Virtually every company with a reasonable IT architecture is taking logs. Who wouldn’t? Especially in a digital age where hackers prey viciously at every company’s data storage smelling blood and looking for a way to compromise the data of organizations.
Without logs, it is almost impossible to keep tabs on events in your network and to provide up-to-the-minute updates on threats that need to be quelled.
Also, a swathe of regulatory acts accounts for companies maintaining a stockpile of logs. From the HIPAA to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Sarbanes Oxley Act, there is no way a company can be functional without taking logs. This then begs the question, is it just about taking logs or doing something with the logs?
Petabytes or Terabytes?
Petabytes or Terabytes? An IT technician once asked his colleague in another company as they spoke about logs their companies were collecting. There are some companies who brag about the size of their log storage drive arrays.
But collecting logs for logs’ sake is a futile endeavor. Logs must be collected with a clear purpose in mind and should lead to actionable steps and that can only happen if you are employing effective log monitoring.
But What is Log Monitoring?
Log monitoring is all about using tools and software to keep an eye on log files. As soon as an event is observed, the monitoring system will forward a notice to the system (or the person manning the system) for appropriate actions to be taken.
Can I Maximize Information from My Logs?
Yes, you can – and you should actually. Here are two simple keys to ensuring you get the most out of your logs:
1. Have a Clear Purpose
The first question every IT department must answer is the purpose of their logs. Considering the amount of logs various systems can churn out, it is important to know what you are looking for otherwise you will be beleaguered by the billions of event logs you have to make meaning of.
Do you intend to use your logs for application monitoring? Support and troubleshooting? Security? Your approach to logging and the tooling required is hinged on what your goals are.
Once you decide on the purpose of your logs, the logs must be structured in a way that is accessible and comprehensible to the team working on the logs. If your company is making certain of compliance to a regulatory framework, then your logs will be based on the audit regulations for logs as directed by the regulatory framework.
2. Take Advantage of Log Monitoring Tools
Making sense of logs is a rather herculean task. Here’s the truth: a single action, for instance, if something is read or written, can produce up to a dozen log entries. So, you can imagine how many log entries even a moderate system can produce.
These entries should not be discarded or written off because these entries might become relevant. However, without the right tools to aggregate and parse your log data, fishing out and making sense of the information you’re looking for is a near-impossible task. Accordingly, it is vital to take advantage of the best tools for monitoring logs.
Wrapping Up
There’s no hard and fast rule about log monitoring but ultimately, your business should not just heap up a mountain of logs without a clear purpose for them. Your “why?” will help bring clarity and effectiveness to your log management process. However, the most effective way of making the most out of your logs is to use log monitoring tools.
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