Logs files are records of everything and anything that happens within the Digital world. Logs can be use from basic system administrations to troubleshooting and detecting Security Threats. Logs can also be use for analytical purposes. Having the basic skillset of understanding and analyzing logs allows you to acquire deeper knowledge in accomplishing the tasks that you want to acccomplish.
Where do Logs comes from?
Logs can come from any Digitally connected devices, applications and Database. Below is a common list that produces logs just to name a few:
- Applications
- Containers
- Cloud Services/Providers
- Databases
- Firewalls
- Endpoints
- IoT devices
- Networks
- Servers
- Web Services
Common Types of Logs
| Type of Logs | Descriptions |
| Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) | User/Device Authentication, Authorization to Access and Auditing Logs are particularly useful for Security Teams |
| Availability Logs | Uptime and Resources Availability are important to a business and this is usually of interest to System / Network Admin to provide health of the environment to Management |
| Change Logs | Useful for tracking changes and also helping to revert to the previous working configuration if anything goes wrong. |
| Event Logs | High Level logs that record data of events that is happening. These can be from any devices and applications. |
| System and Server Logs | These are logs that are collected from Devices and Servers it can be use from all kind of analysis and reporting from state of health to security threats to the Device or System. |
| Resource Logs | These logs provide information about the Resources consume and available and are usually used for monitoring and planning purpose. |
| Threat Logs | As Cyber Threats becomes more pervasive. Threat Logs are extremely important to protect the company from Cyber Criminals. |
Collecting and Managing Logs can be a daunting tasks as the number of connected devices in the Cyber World continue to grow at a phenomena pace as the world continue to Digitize their business and we continue to interact Digitally. In this blog I will seek to help you with getting started with Logs and showing you the basic to integrating, understanding and managing logs through examples.