Today more than ever, organizations depend on IT systems and application availability while cyber threats constantly escalate. Meanwhile, the volume of machine-generated log data is growing exponentially. By 2025 over 40 zettabytes of log data will be created annually according to IDC estimates. Yet 84% of companies struggle to efficiently manage this critical operational data. The fallout includes security incidents, prolonged downtime and non-compliance penalties resulting from poor visibility into IT infrastructure and applications.
The recent Verizon and Uber security breaches demonstrate how scattered log data impeded investigation efforts. By centralizing logs in readily searchable format, analysis accelerated – but only after damage inflicted. "We failed to connect and analyze data fast enough to stop hackers from gaining access", lamented Uber‘s former Chief Security Officer Joseph Sullivan.
So what‘s the solution? Log management tools provide order from chaos by collecting, storing and analyzing vast amounts of log information generated across company systems and applications. Leading options like Splunk and Elastic Stack (ELK) have become IT staples for infrastructure monitoring at large enterprises. However licenses running hundreds of thousands of dollars keeps these solutions out of reach for many budgets.
The good news? Continued innovation has birthed powerful yet affordable cloud-native options perfectly suited for modern organizations. In this guide, we outline the top log management solutions – whether you manage 10 or 10,000 servers. Let‘s explore key market capabilities and trends.
A Primer: What Exactly Are Log Management Tools?
Log messages contain digital records of events occurring within computer systems, applications and network devices. Windows generates event logs recording user authentication failures for example. Databases log each query executed. Firewalls track permitted and denied network connection attempts. Web servers document visitor Behavior – and errors encountered along the way.
These log data provide vital context around application and infrastructure performance. As deployments scale in size and complexity, log volume expands exponentially. Without consolidation tools, making sense of all these fragmented logs becomes virtually impossible.
This is where log management platforms come into play. Core capabilities include:
Centralized data collection – Gather disparate application, infrastructure and network logs in one place
Storage and retention – Affordably house massive (and growing) data volumes long-term
Search and alerts – Pinpoint issues from historical logs in seconds versus hours
Visualization and reporting – Convert raw data into intuitive graphics, KPIs and reports
Analytics and correlation – Identify trends and patterns using statistical, ML and AI techniques
Robust tools help IT administrators, developers and security teams work smarter by extracting valuable insights from log treasure troves. Trouble tickets close faster when clues quickly surface from centralized logs using powerful data mining capabilities. Security remedies deploy faster when threat hunting tools access detailed forensic evidence. Productivity improves when application release notes provide DevOps pros debugging clues for the latest code deployments.
The business case for log management solutions builds itself – the bigger question becomes which option best aligns to organizational requirements and budget realities.
Top 10 Log Management Tools Revealed
Let‘s outline must-know capabilities and key differentiators across leading solutions:
Sematext Logs
Sematext Log Management and Analytics – Well-suited for: Microservices, serverless, containerized apps
- Over 50 out-of-box integrations including Docker, AWS, Azure
- 14-day default retention meets common compliance mandates
- Live Tail provides real-time log visibility
- Custom role-based access controls on par with commercial ELK distributions
Sematext distinguished themselves by exclusively targeting containerized, Kubernetes workloads – delivering easy infrastructure visibility for organizations rapidly migrating towards microservices. Serverless options omit overhead like Operating Systems allowing even larger scale. Their ELK expertise shines by simplifying historically tedious setup/management tasks.
LogDNA
LogDNA Log Management – Well-suited for: Cloud-native startups, SMBs
- Rapid 5 minute setup for AWS, Heroku, Kubernetes
- Built-in anomaly detection machine learning capabilities
- Dynamic data compression and archiving controls costs
- Intuitive web portal to search and analyze log data
"As a startup we needed log visibility fast without hiring dedicated engineers. LogDNA delivered big-company capabilities on a small-company budget." – Project Manager, 7 Mile Company
Designed by former Rackspace engineers, LogDNA packs tremendous power into a refreshingly simple server logging tool. Cloud-native workloads particularly benefit from rapid deployment, unlimited scale potential and generous free tier appealing cash-strapped growing teams. For larger organizations, role-based access controls, enterprise SSO integration and API extensibility check all the boxes.
