METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING AND USING A POLICY-BASED ACCESS/CHANGE LOG

A method and apparatus for creating and using a policy-based file access/change log. Using the policy-based techniques, specific objects within the file system are selected for logging within an access/change log. These selected objects are then processed to identify attributes of the selected objects that are to be logged such that a policy is created regarding the objects to be logged and the attributes of those objects. Lastly, the policy is applied to the object either by having a separate object (file) created that is related to the object to be logged that identifies the policy for logging, or by attaching certain attributes directly to the object such that access to the object identifies the logging policy for that object. When an object that uses policy-based logging is changed, the object access/change log policy is utilized to log only the information that is identified in the policy. In this manner, the amount of information that is logged is controlled by the logging policy, limiting the size of the access/change log.