Question

âwhat two log files are used by older versions of unix and newer version of linux to store log information

Answer 1

/var/log/messages and /var/adm/messages  - Log files are files that contain system status messages and  information. There are various types of log files, maintained for various purposes. For example, there are default log files, log files for storing security messages and log files to store cron tasks. By default, /etc/syslog.conf file saves most system messages to the /var/adm/messages file. Boot messages, as well as crash messages are also saved here.General messages and those related to  the system are stored by linux in the /var/log/messages folder.

Answer 2

There are many log files in /var/log or /var/adm that log messages from different daemons. They have different names depending on which *nix you're working with.