Tip: Simple Regular Expressions For Reviewing Log Files

“So there you are with all of your Linux servers humming along
happily. You have tested, tweaked, and configured until they are
performing at their peak of perfection. Users are hardly whining at
all. Life is good. You may relax and indulge in some nice, relaxing
rounds of TuxKart. After all, you earned it.

“Except for one little remaining chore: monitoring your log
files. [insert horrible alarming music of your choice here.] You’re
conscientious, so you know you can’t just ignore the logs until
there’s a problem, especially for public services like Web and
mail. Somewhere up in the pointy-haired suites, they may even be
plotting to require you to track and analyze all sorts of server
statistics.

“Not to worry, for there are many ways to implement data
reduction, which is what log parsing is all about. You want to
slice and dice your logs to present only the data you’re interested
in viewing. Unless you wish to devote your entire life to manually
analyzing log files. Even if you only pay attention to logfiles
when you’re debugging a problem, having some tools to weed out the
noise is helpful.”

Complete
Story