Understanding the importance of logs
Before talking about the importance of logs, let's take a few minutes to understand some of the core attributes of logs, including their origins, the types, and even some standards used in the industry.
Log files
Logs were created as a way to record events in the operating system or applications. They started as a great debugging and troubleshooting tool, but now they are used for many other purposes, such as auditing, security, and compliance:
Figure 15.1 – View of logs on a Windows system
Most log files are simple text files with common attributes such as log type, timestamp, ID, and user. Most operating systems and applications categorize the different types of logs for ease of analysis. The most common categories are as follows:
- Error log
- System log
- Application log
- Access log
- Transaction log
In theory, this sounds very simple, right? But in reality, it is not, and let...
