Last updated on Mar 27, 2024

What are the most important system logs to monitor?

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System logs are records of events that occur in a computer system, such as user actions, system errors, security incidents, network activity, and hardware performance. Monitoring system logs is a crucial task for systems engineers, as it helps them to identify and troubleshoot problems, optimize system performance, and ensure compliance and security. However, not all system logs are equally important, and some may contain more useful or critical information than others. In this article, we will discuss what are the most important system logs to monitor, and how to access and analyze them.

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Raymond Shieh

Technical Lead at Moxa

1 Application logs

Application logs are generated by the software applications that run on the system, such as web servers, databases, email servers, or custom applications. Application logs can provide information about the functionality, performance, errors, and usage of the applications, as well as any interactions with other components or systems. Monitoring application logs can help you to detect and fix bugs, optimize resource utilization, improve user experience, and track business metrics. Application logs are usually stored in text or binary files, or in a centralized logging system, and can be accessed and analyzed using various tools, such as log viewers, parsers, aggregators, or dashboards.

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Anne Matthews

Dev/Ops Design Engineer AI Promp Evaluator / Outlier
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.. the importance of monitoring different types of logs to ensure system security and functionality. Security logs provide information about user authentication and access control events to detect unauthorized access attempts. System logs contain details about system events and errors to identify hardware or software failures. Application logs record information about specific applications, helping to identify bugs and performance issues. Network logs provide data on network traffic and connections to detect security threats. Database logs show database operations and can identify errors and breaches. Audit logs track user activity for compliance and security, while event logs track system events for troubleshooting&availability monitoring.

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2 System logs

System logs are generated by the operating system and its components, such as the kernel, drivers, services, processes, and libraries. System logs can provide information about the state, configuration, events, and errors of the system, as well as any changes or updates that occur. Monitoring system logs can help you to diagnose and resolve system issues, maintain system stability and security, and audit system activities and changes. System logs are usually stored in text or binary files, or in a centralized logging system, and can be accessed and analyzed using various tools, such as log viewers, parsers, aggregators, or dashboards.

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3 Security logs

Security logs are generated by the security mechanisms and tools that protect the system, such as firewalls, antivirus, authentication, authorization, encryption, or intrusion detection. Security logs can provide information about the security status, events, and incidents of the system, such as login attempts, access requests, policy violations, malware detections, or attacks. Monitoring security logs can help you to prevent and respond to security threats, enforce security policies and compliance, and investigate security incidents and breaches. Security logs are usually stored in text or binary files, or in a centralized logging system, and can be accessed and analyzed using various tools, such as log viewers, parsers, aggregators, or dashboards.

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Raymond Shieh

Technical Lead at Moxa
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Logs and security in particular can often get flooded with an enormous amount of data, but lacking key “information” that is valuable to the operators or system administrators. It is crucial on defining the “events” that should be categorized and notified (that are based on the data) during the system design and deployment stages.

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4 Network logs

Network logs are generated by the network devices and protocols that enable the communication and connectivity of the system, such as routers, switches, modems, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, or HTTP. Network logs can provide information about the network status, performance, traffic, and errors of the system, such as bandwidth usage, latency, packet loss, connection failures, or protocol violations. Monitoring network logs can help you to optimize network performance and reliability, troubleshoot network problems, and monitor network activity and behavior. Network logs are usually stored in text or binary files, or in a centralized logging system, and can be accessed and analyzed using various tools, such as log viewers, parsers, aggregators, or dashboards.

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5 Hardware logs

Hardware logs are generated by the physical components and devices that support the system, such as CPU, memory, disk, power, or temperature. Hardware logs can provide information about the hardware status, performance, utilization, and errors of the system, such as CPU load, memory usage, disk space, power consumption, or temperature levels. Monitoring hardware logs can help you to ensure hardware functionality and availability, optimize hardware resource allocation, and detect and prevent hardware failures and damage. Hardware logs are usually stored in text or binary files, or in a centralized logging system, and can be accessed and analyzed using various tools, such as log viewers, parsers, aggregators, or dashboards.

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6 Event logs

Event logs are generated by the system or the applications to record specific events that occur in the system, such as user actions, system errors, security incidents, network activity, or hardware performance. Event logs can provide information about the event type, source, time, severity, and details of the system, as well as any actions or responses that follow. Monitoring event logs can help you to understand and track what happens in the system, how the system reacts to events, and what impacts or consequences the events have on the system. Event logs are usually stored in text or binary files, or in a centralized logging system, and can be accessed and analyzed using various tools, such as log viewers, parsers, aggregators, or dashboards.

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Osinachi Ozocheta

IT Manager | Cybersecurity Analyst | Network/Cloud Engineer | Tech Blogger
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In my opinion, event logs stand out to be quite an important one, because it provides a single pane of glass to see all that is going on - applications, security, hardware, etc. I have found it quite useful especially the error codes it throws which helps to pinpoint the problem and of course solutions!

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7 Here’s what else to consider

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What are the most important system logs to monitor?

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1 Application logs

2 System logs

3 Security logs

4 Network logs

5 Hardware logs

6 Event logs

7 Here’s what else to consider

Systems Engineering

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What are the most important system logs to monitor?

1

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5

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7

1 Application logs

2 System logs

3 Security logs

4 Network logs

5 Hardware logs

6 Event logs

7 Here’s what else to consider

Systems Engineering

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