What is cloud logging and how do you make the most of it?

We have become so reliant on computer systems and the internet that we sometimes forget they are still prone to errors. This is where logs come in.

When properly stored and saved, logs help programmers figure out what went wrong and fix the problem. As cloud technology progresses, cloud-based logging has become crucial in helping businesses of any type solve issues in applications, systems, software and hardware.

Let's start with logging. Simply put, logging is the act of keeping a record of events that have happened in a computer system.

In computing, events refer to an action or occurrence that is important for the hardware or software of the system, or an occurrence that a program can identify. Events can be triggered either by users with keystrokes or mouse clicks, or by the system loading programs, running out of memory, or other errors. Common examples of events include problems, errors, application transactions, or general information about current operations.

Keeping a log of things which have happened in the system, including issues, provides the necessary information needed to fix errors. With the help of the cloud, keeping and managing logs can now be done easily, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

Cloud logging enables you to store, search, monitor, and analyze your logging data in cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments to keep your application or services running smoothly. Apart from troubleshooting, cloud logging can even be used for other functions, such as predicting future trends.

1. Increased agility

Cloud logging services save you the trouble of procuring hardware or other equipment for log management. You can start keeping logs and analyzing them right away. Your DevOps process can thus be much more agile.

2. Multiple integrations and functions

Other than its out-of-the-box features, cloud log management also allows you to collect logging data from various cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and integrate other third-party tools to better collaborate with others. For example, you can integrate your cloud log management with communication tools like Slack to automatically receive alerts and event summaries.

3. Enhanced security

As log data contains important insights into your business, its safety is of prime importance. Cloud log management services typically centralize logs in a single location, making it simpler to implement security measures and enhance your log security.

4. Better scalability

The more your business grows, so will the event log of your applications, likely exponentially. If your logs are saved on-premises, you'll have to constantly update your hardware and storage equipment, which can take a while. Otherwise, your important log data will be lost.

Cloud-based logging services eliminate this problem with automatic saving and storage, together with essentially infinite scalability as your business expands, just like most other cloud services.

5. Lower total cost of ownership

Similarly, using cloud-based logging services allows you to lower the total cost of ownership as you don't have to host your own logging setups. You save time and money on configuring log monitoring environments as well as on staffing IT specialists.

To make the most out of cloud-based logging, here are the best practices to follow.

Understand your logging goals

Before you start keeping logs, consider your objectives for cloud logging and application performance management. What do you want to log? What is it for, and what are you doing with the saved logs? Do the logs need to be viewed in real time? How long do you intend to keep the logs?

Storing too much log data can negatively impact performance and increase operation cost. It also makes it difficult for you to distinguish useful and important information from those which are not.

Visualize log data

Spotting any significant events in logs in text right away can be difficult. On the contrary, the visualization of log data can better provide you with a comprehensive picture of application performance and computing resources. Visualizing logging with graphic organizers such as bar graphs and pie charts (a common option in cloud log management tools,) can save you considerable time and effort.

Separate application logging from resource logging

Save application logging and resource logging in different layers. Application logs and resource logs are different and mixing them together does nothing but unnecessarily complicate searching for specific logs. Separating both saves you time when you need to identify specific logs from a certain category and makes your work more efficient.

Choose the right log management tools

Various cloud-based log management tools are out there, each with its own advantages. Whether you operate in a single cloud, hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud environment will also affect how you effectively monitor and manage logs. Choose the most suitable tool based on your environment and needs to best monitor and analyze your logs.

What types of cloud log management tools are out there? Cloud-based logging services can be divided into three main groups:

• Provider-native tools
• Third-party tools
• Open-source options

Provider-native log management tools

Provider-native log management tools, like their namesake, are offered by large cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. They are streamlined into their other cloud computing services, making them convenient to use if you are already a customer of these large cloud providers. They also come with many comprehensive features with extensive documentation and support teams to help you if you encounter any difficulties.

A few examples of provider-native log management tools are:

• Amazon CloudWatch Logs
• Azure Monitor Logs
• Google Cloud Logging

Third-party log management tools

Sometimes based on open-source resources, third-party log management tools allow you more freedom to customize your log processing. They offer a wide range of features and functionalities, such as log collection, parsing, indexing, searching, analysis, visualization, and alerting.

Well-known third-party logging tools include:

• Splunk
• ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana)
• Graylog
• Sumo Logic
• Fluentd
• Papertrail
• Loggly
• Datadog
• Syslog-ng
• SolarWinds Loggly

Open-source log management tools

Lastly, open-source log managing tools have varying features which are available in many different forms. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, hence it is important to examine them carefully and make the right choice based on your specific needs. The greatest benefits of open-source log management tools lie in their flexibility and custom ingestion options, allowing you to tailor them to your needs and drastically lower your IT costs with the right applications.

Some well-known examples are:

• Elasticsearch
• Logstash
• Kibana
• Fluentd
• Graylog
• Apache Kafka
• Syslog-ng
• Rsyslog
• NXLog
• Prometheus

Boost your monitoring strategies and improve your troubleshooting process with Hi Cloud's multi-cloud expertise and wide range of log monitoring and management services. We work with major cloud providers and tailor solutions plans for your specific logging needs, whether you run on a single cloud, hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud environment. Learn about how logging can help you today when you book a free consultation with us!