |  |  |  +---------------- Number of good probes in window
                 |  |  |  +------------------- Probe window bits
                 |  |  +---------------------- "healthy" or "sick"
                 |  +------------------------- "Back", "Still" or "Went"
                 +---------------------------- Backend name

              Probe window bits are:

                 '-': Could not connect
                 '4': Good IPv4
                 '6': Good IPv6
                 'U': Good UNIX
                 'x': Error Xmit
                 'X': Good Xmit
                 'r': Error Recv
                 'R': Good Recv
                 'H': Happy

              When  the  backend  is  just  created,  the window bits for health check slots that
              haven't run yet appear as '-' like failures to connect.

       Begin - Marks the start of a VXID
              The first record of a VXID transaction.

              The format is:

                 %s %d %s
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +- Reason
                 |  +---- Parent vxid
                 +------- Type ("sess", "req" or "bereq")

       BereqAcct - Backend request accounting
              Contains byte counters from backend request processing.

              The format is:

                 %d %d %d %d %d %d
                 |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  +- Total bytes received
                 |  |  |  |  +---- Body bytes received
                 |  |  |  +------- Header bytes received
                 |  |  +---------- Total bytes transmitted
                 |  +------------- Body bytes transmitted
                 +---------------- Header bytes transmitted

       BereqHeader - Backend request header
              HTTP header contents.

              The format is:

                 %s: %s
                 |   |
                 |   +- Header value
                 +----- Header name

              NOTE: HTTP header fields are free form records and not strictly made of  2  fields.
              Accessing  a  specific  header  with  the prefix notation helps treating the header
              value as a single string.

       BereqMethod - Backend request method
              The HTTP request method used.

       BereqProtocol - Backend request protocol
              The HTTP protocol version information.

       BereqURL - Backend request URL
              The HTTP request URL.

       BerespHeader - Backend response header
              HTTP header contents.

              The format is:

                 %s: %s
                 |   |
                 |   +- Header value
                 +----- Header name

              NOTE: HTTP header fields are free form records and not strictly made of  2  fields.
              Accessing  a  specific  header  with  the prefix notation helps treating the header
              value as a single string.

       BerespProtocol - Backend response protocol
              The HTTP protocol version information.

       BerespReason - Backend response reason
              The HTTP response reason string.

       BerespStatus - Backend response status
              The HTTP response status code.

       BogoHeader - Bogus HTTP received
              Contains the first 20 characters of received HTTP headers we could not  make  sense
              of.  Applies to both req.http and beresp.http.

       CLI - CLI communication
              CLI communication between varnishd master and child process.

       Debug - Debug messages
              Debug   messages  can  normally  be  ignored,  but  are  sometimes  helpful  during
              trouble-shooting.  Most debug messages must be explicitly enabled with parameters.

              Debug messages may be added, changed or removed without prior notice and  shouldn't
              be considered stable.

              NB: This log record is masked by default.

       ESI_xmlerror - ESI parser error or warning message
              An  error  or warning was generated during parsing of an ESI object. The log record
              describes the problem encountered.

       End - Marks the end of a VXID
              The last record of a VXID transaction.

       Error - Error messages
              Error messages are stuff you probably want to know.

       ExpBan - Object evicted due to ban
              Logs the VXID when an object is banned.

       ExpKill - Object expiry event
              Logs events related to object expiry. The events are:

              EXP_Rearm
                     Logged when the expiry time of an object changes.

              EXP_Inbox
                     Logged when the expiry thread picks an object from the inbox for processing.

              EXP_Kill
                     Logged when the expiry thread kills an object from the inbox.

              EXP_When
                     Logged when the expiry thread moves an object on the binheap.

              EXP_Expired
                     Logged when the expiry thread expires an object.

              LRU_Cand
                     Logged when an object is evaluated for LRU force expiry.

              LRU    Logged when an object is force expired due to LRU.

              LRU_Fail
                     Logged when no suitable candidate object is found for LRU force expiry.

