Enterprise Logging

When the topic of logging comes up, logs are generally recognized to be useful and that having a centralized log system is “industry best practice,” and it’s even required by most regulatory oversight plans (PCI, HIPAA). But figuring out how to get started in setting up a good logging system is hard, especially if you are already a good size organization when the topic is raised. If you start off by talking to vendors, getting quotes in the seven figure range is easy. This article is an introduction to logging, outlining an inexpensive architecture that can scale up to large log volumes, and providing pointers to a few basic tools to quickly and cheaply get value out of the logs beyond just satisfying audit requirements. Future articles will dive deeper into specific aspects of logging.