Logs crop up all over the place. They are generated by everything from web servers and databases to the firewalls which protect them from breaches.
Because logs accumulate in large volumes from all of these different sources, log aggregation is an important process which works to organize and impose order over otherwise disparate log files.
That sounds good, but should your online business be eager to jump on the log aggregation bandwagon? Here is a look at the main benefits and considerations to help you decide.
The importance of log aggregation
As mentioned, a laundry list of different logs are available from all sorts of sources, and trying to wrangle them all individually is a herculean task for even the most experienced IT professional.
If you do not pay attention to logs, you could be missing out on important insights that might allow you to improve the way you use key infrastructural assets. It could also leave you vulnerable to security threats.
Thankfully, with the help of this tool, log aggregation is made easy. The idea is to pull in all relevant logs and avoid the kind of fragmentation which would otherwise be inevitable.
Why should online business owners use log aggregation?
Organizations that primarily operate online are in greater need of log aggregation than most. The myriad digital solutions used to power your web presence will be generating a treasure trove of logs, and log aggregation lets you centralize these so you can deal with them in a single interface.
For owners of smaller online businesses, log aggregation will save a lot of legwork, as alerts can be generated in real time based on the parameters you set. For example, you might want to know if anomalies arise in a particular mission-critical system so you can carry out troubleshooting immediately.
How can log aggregation help online companies?
Larger organizations with bigger IT teams at their disposal can be just as well served by log aggregation tools as their smaller counterparts.
From being able to boost employee productivity by taking the time-consuming manual approach to reporting out of the equation, to using logs to pinpoint vulnerabilities and patch them before they are exploited by malicious third parties, the perks are plentiful.
What different types of log can you aggregate?
Log data from all sorts of services can be aggregated, so it all depends on what systems you have in place and what you hope to achieve.
If you have web apps, servers and solutions that are hosted on in-house hardware, or you are making use of cloud-powered infrastructure that is located remotely, log aggregation applies.
If your main concern is access management, or you want to track the stability of your data backup policies, log aggregation is here to help.
Conclusion
As you can see, the question is not whether your online business needs log aggregation, but whether it can afford to remain without it for any longer.
Log aggregation tools take the pain out of organizing and processing a plethora of log types, so what are you waiting for?
