Manage the Audit Log Filter files¶
Audit log files can fill disks and grow without bound unless you cap them.
Use rotation to rename the active file and start a fresh one with the original name—manually with a UDF or automatically by size.
With automatic rotation enabled, prune old files by age, total size, or both.
Manual log rotation¶
audit_log_filter.rotate_on_size defaults to 1 GB. Set it to 0 to disable automatic rotation; you must rotate by hand.
Run SELECT audit_log_rotate(); to rotate immediately. Requires AUDIT_ADMIN.
Starting in Percona Server for MySQL 8.4.9-9, rotation finishes immediately in ASYNCHRONOUS and PERFORMANCE strategies instead of waiting on the background flush thread. Several rotations in the same second add a numeric suffix (for example audit_filter.20250401T120000-1.log) so files are not overwritten.
Pruning runs when audit_log_filter.max_size or audit_log_filter.prune_seconds is greater than zero. The server prunes immediately when you set either variable, and again on rotation (automatic when rotate_on_size > 0, or manual via audit_log_rotate()). There is no background timer — with automatic rotation disabled, schedule manual rotations or rely on the prune that runs when you set the variable.
After rotation, delete archived files you no longer need yourself. audit_log_read() can read renamed files only if their names still match the active naming pattern.