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Logging

Logging refers to the systematic recording of events and activities in a cloud environment to monitor performance, troubleshoot issues, and enhance security by providing a historical record of system behavior.

Name Description Link
ELK Stack Is an acronym that stands for Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana. Together, these three components provide a powerful, integrated solution for managing large volumes of data, offering real-time insights and a comprehensive analytics suite. ELK
Fluentd Is a cross-platform open-source data collection software project originally developed at Treasure Data. Fluentd

Logging Fundamentals

Log Levels

  • DEBUG - Detailed information for diagnosing problems
  • INFO - General information about system operation
  • WARN - Warning messages for potentially harmful situations
  • ERROR - Error events that might still allow the application to continue
  • FATAL - Very severe error events that might cause the application to abort

Log Types

  • Application logs - Application-specific events and errors
  • System logs - Operating system and infrastructure events
  • Security logs - Authentication, authorization, and security events
  • Audit logs - Compliance and regulatory tracking
  • Access logs - Web server and API access records

Logging Architecture

Log Collection

  • Log agents - Collect logs from various sources
  • Log forwarding - Send logs to centralized systems
  • Log parsing - Structure unstructured log data
  • Log enrichment - Add context and metadata

Log Processing

  • Filtering - Remove irrelevant log entries
  • Transformation - Convert log formats
  • Aggregation - Combine related log entries
  • Correlation - Link related events across systems

Log Storage

  • Centralized storage - Single location for all logs
  • Indexing - Enable fast log searching
  • Retention policies - Manage log lifecycle
  • Compression - Optimize storage usage

Log Analysis

  • Search and query - Find specific log entries
  • Visualization - Create charts and dashboards
  • Alerting - Notify on specific log patterns
  • Reporting - Generate regular log reports

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