              The format is:

                 EXP_Rearm p=%p E=%f e=%f f=0x%x
                 EXP_Inbox p=%p e=%f f=0x%x
                 EXP_Kill p=%p e=%f f=0x%x
                 EXP_When p=%p e=%f f=0x%x
                 EXP_Expired x=%u t=%f
                 LRU_Cand p=%p f=0x%x r=%d
                 LRU x=%u
                 LRU_Fail

                 Legend:
                 p=%p         Objcore pointer
                 t=%f         Remaining TTL (s)
                 e=%f         Expiry time (unix epoch)
                 E=%f         Old expiry time (unix epoch)
                 f=0x%x       Objcore flags
                 r=%d         Objcore refcount
                 x=%u         Object VXID

       FetchError - Error while fetching object
              Logs the error message of a failed fetch operation.

              Error messages should be self-explanatory, yet the http connection (HTC)  class  of
              errors is reported with these symbols:

                 • junk (-5): Received unexpected data

                 • close (-4): Connection closed

                 • timeout (-3): Timed out

                 • overflow (-2): Buffer/workspace too small

                 • eof (-1): Unexpected end of input

                 • empty (0): Empty response

                 • more (1): More data required

                 • complete (2): Data complete (no error)

                 • idle (3): Connection was closed while idle

              Notice that some HTC errors are never emitted.

       Fetch_Body - Body fetched from backend
              Ready to fetch body from backend.

              The format is:

                 %d %s %s
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +---- 'stream' or '-'
                 |  +------- Text description of body fetch mode
                 +---------- Body fetch mode

       Filters - Body filters
              List of filters applied to the body

       Gzip - G(un)zip performed on object
              A  Gzip record is emitted for each instance of gzip or gunzip work performed. Worst
              case, an ESI transaction stored in gzip'ed objects but delivered gunziped, will run
              into many of these.

              The format is:

                 %c %c %c %d %d %d %d %d
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  +- Bit length of compressed data
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  +---- Bit location of 'last' bit
                 |  |  |  |  |  +------- Bit location of first deflate block
                 |  |  |  |  +---------- Bytes output
                 |  |  |  +------------- Bytes input
                 |  |  +---------------- 'E': ESI, '-': Plain object
                 |  +------------------- 'F': Fetch, 'D': Deliver
                 +---------------------- 'G': Gzip, 'U': Gunzip, 'u': Gunzip-test

              Examples:

                 U F E 182 159 80 80 1392
                 G F E 159 173 80 1304 1314

       H2RxBody - Received HTTP2 frame body
              Binary data

       H2RxHdr - Received HTTP2 frame header
              Binary data

       H2TxBody - Transmitted HTTP2 frame body
              Binary data

       H2TxHdr - Transmitted HTTP2 frame header
              Binary data

       Hash - Value added to hash
              This value was added to the object lookup hash.

              NB: This log record is masked by default.

       Hit - Hit object in cache
              Object looked up in cache.

              The format is:

                 %u %f %f %f
                 |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  +- Keep period
                 |  |  +---- Grace period
                 |  +------- Remaining TTL
                 +---------- VXID of the object

       HitMiss - Hit for miss object in cache.
              Hit-for-miss object looked up in cache.

              The format is:

                 %u %f
                 |  |
                 |  +- Remaining TTL
                 +---- VXID of the object

       HitPass - Hit for pass object in cache.
              Hit-for-pass object looked up in cache.

              The format is:

                 %u %f
                 |  |
                 |  +- Remaining TTL
                 +---- VXID of the object

       HttpGarbage - Unparseable HTTP request
              Logs the content of unparseable HTTP requests.

       Length - Size of object body
              Logs the size of a fetch object body.

       Link - Links to a child VXID
              Links this VXID to any child VXID it initiates.

              The format is:

                 %s %d %s
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +- Reason
                 |  +---- Child vxid
                 +------- Child type ("req" or "bereq")

       LostHeader - Failed attempt to set HTTP header
              Logs  the  header name of a failed HTTP header operation due to resource exhaustion
              or configured limits.

       Notice - Informational messages about request handling
              Informational log messages on events occurred during request handling.

              The format is:

                 %s: %s
                 |   |
                 |   +- Short description of the notice message
                 +----- Manual page containing the detailed description

              See the NOTICE MESSAGES section below or  the  individual  VMOD  manual  pages  for
              detailed information of notice messages.

       ObjHeader - Object header
              HTTP header contents.

