Best Tool for PostgreSQL Auditing and Storing Audit Logs Separately

Hi,

You can use pgaudit and pgauditlogtofile extension (
https://github.com/fmbiete/pgauditlogtofile) together to write audit logs
in a separate file.

yours,

Kenan Çiftçi

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM vijay patil <vijay.postgres@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hi Kenan,

Thanks for the quick response.

Thanks
Vijay

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 4:44 PM KENAN ÇİFTÇİ <kciftci89@gmail.com> wrote:

On 4/15/25 12:14, KENAN ÇİFTÇİ wrote:

Hi,

You can use pgaudit and pgauditlogtofile extension
(https://github.com/fmbiete/pgauditlogtofile) together to write audit
logs in a separate file.

One issue we have with pgaudit is that it prints AUDIT records even if
the xaction gets rollbacked, how do you alleviate that ?

pgaudit is statement-level, not transaction-level; that's its nature. This
is the same as log_statement.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 5:10 AM Achilleas Mantzios - cloud <
a.mantzios@cloud.gatewaynet.com> wrote:

On 4/15/25 12:14, KENAN ÇİFTÇİ wrote:

Hi,

You can use pgaudit and pgauditlogtofile extension (
https://github.com/fmbiete/pgauditlogtofile) together to write audit logs
in a separate file.

One issue we have with pgaudit is that it prints AUDIT records even if the
xaction gets rollbacked, how do you alleviate that ?

yours,

Kenan Çiftçi

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM vijay patil <vijay.postgres@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hi All,

We are exploring auditing solutions for our PostgreSQL database and are
considering using pgaudit for this purpose. However, we have a few
questions:

1.

*What is the best tool for auditing PostgreSQL databases?*
-

We are specifically looking for a solution that offers detailed
auditing capabilities and is compatible with our setup.
2.

*Can we store the audit information separately from PostgreSQL logs
if we decide to use pgaudit?*
-

We would prefer to keep the audit logs in a separate file or
location for easier management and analysis.

We appreciate any help or suggestions!

Thanks

Vijay

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

On 16/4/25 15:36, Ron Johnson wrote:

pgaudit is statement-level, not transaction-level; that's its nature. 
This is the same as log_statement.

ok, but log_statement prints ROLLBACKs/COMMITs, but pgaudit not.

You'll have to bring that up with the PgAudit maintainer. Note, though,
that the purpose of PgAudit is not "recreate the database from audit logs";
it's "what Auditors care about". In my experience, auditors do not care
about COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 1:35 PM Achilleas Mantzios <
a.mantzios@cloud.gatewaynet.com> wrote:

On 16/4/25 15:36, Ron Johnson wrote:

pgaudit is statement-level, not transaction-level; that's its nature.
This is the same as log_statement.

ok, but log_statement prints ROLLBACKs/COMMITs, but pgaudit not.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 5:10 AM Achilleas Mantzios - cloud <
a.mantzios@cloud.gatewaynet.com> wrote:

On 4/15/25 12:14, KENAN ÇİFTÇİ wrote:

Hi,

You can use pgaudit and pgauditlogtofile extension (
https://github.com/fmbiete/pgauditlogtofile) together to write audit
logs in a separate file.

One issue we have with pgaudit is that it prints AUDIT records even if
the xaction gets rollbacked, how do you alleviate that ?

yours,

Kenan Çiftçi

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM vijay patil <vijay.postgres@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hi All,

We are exploring auditing solutions for our PostgreSQL database and are
considering using pgaudit for this purpose. However, we have a few
questions:

1.

*What is the best tool for auditing PostgreSQL databases?*
-

We are specifically looking for a solution that offers detailed
auditing capabilities and is compatible with our setup.
2.

*Can we store the audit information separately from PostgreSQL logs
if we decide to use pgaudit?*
-

We would prefer to keep the audit logs in a separate file or
location for easier management and analysis.

We appreciate any help or suggestions!

Thanks

Vijay

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

On 16/4/25 21:43, Ron Johnson wrote:

You'll have to bring that up with the PgAudit maintainer. Note,
though, that the purpose of PgAudit is not "recreate the database from
audit logs"; it's "what Auditors care about". In my experience,
auditors do not care about COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

In my experience auditors care a lot about a statement that happened
versus a statement that didn't happen.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 3:15 PM Achilleas Mantzios <
a.mantzios@cloud.gatewaynet.com> wrote:

On 16/4/25 21:43, Ron Johnson wrote:

You'll have to bring that up with the PgAudit maintainer. Note, though,
that the purpose of PgAudit is not "recreate the database from audit logs";
it's "what Auditors care about". In my experience, auditors do not care
about COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

In my experience auditors care a lot about a statement that happened
versus a statement that didn't happen.

The SELECT statement happened. The DELETE statement successfully
completed. That it was rolled back is great, but the DELETE statement
still successfully completed.

If you don't like that ROLLBACK and COMMIT are not captured by PgAudit,
open a Request For Feature issue: https://github.com/pgaudit/pgaudit/issues.
Or write a patch then submit a pull request.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 1:35 PM Achilleas Mantzios <
a.mantzios@cloud.gatewaynet.com> wrote:

On 16/4/25 15:36, Ron Johnson wrote:

pgaudit is statement-level, not transaction-level; that's its nature.
This is the same as log_statement.

ok, but log_statement prints ROLLBACKs/COMMITs, but pgaudit not.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 5:10 AM Achilleas Mantzios - cloud <
a.mantzios@cloud.gatewaynet.com> wrote:

On 4/15/25 12:14, KENAN ÇİFTÇİ wrote:

Hi,

You can use pgaudit and pgauditlogtofile extension (
https://github.com/fmbiete/pgauditlogtofile) together to write audit
logs in a separate file.

One issue we have with pgaudit is that it prints AUDIT records even if
the xaction gets rollbacked, how do you alleviate that ?

yours,

Kenan Çiftçi

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM vijay patil <vijay.postgres@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hi All,

We are exploring auditing solutions for our PostgreSQL database and are
considering using pgaudit for this purpose. However, we have a few
questions:

1.

*What is the best tool for auditing PostgreSQL databases?*
-

We are specifically looking for a solution that offers detailed
auditing capabilities and is compatible with our setup.
2.

*Can we store the audit information separately from PostgreSQL logs
if we decide to use pgaudit?*
-

We would prefer to keep the audit logs in a separate file or
location for easier management and analysis.

We appreciate any help or suggestions!

Thanks

Vijay

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 02:43:59PM -0400, Ron Johnson wrote:

You'll have to bring that up with the PgAudit maintainer. Note, though,
that the purpose of PgAudit is not "recreate the database from audit logs";
it's "what Auditors care about". In my experience, auditors do not care
about COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

I would care about what happened. To know what happened I'd have to see
either only audit logs for committed transactions, or also see the
COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

Nico
--

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM Nico Williams <nico@cryptonector.com> wrote:

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 02:43:59PM -0400, Ron Johnson wrote:

You'll have to bring that up with the PgAudit maintainer. Note, though,
that the purpose of PgAudit is not "recreate the database from audit

logs";

it's "what Auditors care about". In my experience, auditors do not care
about COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

I would care about what happened. To know what happened I'd have to see
either only audit logs for committed transactions, or also see the
COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

Decode the logical replication stream?

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 03:53:53PM -0400, Ron Johnson wrote:

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM Nico Williams <nico@cryptonector.com> wrote:

I would care about what happened. To know what happened I'd have to see
either only audit logs for committed transactions, or also see the
COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements.

Decode the logical replication stream?

Yes, or use Debezium or the like which... do just that.