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The No-BS Guide to Logging - Part 1

A vendor-neutral checklist to help you get your log strategy straight
Sven Dummer


We all know log files. We all use log data. At a minimum, every admin and developer knows how to fire up tail –f and use an arsenal of command line tools to dig into a system's log files. But the days where those practices would suffice for operational troubleshooting are long gone. Today, you need a solid log strategy.

Log data has become big data and is more relevant to your success than ever before. Not being able to manage it and make meaningful use of it can, in the worst case, kill your business.

You might have implemented good application monitoring, but that only tells you that something is happening, not why. The information needed to understand the why, and the ability to predict and prevent it, is in your log data. And log data has exploded in volume and complexity.

Why this explosion? The commoditization of cloud technology: one of the greatest paradigm shifts the tech industry has seen over the recent years. Cloud services like Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Azure, or Rackspace have made it affordable even for small- and medium-sized businesses to run complex applications on elastic virtual server farms. Containers running microservices are the next step in this move toward distributed and modularized systems.

The downside is that complexity is multiplied in those environments. Running tens or hundreds of machines with many different application components increases the risk that one of them will start malfunctioning.

To allow for troubleshooting, each of these many components typically (and hopefully) writes log data. Not only do you have to deal with a staggering number of large log files, but they're also scattered all over your network(s).

To make things a bit more interesting, some components, like VMs or containers, are ephemeral. They're launched on demand, and take their log data with them once they're terminated. Maybe the root cause slowing down or crashing your web store was visible in exactly one of those lost log files.

If that's still not complex enough, add in that people mix different technologies – for example, hybrid clouds that keep some systems on-premise or in a colo. You might run containers inside of VMs or use a container to deploy a hypervisor. Or you also could need to collect data from mobile applications and IoT devices.

Your log management solution needs to be able to receive and aggregate the logs from all your systems and components and store them in one central, accessible place. Leave no log behind – including the ones from ephemeral systems.

Some log management solutions require installing agents to accomplish this, while others are agentless and use de-facto standards like syslog, which are part of copious systems that allow sending logs over the network. Using agents means it's vital to make sure they are available for all operating systems, devices, and other components. You'll also need strategy to keep the agents updated and patched.

Fortunately, there is a checklist of the must-haves when it comes to log management to help you choose and sustain the best practices for your data, which I'll be sharing in my next post.

Read The No-BS Guide to Logging - Part 2

Sven Dummer is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Loggly.

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The No-BS Guide to Logging - Part 1

A vendor-neutral checklist to help you get your log strategy straight
Sven Dummer


We all know log files. We all use log data. At a minimum, every admin and developer knows how to fire up tail –f and use an arsenal of command line tools to dig into a system's log files. But the days where those practices would suffice for operational troubleshooting are long gone. Today, you need a solid log strategy.

Log data has become big data and is more relevant to your success than ever before. Not being able to manage it and make meaningful use of it can, in the worst case, kill your business.

You might have implemented good application monitoring, but that only tells you that something is happening, not why. The information needed to understand the why, and the ability to predict and prevent it, is in your log data. And log data has exploded in volume and complexity.

Why this explosion? The commoditization of cloud technology: one of the greatest paradigm shifts the tech industry has seen over the recent years. Cloud services like Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Azure, or Rackspace have made it affordable even for small- and medium-sized businesses to run complex applications on elastic virtual server farms. Containers running microservices are the next step in this move toward distributed and modularized systems.

The downside is that complexity is multiplied in those environments. Running tens or hundreds of machines with many different application components increases the risk that one of them will start malfunctioning.

To allow for troubleshooting, each of these many components typically (and hopefully) writes log data. Not only do you have to deal with a staggering number of large log files, but they're also scattered all over your network(s).

To make things a bit more interesting, some components, like VMs or containers, are ephemeral. They're launched on demand, and take their log data with them once they're terminated. Maybe the root cause slowing down or crashing your web store was visible in exactly one of those lost log files.

If that's still not complex enough, add in that people mix different technologies – for example, hybrid clouds that keep some systems on-premise or in a colo. You might run containers inside of VMs or use a container to deploy a hypervisor. Or you also could need to collect data from mobile applications and IoT devices.

Your log management solution needs to be able to receive and aggregate the logs from all your systems and components and store them in one central, accessible place. Leave no log behind – including the ones from ephemeral systems.

Some log management solutions require installing agents to accomplish this, while others are agentless and use de-facto standards like syslog, which are part of copious systems that allow sending logs over the network. Using agents means it's vital to make sure they are available for all operating systems, devices, and other components. You'll also need strategy to keep the agents updated and patched.

Fortunately, there is a checklist of the must-haves when it comes to log management to help you choose and sustain the best practices for your data, which I'll be sharing in my next post.

Read The No-BS Guide to Logging - Part 2

Sven Dummer is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Loggly.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...