              The format is:

                 %s: %s
                 |   |
                 |   +- Header value
                 +----- Header name

              NOTE:  HTTP  header fields are free form records and not strictly made of 2 fields.
              Accessing a specific header with the prefix  notation  helps  treating  the  header
              value as a single string.

       ObjProtocol - Object protocol
              The HTTP protocol version information.

       ObjReason - Object reason
              The HTTP response reason string.

       ObjStatus - Object status
              The HTTP response status code.

       PipeAcct - Pipe byte counts
              Contains byte counters for pipe sessions.

              The format is:

                 %d %d %d %d
                 |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  +------- Piped bytes to client
                 |  |  +---------- Piped bytes from client
                 |  +------------- Backend request headers
                 +---------------- Client request headers

       Proxy - PROXY protocol information
              PROXY protocol information.

              The format is:

                 %d %s %d %s %d
                 |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  +- server port
                 |  |  |  +---- server ip
                 |  |  +------- client port
                 |  +---------- client ip
                 +------------- PROXY protocol version

                 All fields are "local" for PROXY local connections (command 0x0)

       ProxyGarbage - Unparseable PROXY request
              A PROXY protocol header was unparseable.

       ReqAcct - Request handling byte counts
              Contains  byte  counts  for  the  request  handling.  The body bytes count includes
              transmission overhead (ie: chunked encoding).  ESI sub-requests show the body bytes
              this  ESI fragment including any subfragments contributed to the top level request.
              The format is:

                 %d %d %d %d %d %d
                 |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  +- Total bytes transmitted
                 |  |  |  |  +---- Body bytes transmitted
                 |  |  |  +------- Header bytes transmitted
                 |  |  +---------- Total bytes received
                 |  +------------- Body bytes received
                 +---------------- Header bytes received

       ReqHeader - Client request header
              HTTP header contents.

              The format is:

                 %s: %s
                 |   |
                 |   +- Header value
                 +----- Header name

              NOTE: HTTP header fields are free form records and not strictly made of  2  fields.
              Accessing  a  specific  header  with  the prefix notation helps treating the header
              value as a single string.

       ReqMethod - Client request method
              The HTTP request method used.

       ReqProtocol - Client request protocol
              The HTTP protocol version information.

       ReqStart - Client request start
              Start of request processing. Logs the client address,  port  number   and  listener
              endpoint name (from the -a command-line argument).

              The format is:

                 %s %s %s
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +-- Listener name (from -a)
                 |  +----- Client Port number (0 for Unix domain sockets)
                 +-------- Client IP4/6 address (0.0.0.0 for UDS)

       ReqURL - Client request URL
              The HTTP request URL.

       RespHeader - Client response header
              HTTP header contents.

              The format is:

                 %s: %s
                 |   |
                 |   +- Header value
                 +----- Header name

              NOTE:  HTTP  header fields are free form records and not strictly made of 2 fields.
              Accessing a specific header with the prefix  notation  helps  treating  the  header
              value as a single string.

       RespProtocol - Client response protocol
              The HTTP protocol version information.

       RespReason - Client response reason
              The HTTP response reason string.

       RespStatus - Client response status
              The HTTP response status code.

       SessClose - Client connection closed
              SessClose is the last record for any client connection.

              The format is:

                 %s %f
                 |  |
                 |  +- How long the session was open
                 +---- Why the connection closed

       SessError - Client connection accept failed
              Accepting a client connection has failed.

              The format is:

                 %s %s %s %d %d %s
                 |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  +- Detailed error message
                 |  |  |  |  +---- Error Number (errno) from accept(2)
                 |  |  |  +------- File descriptor number
                 |  |  +---------- Local TCP port / 0 for UDS
                 |  +------------- Local IPv4/6 address / 0.0.0.0 for UDS
                 +---------------- Socket name (from -a argument)

       SessOpen - Client connection opened
              The  first  record  for  a  client  connection,  with  the  socket-endpoints of the
              connection.