New Relic
New Relic Log Management – Well-suited for: Traditional enterprises, APM users
- Over 100 out-of-box integrations including Java, .Net, Azure
- Generous data retention policies facilitate compliance
- Integrated machine learning and correlation features
“The ability to directly correlate application performance metrics with underlying system logs has been invaluable when issues emerge across our hybrid cloud footprint.” – Lead SRE, Enterpay Inc.
Founded in 2008, New Relic helped pioneer monitoring-as-a-service capabilities like application performance management and infrastructure monitoring, Layering robust log management on top provides a centralized observability platform for traditional enterprises. Customers praise generously bundled data ingestion and storage as providing long-term value. New Relic recently introduced a free-forever tier including 100GB monthly log ingest.
Papertrail
Papertrail Log Management – Well-suited for: Small teams
- Budget-friendly pricing tiers
- Easy centralized access to cloud service logs via cloud service integrations
- 7-day log archive with unlimited storage
- Basic SIEM capabilities like alerts and reports
“As a small shop dealing with regular network outages from our ISP, having logs easily accessible from Papertrail made the difference in getting connectivity restored 75% quicker according to our estimates.” – System Administrator, Marvi Networks
Positioned as "Hassle-free log management for small teams", Papertrail delivers on simplicity promises while trailblazing cloud log aggregation capabilities back in 2013. Favorable free tier makes trying Papertrail easy. While lacking higher-end features like analytics, Papertrail excels at frictionless log search for incident response – a godsend for resource-constrained teams.
Elastic Stack
Elastic Log Management Software – Well-suited for: Mid-large size enterprises
- Open source components with plug-in commercial enhancements
- Integrates tightly with leading security analytics tools
- Scales cost-effectively to handle petabyte scale data
- On-prem or fully cloud-hosted deployment options
“Between the open source architecture and commercial enhancements like pre-built connectors and machine learning APIs, Elastic gave us an enterprise log management platform tailored to our needs that legacy tools simply didn’t offer.” – Larry Cheng, Head of IT Engineering, Planview Inc.
Elastic Stack (formerly known as ELK stack) sets the standard for enterprise-grade log management and analytics. Top global brands rely on the platform – fueled by open source innovation balanced with commercial reliability. Friendly licensing models encourage small organizations to start free with open source, then optionally scale into commercial features like machine learning analytics.
Sumo Logic
Sumo Logic Log Management and Analytics – Well-suited for: Mid-large enterprises, MSPs, MSSPs
- Broad set of ingest and integration deployment options
- Scales on-demand to support extreme data ingestion surges
- Comprehensive workflow integrations with partners SOAR tools
- Over 300 out-of-box dashboards, alerts and reports
"Why manage your own ELK stack when Sumo Logic provides all that capability and more as an affordable service?". – Alex Lysakowski, CTO, GreenRADIUS
This rapidly-growing innovator leads the next generation of SaaS-first log analytics platforms. Sumo Logic now analyzes 130+ petabytes of data daily for fast-moving Global 2000 leaders spanning technology, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail. Strong security and compliance certification portfolio attracts highly regulated industries.
Graylog
Graylog Log Management Software – Well-suited for: Technical teams desiring flexibility
- Broad range of data collection methods including pipelines and buffers
- Open source server and web interface speeds customization
- Resource auto-discovery eases tracking dynamic cloud infrastructure
- Hundreds of community partner integrations
"Rather than retrofitting decades old architecture to handle today‘s data firehoses, Graylog built cloud-native technologies on open source for maximum control in chaotic environments" Alex Hagop, Director of Engineering, Carbontax Inc.
