Top 8 Log Analyzers
Most components of a web application produce operational log
files. Some logs are written by each application in a
unique format. Other components generate out-of-the-box logs.
Monitoring system logs is an essential activity for anyone charged with
taking decisions. System administrators need to monitor logs to look
out for unusual activity, to troubleshoot applications and websites
that are under their control. By scanning logs, extracting and
correlating
data, system administrators can investigate and resolve problems, carry
out capacity planning, help to detect vulnerabilities, ensure the
smooth running of services and balancing capacity, and establish who
has used services and when.
Information captured in log files is an important strategic
resource to carry out analytics and searches. Making sense of logs
helps organisations make better customer-focused decisions.
The purpose of this article is to identify the best open
source software for collecting, parsing, storing, and making sense of
logs. The applications featured in this article are ideal for
organisations of any size.
Google Analytics is worthy of a mention in passing. It is the
most widely
used website statistics server, in part because it is an
excellent web log analysis tool and generates first-rate graphs and
well-defined reports. However, whilst the basic service is available
free of charge, the source code is not available. Understandably, many
people are adverse to allowing a large corporation like Google having
direct access to their site metrics. The software featured in this
article not only
means you do not need to disclose your site metrics to third parties,
but also offers the ability to analyze all types of logs, not those
generated from web servers.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that
is available, we have compiled a list of 8 high quality open source
log analyzers that offer an excellent way to manage and interrogate
logs. Software featured in this article provided finely grained,
real-time monitoring, generating scalable realtime graphing.
Now, let's explore the 8 log analyzers at hand.
For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full
description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with
links to relevant resources and reviews.
| Log Analyzers |
| Graylog2 |
Log management solution implementation storing logs in
ElasticSearch |
| logstash |
Log
processing, search, and analytics |
| Apache
Flume |
Delivers data from applications to Apache Hadoop's HDFS |
| OpenTSDB |
Scalable,
distributed Time Series Database |
| Graphite |
Enterprise scalable
realtime graphing |
| Kibana |
Browser
based interface for logstash and ElasticSearch |
| Scribe |
Server
for aggregating log data that is streamed in
real time from clients |
| Chukwa |
Hadoop
sub-project devoted to large-scale log collection and analysis |
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Last Updated Sunday, December 23 2012 @ 10:01 AM EST
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