When running a website or application, there are many important things to keep in mind. While the content and look of the site are crucial, so is how it performs. Any sort of downtime or similar issues can be incredibly damaging to your business.
Because of this, it is very important to keep logs of all the events occurring within your site. Logging is done by many companies as a security measure to keep track of the status of various events occurring behind the scenes that are important to devices, apps or sites. This ranges from potential cyber-attacks to errors in the code or even simply customer logins.
One of the easiest and best ways to keep and send these logs is by abiding by the Syslog protocol. Syslog is a standardized way for apps to send various and important log-related data about site status, events, and even diagnostics to a device or computer system.
This can help you identify particular problems and deal with them before they cause a major problem for your site or app. If you want to learn more about logging and logging as a service, check out this link: https://papertrailapp.com/solution/laas/
However, there are many different types of Syslog servers that companies can use, so how do you choose? With that in mind, this blog post is going to look at 3 of the best and most popular Syslog servers on the market today for Windows and Linux.
Nagios Log Server
Whether you are using a Linux or Windows device, the Nagios Log Server will work for you. It is an open-source project that is completely free to use, up to 500 MB of data every day. In addition to gathering all important events and information, the server also centralizes them in a single location. However, it can also distribute said information over a larger number of servers.
One of the most popular and beloved features of Nagios is the many visualizations they provide. You can have the dashboard look any way you want, and have information shown in graphs and charts alike. The server can also be customized in many other different ways to fit your preferences, as well. You can customize alerts, analyze messages and prioritize certain features.
Kiwi Syslog Server
Created by Solarwinds, one of the leaders in the space, the Kiwi Syslog Server is a popular choice for Windows users. Up to five devices are free, but beyond that, you will need to purchase a package. It is an incredibly comprehensive tool to collect, view and manage your log events in one place. It is also quite easy to use, and offers many helpful features like insight generation, looking at network trends over time and the option to choose when the server opens a new file.
Kiwi manages the storage of files well so you can easily search for certain messages or events throughout the archives. Even examining historic data is easy with this feature. If you’re wanting to automate the process and make it more efficient, Kiwi is a great option for you as well.
The Dude
In addition to having a great name, The Dude is a very helpful Syslog server. While it is lesser known than the others that we have mentioned, it is still a solid option. It can be used on both Linux and Windows and is free to use. You can create specific alerts and filters, and the user interface is very basic and simple to navigate.
There are many different tabs that you can view and manage. Of these, the Outage tab is quite helpful as it can let you see the current status of your app, to ensure everything is performing as it should. You can easily sort through old messages and events, and filtering them can make it incredibly easy to analyze.
Hopefully, this article has helped you learn a bit more about some of the best syslog servers for Windows and Linux.
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