This shining open source log management star offers big-league commercial capabilities without lock-in. Flexible data pipelines allow custom parsing rules and buffers on par with leading enterprise-class SIEM tools. A tiny footprint excels for containerized workloads. Passionate community support fosters rapid enhancement backlogs prioritized via open voting.
Splunk
We would be remiss not discussing the undisputed market pioneer Splunk utilized by over 90 Fortune 100 companies. For organizations already committed to Splunk environments dealing with pricing and scale limitations, tools like Vector efficiently analyze massive datasets before passing just the most critical data into Splunk – yielding 10-20x cost reductions. Referencing more leading platforms:
Now that we surveyed the log management landscape let‘s examine key considerations when evaluating options.
Selecting the Right Log Management Tool
With an overview of top competitors, here are key factors to consider when selecting your organization‘s log management solution:
Security and compliance
Review authentication methods, encryption schemes, access controls and compliance accreditations like SOC2 to confirm tools meet established policies. Create isolated groups for security teams if access limitations required.
Scalability needs
Estimate peak and average log volume ingestion in events per second across short and long-term windows, then validate vendor capacity claims through reference checks.
Total cost of ownership
Calculate subscription fees, storage consumption and passive data egress rates. Weigh against internal infrastructure, administration and maintenance costs. Cloud services prove more cost-effective at scale thanks to savings from operational expenses and depreciation.
Platform and application support
Determine what percentage of existing log sources offer native integration. This reduces need for custom development. Prioritize future additions like Kubernetes and serverless platforms.
Analytics and machine learning capabilities
Consider whether dashboards, reporting and charting meet current SIEM alerting and troubleshooting needs plus allow future expansion into proactive anomaly detection and emerging techniques like predictive log analysis.
Weigh core criteria like analytics and compliance against scalability and platform coverage needs Image source
Document use cases and requirements while evaluating trials across shortlisted tools. Factoring in strengths around analytics, data sources, compliance and TCO indicates the best long-term platforms to support organizational goals.
Emerging Innovations in Log Management
Beyond core capabilities, where is the market heading? Several key trends stand out:
AI and machine learning – Expect smarter algorithms to automate mundane tasks like storage optimizations, grouping similar events and modeling baseline behaviors to detect anomalies in newly ingested logs.
Predictive log analysis moves from reactive firefighting towards data-driven threat forecasting by applying advanced statistical methods against massive datasets from across customer environments. Insights uncover vulnerabilities and guide policy updates before attacks strike.
Integrated experience across complementary toolsets like security orchestration (SOAR), security incident & event management (SIEM) and infrastructure monitoring (APM) replaces isolated point capabilities to accelerate detection and response velocity.
Kubernetes-native focus caters to containerized workloads through auto-discovery, auto-instrumentation and cluster-level visibility as complex microservices environments become production mainstays.
Meanwhile enhanced analytics and simplified management allow historically resource-strapped teams to unlock value from previously untapped log data sources.
The innovations show no signs of slowing as new challenges like managing machine learning model logs and integrating logs from connected vehicle fleets require further innovation. Exciting times ahead!
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
In closing, hopefully this guide provided context into the value proposition and core components of log management solutions along with a helpful starting point for evaluating offerings aligned to your organizational requirements.
We highly recommend taking 2-3 leading options for a test drive to validate capabilities and fit. Reach out if any part of the trial process proves confusing or capability gaps emerge warranting a deeper dialogue. Even basic SIEM functionality like centralized access and alerts delivers game-changing productivity, security and compliance benefits. Once the quick-win use cases materialize, advancing towards higher-end analytics unlocks truly transformational business opportunities hidden within the log data goldmine.
On behalf of our IT advisory practice assisting organizations at various stages of digital transformation journeys, thanks for reading and we welcome any feedback!
Regards,
[Your Name]
Chief Information Advisor
Acme IT Consulting Partners