              The format is:

                 %s %d %s %s %s %f %d
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  |  |  +- File descriptor number
                 |  |  |  |  |  +---- Session start time (unix epoch)
                 |  |  |  |  +------- Local TCP port / 0 for UDS
                 |  |  |  +---------- Local IPv4/6 address / 0.0.0.0 for UDS
                 |  |  +------------- Socket name (from -a argument)
                 |  +---------------- Remote TCP port / 0 for UDS
                 +------------------- Remote IPv4/6 address / 0.0.0.0 for UDS

       Storage - Where object is stored
              Type and name of the storage backend the object is stored in.

              The format is:

                 %s %s
                 |  |
                 |  +- Name of storage backend
                 +---- Type ("malloc", "file", "persistent" etc.)

       TTL - TTL set on object
              A TTL record is emitted whenever the ttl, grace or keep values for an object is set
              as well as whether the object is  cacheable or not.

              The format is:

                 %s %d %d %d %d [ %d %d %u %u ] %s
                 |  |  |  |  |    |  |  |  |    |
                 |  |  |  |  |    |  |  |  |    +- "cacheable" or "uncacheable"
                 |  |  |  |  |    |  |  |  +------ Max-Age from Cache-Control header
                 |  |  |  |  |    |  |  +--------- Expires header
                 |  |  |  |  |    |  +------------ Date header
                 |  |  |  |  |    +--------------- Age (incl Age: header value)
                 |  |  |  |  +-------------------- Reference time for TTL
                 |  |  |  +----------------------- Keep
                 |  |  +-------------------------- Grace
                 |  +----------------------------- TTL
                 +-------------------------------- "RFC", "VCL" or "HFP"

              The four optional fields are only present in "RFC" headers.

              Examples:

                 RFC 60 10 -1 1312966109 1312966109 1312966109 0 60 cacheable
                 VCL 120 10 0 1312966111 uncacheable
                 HFP 2 0 0 1312966113 uncacheable

       Timestamp - Timing information
              Contains timing information for the Varnish worker threads.

              Time  stamps are issued by Varnish on certain events, and show the absolute time of
              the event, the time spent since the start of the work  unit,  and  the  time  spent
              since  the  last  timestamp  was  logged.  See  the  TIMESTAMPS  section  below for
              information about the individual time stamps.

              The format is:

                 %s: %f %f %f
                 |   |  |  |
                 |   |  |  +- Time since last timestamp
                 |   |  +---- Time since start of work unit
                 |   +------- Absolute time of event
                 +----------- Event label

       VCL_Error - VCL execution error message
              Logs error messages generated during VCL execution.

       VCL_Log - Log statement from VCL
              User generated log messages insert from VCL through std.log()

       VCL_acl - VCL ACL check results
              Logs VCL ACL evaluation results.

              The format is:

                 %s [%s [%s [fixed: %s]]]
                 |   |   |          |
                 |   |   |          +- Fixed entry (see vcc_acl_pedantic parameter)
                 |   |   +------------ Matching entry (only for MATCH)
                 |   +---------------- Name of the ACL for MATCH or NO_MATCH
                 +-------------------- MATCH, NO_MATCH or NO_FAM

              MATCH denotes an ACL match NO_MATCH denotes that a  checked  ACL  has  not  matched
              NO_FAM denotes a missing address family and should not occur.

       VCL_call - VCL method called
              Logs the VCL method name when a VCL method is called.

       VCL_return - VCL method return value
              Logs the VCL method terminating statement.

       VCL_trace - VCL trace data
              Logs VCL execution trace data.

              The format is:

                 %s %u %u.%u.%u
                 |  |  |  |  |
                 |  |  |  |  +- VCL program line position
                 |  |  |  +---- VCL program line number
                 |  |  +------- VCL program source index
                 |  +---------- VCL trace point index
                 +------------- VCL configname

              NB: This log record is masked by default.

       VCL_use - VCL in use
              Records the name of the VCL being used.

              The format is:

                 %s [ %s %s ]
                 |    |  |
                 |    |  +- Name of label used to find it
                 |    +---- "via"
                 +--------- Name of VCL put in use

       VSL - VSL API warnings and error message
              Warnings  and  error  messages  generated  by  the VSL API while reading the shared
              memory log.

       VdpAcct - Deliver filter accounting
              Contains name of VDP and statistics.

              The format is:

                 %s %d %d
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +- Total bytes produced
                 |  +---- Number of calls made
                 +------- Name of filter

              NB: This log record is masked by default.

