Provided by: varnish_7.1.1-1.1ubuntu1_amd64 
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.
BereqUnset - Backend request unset 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.
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.
BerespUnset - Backend response unset 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.
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 [%u [%u]]
| | | | | |
| | | | | +- Content length
| | | | +----- Fetched so far
| | | +--------- 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.
ObjUnset - Object unset 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.
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.
ReqUnset - Client request unset 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.
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.
RespUnset - Client response unset 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.
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
ACLs with the +log flag emits this record with the result.
The format is:
%s %s [%s [fixed: %s]]
| | | |
| | | +- Fixed entry (see vcc_acl_pedantic parameter)
| | +------------ Matching entry (only for MATCH)
| +---------------- Name of the ACL
+-------------------- MATCH or NO_MATCH
MATCH denotes an ACL match NO_MATCH denotes that a checked ACL has not matched
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
The following timestamps are client timestamps specific to pipe transactions:
Pipe Opened a pipe to the backend and forwarded the request.
PipeSess
The pipe session has finished.
The following timestamps change meaning in a pipe transaction:
Process
Processing finished, ready to begin the pipe delivery.
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 a backend connection, or selected a recycled connection
from the pool.
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)