Logs

February 14, 2024

We increasingly see companies using their observability data to support security use cases. It's not entirely surprising given the challenges that organizations have with legacy SIEMs. We wanted to dig into this evolving intersection of security and observability, so we surveyed 500 security professionals — 40% of whom were either CISOs or CSOs — for our inaugural State of Security Observability report ...

April 13, 2023

Logs are one of the most useful tools for observability and application performance monitoring. However, getting the most mileage from logs requires paying careful attention to planning what data to collect, the best way to display it, and the proper context for log entries ...

May 10, 2022

For the past decade, Application Performance Management has been a capability provided by a very small and exclusive set of vendors. These vendors provided a bolt-on solution that provided monitoring capabilities without requiring developers to take ownership of instrumentation and monitoring. You may think of this as a benefit, but in reality, it was not ...

March 07, 2022

Enterprises wrestle with true observability because most observability data remains dark or unexploited. The scale, complexity, variety of data consumers, and runaway costs make it difficult for enterprises to get value from their machine data. There are other technical and organizational challenges, such as data and department silos, the complexity of managing data in cloud-native and hybrid cloud environments, and the inefficiency of single-pane-of-glass approaches to route data to appropriate destinations. Let's take a look at three of the most pervasive pain points, according to the survey, holding enterprises back from observability nirvana ...

February 07, 2022

Logs produced by your IT infrastructure contain hidden gems — information about performance, user behavior, and other data waiting to be discovered. Unlocking the value of the array of log data aggregated by organizations every day can be a gateway to uncovering all manner of efficiencies. Yet, the challenge of analyzing and managing the mountains of log data organizations have is growing more complex by the day ...

December 15, 2020

Industry experts offer thoughtful, insightful, and often controversial predictions on how APM and related technologies will evolve and impact business in 2021. Part 4 covers logs, mobile APM and more ...

April 16, 2020

Visualization, customization, and artificial intelligence (AI) shape the current APM market, but what can we expect to see in the future? What are the evolving trends in automation and monitoring tools that DevOps teams look out for? How can DevOps teams utilize APM solutions and get the most out of them? Read on to learn more ...

February 19, 2020

Modern enterprises rely upon their IT departments to deliver a seamless digital customer experience. Performance and availability are the foundational stepping stones to delivering that customer experience. Along those lines, this month we released a new research study titled the IT Downtime Detection and Mitigation Report that contains recommendations on how to best prevent, detect or mitigate brownouts and outages, given the context of today’s IT transformation trends ...

December 19, 2019

Industry experts offer predictions on how APM and related technologies will evolve and impact business in 2020. Part 6 covers log analysis and the cloud ...

October 30, 2018

APMdigest asked experts from across the IT industry for their opinions on what IT departments should be monitoring to ensure digital performance. Part 2 covers key performance metrics like availability and response time ...

December 08, 2015

The process of choosing logging software can seem daunting. The following are major elements of a good log strategy and can also serve as checklist items when you shop for a log management solution ...

December 07, 2015

We all know log files. We all use log data. 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 ...

May 06, 2015

How do we organize log data in a meaningful way that will not only make sense, but also be practical, usable, visible, and accessible quickly; in addition to being organized to support DevOps and APM insights? Despite numerous log data analysis deployments, we still identify many challenges users face regarding IT log data visualization, analysis, and insights. How can we make sure anomaly detection is fast and easy so that log management does not become too time-consuming? Here are some guidelines for building meaningful operational views and dashboards for IT, leveraging log search, log analysis, machine learning, and advanced analytics ...

March 10, 2015

If you're responsible for an e-commerce website, I guarantee you've been asked about, told about, or wondered about what kind of information and events you should be logging. Important things are happening all the time, and you need to know what's going on. There are lots of components and potential events that really matter when it comes to developing or hosting an e-commerce website. So where should you start? The following are the top five areas that should be the initial focus of your logging efforts ...

February 23, 2015

In my last post, I shared some key findings from an EMA research report published last fall that dove into the ways in which log analytics is being used to support network operations. Building on that, following are five recommendations that EMA is making on how best to think about log data as part of an integrated management architecture and strategy ...

February 12, 2015

APMdigest asked experts from across APM and related markets for their recommendations on the best ways to ensure application performance before app rollout. The second set of six recommendations includes testing and analytics ...

February 06, 2015

As network managers, engineers, and operators strive to protect the integrity and performance of enterprise networks, they are faced with an onslaught of data and metrics. They must wade quickly and carefully through this deluge in order to perform monitoring, troubleshooting, and planning. With recent trends moving technology toward software-defined and programmable infrastructure, as well as the parallel convergence of IT operations across multiple technology domains, network log data is being increasingly both used and appreciated. But proper and effective use of network log data is not without its challenges ...

November 20, 2014

Recently as part of an engagement reviewing a customer’s performance engineering maturity level and looking at what Application Performance Management (APM) tools best fit their needs I was asked, “Why not do it ourselves?” We didn’t have to go far in the analysis to demonstrate it was a non-starter for this customer, particularly as they rely on third parties and don’t have a large in-house development team who would have enough control to even start building this. But if you were going to create an OpenAPM yourself, would it even be feasible? ...

November 13, 2014

APMdigest asked experts from across the APM industry for their opinions on how to best prepare for the challenges of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Holiday Shopping Season. The second set of six technologies presented here includes tools for network operations and development ...

October 27, 2014

APM tools have evolved over the last decade to cater to application complexity and yet be able to troubleshoot application performance issues quickly. Let us look at some of the key features and visualization techniques that are enabling quicker troubleshooting ...

October 02, 2014

Our connected world continues to transform into a mobile one. The network is a constant and fascinating companion, which grants us 24/7 access where communication is instant and takes place across an array of devices, unconstrained by physical barriers. As a result, the IT infrastructure is more critical than ever for business operations. Companies and organizations are calling upon a variety of technologies that are changing the face of today’s network — from mobile devices, to cloud services, to web-based applications ...

September 16, 2014

While Application Performance Management (APM) is a vital tool to ensure application availability and performance, analysis of log data can augment APM to monitor, manage and optimize application performance. From infrastructure, OS and web logs to home grown application logs and 3rd party software logs, you can extract valuable insights – using log analysis technology – that will help you better understand, measure and support your APM strategy. The following are 5 ways log analysis can deliver results beyond APM tools ...

July 28, 2014

Historically, log data has been viewed by IT professionals as a valuable asset in the areas of security information and event management. And while there is no denying the benefits of log data for security teams, I suggest that organizations also consider logs as an important source for managing the performance of their infrastructures ...

June 19, 2014

APMdigest continues the list, cataloging the many valuable tools available – beyond APM – to support the goals of improving application performance and business service. Entries 6-10 involve monitoring, testing and logging ...

May 20, 2014

Logs have moved beyond a basic tool for debugging during development. A recent survey shows that the most common use case is using log data for production monitoring, which has traditionally been the stronghold of APM and server monitoring tools. When using your logs for performance monitoring, here are some useful steps you can follow to dig a little deeper into any issues that you identify ...