Common log formats
Log files are a standard component of computer systems and an essential tool for software developers and operators – in our example, Diego and Ophelia, respectively. Logs support performance and capacity monitoring in infrastructure, bug detection in software, root cause analysis, user behavior tracking, and more. There is no perfect recipe for logs and as such, it does not matter what your logs look like, though following certain guidelines will help your future self when you need to analyze logs. In this section, we will learn about different log formats and how the data can be used. Log formats are the definition of what a log file looks like and should explain how the data can be interpreted.
Log formats usually identify if they are structured or unstructured, the data types used in them, and if any encoding or delimitation is being used. We’ll explore structure first and then look at example log formats in more detail in the following sections...
