RFC 3164 (rfc3164) - Page 2 of 29

The BSD Syslog Protocol

RFC 3164                The BSD syslog Protocol              August 2001


   5.3 Originating Process Information...............................15
   5.4 Examples......................................................16
   6. Security Considerations........................................18
   6.1 Packet Parameters.............................................19
   6.2 Message Authenticity..........................................19
   6.2.1 Authentication Problems.....................................19
   6.2.2 Message Forgery.............................................20
   6.3 Sequenced Delivery............................................20
   6.3.1 Single Source to a Destination..............................20
   6.3.2 Multiple Sources to a Destination...........................21
   6.3.3 Multiple Sources to Multiple Destinations...................21
   6.3.4 Replaying...................................................22
   6.4 Reliable Delivery.............................................22
   6.5 Message Integrity.............................................22
   6.6 Message Observation...........................................22
   6.7 Message Prioritization and Differentiation....................23
   6.8 Misconfiguration..............................................24
   6.9 Forwarding Loop...............................................24
   6.10 Load Considerations..........................................25
   7. IANA Considerations............................................25
   8. Conclusion and Other Efforts...................................25
   Acknowledgements..................................................26
   References........................................................27
   Author's Address..................................................28
   Full Copyright Statement..........................................29

1. Introduction

   Since the beginning, life has relied upon the transmission of
   messages.  For the self-aware organic unit, these messages can relay
   many different things.  The messages may signal danger, the presence
   of food or the other necessities of life, and many other things.  In
   many cases, these messages are informative to other units and require
   no acknowledgement.  As people interacted and created processes, this
   same principle was applied to societal communications.  As an
   example, severe weather warnings may be delivered through any number
   of channels - a siren blowing, warnings delivered over television and
   radio stations, and even through the use of flags on ships.  The
   expectation is that people hearing or seeing these warnings would
   realize their significance and take appropriate action.  In most
   cases, no responding acknowledgement of receipt of the warning is
   required or even desired.  Along these same lines, operating systems,
   processes and applications were written to send messages of their own
   status, or messages to indicate that certain events had occurred.
   These event messages generally had local significance to the machine
   operators.  As the operating systems, processes and applications grew
   ever more complex, systems were devised to categorize and log these
   diverse messages and allow the operations staff to more quickly



Lonvick                      Informational