Best Practices for Managing System Logs on a Multi-Server Environment

Hi Everyone,

I’m currently managing a multi-server environment consisting of both Ubuntu and CentOS servers, and I’m looking for advice on streamlining log management and analysis across all systems. My primary goal is to ensure that we can easily identify issues, monitor system health, and comply with data retention policies without introducing too much overhead.

Here’s the current setup:

  1. Centralized Logging: We’re using rsyslog to forward logs to a central server. However, I feel there’s room for improvement in how the logs are filtered, stored, and analyzed.
  2. Log Analysis Tools: We’ve experimented with Logwatch and Graylog but haven’t settled on a tool that balances simplicity and functionality.
  3. Retention Policy: Our policy requires retaining logs for up to 6 months, but we’re struggling with managing storage efficiently without compromising performance.

I’d love to hear about your experiences and suggestions on the following:

  • Are there any tools or configurations you recommend for better log aggregation and real-time analysis?
  • How do you manage storage for large volumes of logs while adhering to retention policies?
  • Do you have tips for fine-tuning rsyslog configurations for optimal performance?
  • If you’ve worked with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools, are there any lightweight options worth considering for smaller environments?

Any insights, tips, or references to helpful documentation would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to learning from the expertise in this community!

I also checked this: https://www.nixcraft.com/t/how-to-ensure-a-server-isnt-started-multiple-times/msbi

Thanks in advance for your help!

Have you looked at lnav any? I’ve had it a while, and never used it much. Recently I decided to invest some time into it, and started looking at some of it deeper features… cookbooks, share abilities, aggregation, etc. From a real-time viewer perspective, might be something to look at.