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Power up your log analysis
Power up your log analysis

February 11, 2025

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In this modern era of data, logging plays a huge part in troubleshooting software issues and finding software bugs. Proper, efficient, and strategic logging can make debugging of any issue easy. At the same time, the lack of same can be a nightmare for the developers and troubleshooters.

Even with proper logging, the correct understanding and analysis of the logs and deriving proper conclusion is of paramount importance.

Troubleshooting and identification of the root cause of a reported issue boils down to a good analysis of the issue with the available data points. These data points are primarily obtained from analyzing the logs generated from the system.

An effective and efficient analysis of the said logs would involve an integrated approach, right from the point where the logs are introduced, to how they are collected and analyzed and finally what information could be inferred from it.

These five ‘C’s put down a good set of practices to follow for good, effective, and efficient log analysis.

Create -> Collect -> Cite -> Comment -> Conclude.

 

 

 

CREATE proper logs – Design & Development Activity

  • A good logging strategy should be identified and implemented during design and development of a system.
  • Proper logging levels should be implemented for the different kind of information being logged.
  • The logs should be able to show the processing trail and provide useful information regarding key points of the processing logic.
  • Sensitive information, including PII, should not be included in the logs.
  • Excess and redundant logging should be avoided – they create confusion while troubleshooting and add to the systems getting overloaded.

 

 

COLLECT the correct logs – Support Activity

  • All the relevant logs, across different components/modules, should be identified and collected.
  • The collected logs should cover the reported issue.
  • Logs from across time zones should correspond to each other, and the same should be called out.
  • As a best practice, collect a comprehensive set of logs that capture the expected outcome. These logs will serve as a valuable reference point in the future.

 

 

CITE relevant traces – Analysis Activity

  • The engineer should use the provided information to identify the exact log files for the concerned flow.
  • Citing the logs involves marking and calling out each trace line to show the progress of the flow.
  • The traces should be stitched at each step across different modules, server-client, producer-consumer, etc., by calling out the trace lines which indicate the flow and the information being passed.
  • Inferring the expected outcome from the design and citing the actual outcome from the logs constitutes a good analysis

 

 

COMMENT on the cited traces – Analysis activity

  • This involves backing up the cited traces with proper analysis, explanation and significance of the cited traces as part of this activity.
  • Analysis of the information contained in the traces and assessing the correctness of the same.
  • The comment and explanation should be very crisp and to the point without holding too much information but should contain the right information.
  • Relevant traces should be cited, and a sound and crisp explanation of the information should be provided. It should be relatable to the behavior being observed.
  • A proper commentary should also lay the path for a possible corrective action which is needed in case the issue turns out for be an actual fault in the system.

 

 

CONCLUDE the analysis – Analysis Activity

  • Summary of the findings of the troubleshooting stage should be given.
  • This should call out the next steps required.
  • Action items, if any, need to be assigned.
  • If the analysis could not be completed because of any missing information, then the relevant actors should be assigned proper action items.
  • If the findings determines that the reported issue is an expected outcome, then the information should be properly conveyed back.
  • If needed, action items could be assigned to relevant teams, to set the proper expectations through the proper channel. In most cases, this should need some sort of documentation or training.
  • In case the troubleshooting determines that the issue reported is an actual fault in the system, then again, the concerned teams should be roped in to address the same and all relevant and supporting information should be passed on to them to help them address the fault in the best conceivable way.

 

 

Effective log analysis is not the responsibility of the actual engineer debugging the issue alone. Developers need to include proper, strategic tracing while developing. Support teams need to collect and provide the relevant set of logs files while reporting and when all of it comes together is when the engineer would be able to analyze and report one’s findings effectively and efficiently.

Following these guidelines of the 5 C’s pave a path for providing good analysis of data.

 


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Debesh Dhabal Deb
Technology Architect

17+ years of technology experience in Communications and Collaboration domain with expertise in architecture consulting, development and production support

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