What is log management? How does log management help your organization? In this quick and easy guide to log management, we look at how log management works and the processes within log management for improved efficiency, security, and troubleshooting.
What Exactly Is Log Management?
Log management is broadly divided into six different segments. These comprise log collection, centralized log aggregation, log storage, log retention, log rotation, log analysis, and log search and reports.
Log collection is the first step in the log management system. Logs acquire data from various sources, including the OS, servers, firewalls, and routers. Log data needs to be collected and effectively stored. Due to the large volume of data produced, the log collector must be capable of handling extensive amounts of data. Using logging tools allows you to configure the type of information you need to collect. You can either make sure that you capture the relevant data and minimize redundant data collection by configuring the collection settings, or collect as much as possible for later analysis with a log management tool.
Centralized Log Aggregation
In this process, all the logs are aggregated into one specific place. It doesn’t matter where they originally come from. There are challenges involved in this process, including the need for a fast and accurate tool that will be able to keep up with the speed of the data. Plus, the tools must aggregate logs that originate from many different sources, and transform the logs into a common format so that they can be more effectively analyzed.
Log Storage And Retention
Log storage is an important process. You must consider how long you need to store logs. The costs of indefinitely storing logs would be too high, so you need to decide how best to store logs so you can collect the necessary information and stay within industry regulations.
Save space and money by rotating logs after a set period. In this process, logs are automatically renamed, moved, resized, or deleted. In doing this, you open up more space for new logs to be stored. You can optimize log rotation so that you have the optimal conditions for archival retrieval.
Without log analysis, you would not be able to make use of any of the data you collect and store. Automated log analysis sorts through the data so you can identify trends, events, and problems. Spotting similarities between data trends makes it easier to see the causes of issues and to identify problems that may occur in the future.
Log Search And Reporting
Effective log search tools are essential for understanding the data you have collected. Since log files can be huge, advanced search capabilities allow you to investigate logs and discover clues to the events that reveal the causes of issues. Log reporting is the final stage in the log management system. It allows you to manage and present your findings for everyone to understand the data fully.