       VfpAcct - Fetch filter accounting
              Contains name of VFP and statistics.

              The format is:

                 %s %d %d
                 |  |  |
                 |  |  +- Total bytes produced
                 |  +---- Number of calls made
                 +------- Name of filter

              NB: This log record is masked by default.

       Witness - Lock order witness records
              Diagnostic recording of locking order.

       WorkThread - Logs thread start/stop events
              Logs worker thread creation and termination events.

              The format is:

                 %p %s
                 |  |
                 |  +- [start|end]
                 +---- Worker struct pointer

              NB: This log record is masked by default.

TIMESTAMPS

       Timestamps are inserted in the log on completing certain events during the worker thread's
       task  handling. The timestamps has a label showing which event was completed. The reported
       fields show the absolute time of the event, the time spent since the start of the task and
       the time spent since the last timestamp was logged.

       The  timestamps  logged automatically by Varnish are inserted after completing events that
       are expected to have  delays  (e.g.  network  IO  or  spending  time  on  a  waitinglist).
       Timestamps  can  also  be  inserted from VCL using the std.timestamp() function. If one is
       doing time consuming tasks in the VCL configuration, it's a good idea to log  a  timestamp
       after  completing  that  task.  This keeps the timing information in subsequent timestamps
       from including the time spent on the VCL event.

   Request handling timestamps
       Start  The start of request processing (first byte received or restart).

       Req    Complete client request received.

       ReqBody
              Client request body processed (discarded, cached or passed to the backend).

       Waitinglist
              Came off waitinglist.

       Fetch  Fetch processing finished (completely fetched or ready for streaming).

       Process
              Processing finished, ready to deliver the client response.

       Resp   Delivery of response to the client finished.

       Restart
              Client request is being restarted.

   Pipe handling timestamps
       Pipe   Opened a pipe to the backend and forwarded the request.

       PipeSess
              The pipe session has finished.

   Backend fetch timestamps
       Start  Start of the backend fetch processing.

       Fetch  Came off vcl_backend_fetch ready to send the backend request.

       Connected
              Successfully established or reused a backend connection.

       Bereq  Backend request sent.

       Beresp Backend response headers received.

       Process
              Processing finished, ready to fetch the response body.

       BerespBody
              Backend response body received.

       Retry  Backend request is being retried.

       Error  Backend request failed to vcl_backend_error.

NOTICE MESSAGES

       Notice messages contain informational messages about the handling of a request. These  can
       be  exceptional  circumstances encountered that causes deviation from the normal handling.
       The messages are prefixed with vsl: for core Varnish generated messages, and VMOD  authors
       are encouraged to use vmod_<name>: for their own notice messages. This matches the name of
       the manual page where detailed descriptions of notice messages are expected.

       The core messages are described below.

   Conditional fetch wait for streaming object
       The backend answered 304 Not Modified on a conditional fetch using an object that has  not
       yet  been fully fetched as the stale template object. This can only happen when the TTL of
       the object is less than the time it takes to fetch it. The fetch is halted until the stale
       object  is  fully  fetched, upon which the new object is created as normal. While waiting,
       any grace time on the stale object will be in effect.

   High number of variants
       Objects are primarily looked up from an  index  using  the  hash  key  computed  from  the
       hash_data()  VCL  function.  When  variants  are  involved,  that is to say when a backend
       response was stored with a Vary header, a secondary lookup is  performed  but  it  is  not
       indexed.  As the number of variants for a given key increases, this can slow cache lookups
       down, and since this happens under a lock, this can greatly increase lock contention, even
       more  so  for frequently requested objects. Variants should therefore be used sparingly on
       cacheable responses, but since they can originate from either VCL or origin servers,  this
       notice should help identify problematic resources.

HISTORY

       This document was initially written by Poul-Henning Kamp, and later updated by Martin Blix
       Grydeland.

SEE ALSO

varnishhist(1)varnishlog(1)varnishncsa(1)varnishtop(1)

COPYRIGHT

       This document is licensed under the same  licence  as  Varnish  itself.  See  LICENCE  for
       details.

       • Copyright (c) 2006 Verdens Gang AS

       • Copyright (c) 2006-2015 Varnish Software AS

                                                                                           VSL(7)