How to stop kernel messages from flooding my console?

To set the values at runtime, use sysctl. (I suppose one can write to /proc/sys/kernel/printk directly too and apparently you can also use dmesg -n CUR as described here)

Display:

# sysctl kernel.printk
kernel.printk = 2       4       1       7

The separators in the output are single tabs, btw.

Set. Here the separators are just spaces. Works as well.

# sysctl -w kernel.printk="2 4 1 7"
kernel.printk = 2 4 1 7
# sysctl kernel.printk
kernel.printk = 2       4       1       7

See man sysctl - "configure kernel parameters at runtime" for more.

Reminder of the severity levels and the four values of kernel.printk given by Brian above:

• CUR = current severity level; only messages more important than this level are printed
• DEF = default severity level assigned to messages with no level
• MIN = minimum allowable CUR
• BTDEF = boot-time default CUR

On my CentOS: 7 4 1 7

                     CUR  DEF  MIN  BTDEF
0 - emergency        x              x                        
1 - alert            x         x    x
2 - critical         x              x
3 - error            x              x
4 - warning          x    x         x
5 - notice           x              x
6 - informational    V              V
7 - debug            

This is too noisy, I just want critical and up (no errors). Unlabeled messages should be regarded as warning, so DEF is good:

                     CUR  DEF  MIN  BTDEF
0 - emergency        x              x                        
1 - alert            x         x    x
2 - critical         x              x
3 - error            V              V
4 - warning               x         
5 - notice                           
6 - informational                   
7 - debug            

Set to: 3 4 1 3

I suggest you alter your /etc/sysctl.conf. Specifcally, you want to tweak the kernel.printk line.

# Uncomment the following to stop low-level messages on console
kernel.printk = 3 4 1 3

I am not sure what the centos default settings are, but I seems likely that have things set more verbose then you need.

Also do see the shorewall section on logging. You don't have to use the LOG target for logging, you can use other tools, or adjust the log severity, and tweak things to control where you messages go.

I found this helpful as well. On RHEL based distros you can cat /proc/sys/kernel/printk to see what your current settings are.

Four values are found in the printk file. Each of these values define a different rule for dealing with error messages. The first value, called the console loglevel, defines the lowest priority of messages printed to the console. (Note that, the lower the priority, the higher the loglevel number.) The second value sets the default loglevel for messages without an explicit loglevel attached to them. The third value sets the lowest possible loglevel configuration for the console loglevel. The last value sets the default value for the console loglevel.

Use of the LOGLEVEL parameter in /etc/sysconfig/init to set the console loglevel is no longer supported. To set the console loglevel in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, pass loglevel=' as a boot time parameter. For example, loglevel=6 will print all messages less than 6 (not equal to just less than).

Credit to:

• RHEL 6 - E.3.9. /proc/sys/
• Linuxtopia - Kernel Log Levels