Log Analysis

Event Log Analysis

Log analysis is mainly performed to rectify or predetermine events that are security threats to a network. Since a vast amount of data gets collected in the form of event logs, processing and extracting useful information from them is not an easy task for administrators and IT managers, especially logistically. This is the reason advanced log analyzers are deployed in large organizations so as to consolidate event from network wide applications and log them in a centralized location for further processing and analysis. Log analysis is thus crucial when administrators attempt to decipher network and server issues. For optimum analysis results, an ideal log analyzer must be integrated with the following basic features:

Real time monitoring: It is imperative to ensure that the logs being collected are of real time events for quick notification and proficient network analysis.
Centralized log monitoring: Event logs generated from individual computers are isolated from other events making event viewing difficult for analysts and administrators. Therefore, instead of viewing multiple events logs and tracking the events from multiple sources, it is ideal to have a central log monitoring system where consolidated data can be stored.
Remote log analysis: It is imperative to monitor logs, especially security event logs from a remote station and not just base network security on local security log analysis.
Critical event log alerts: The log information provided by Windows event log viewer is not detailed enough and highly cryptic, which makes their deciphering difficult. Therefore, modern log monitoring systems must come with applications that are capable of reading remote logs while notifying about critical events through alert generation.
Archiving event logs: During internal or external audits, event logs play a vital role as they form the main source of information about the entire network activity. Therefore, it becomes important to collect and retain the old log entries for longer duration so as to aid auditing. Automated log archiving systems help in this regard by eliminating events getting overwritten by more current logs.
Log file integrity: To ensure log security and preserve their integrity, it is best to store the event logs on a remote system where the chances of intrusion can be limited. Furthermore, this functionality is also important to curb network traffic generated due to logs and garbage data that comes from local machines.
Log filtering: an ideal log monitoring system must have the feature of log filtering so as to separate the critical events from unwanted traffic that emerges from the bulk of event logs generated in a network.
Monitoring web event logs: event logs generated from web server activities are highly crucial for network administration as they provide information about the local and remote web server.
Maintaining log database: Collecting thousands of event logs in searchable databases like SQL is advantageous in enterprise environment for facilitating centralized logging.
Event log reporting: Apart from event collection and log analysis, event log reporting is another key functionality that must be present in log analyzers. Automatic generation of reports containing data about the events, event types and cause of events help in analysis, administration, auditing and archiving.

It can thus be concluded that accurate log analysis depends on various aspects and the limited features of Windows event log viewer makes administration of a large network complex. Log analysis and monitoring systems with advances features and functionalities prove to be the best solution for enterprise level administration.