Why Is Log Rotation a Risk for Troubleshooting?
Log rotation is often used to save disk space on servers by limiting the amount of log data stored locally. While this can prevent server crashes due to full disks, it can also lead to incomplete log data when you need it most, making troubleshooting difficult. Let’s explore why this is a common issue and how Otelic.com helps solve it.
1. Why Do Servers Use Log Rotation?
Log rotation is a system-level feature that archives or deletes old log files to save disk space. It’s commonly set up by DevOps teams to avoid server crashes caused by running out of disk space due to excessive local logging.
2. The Risk of Aggressive Log Rotation
To save space, log rotation settings are often aggressive, keeping only a small amount of recent log data. When an issue occurs, the relevant logs may already be gone, making it impossible to identify the root cause.
1# Example of aggressive log rotation in Linux
2/etc/logrotate.conf:
3 rotate 2
4 size 10M
5 compress3. Challenges in Browsing Logs Locally
Even when logs are retained, searching through large amounts of log data on a server can be time-consuming and error-prone without proper tools. SSH access and manual searching with commands like grep are inefficient and increase the risk of missing important details. Direct access to production server creates security issue while developer may mistype some command and bring server down.
1# Searching logs manually on a server
2grep "ERROR" /var/log/app.log4. How Otelic.com Solves This Problem
Otelic.com centralizes your logs in one place, removing the need for local storage and aggressive log rotation. With Otelic, you can:
5. The Value of Centralized Logs
Centralized logging eliminates the risks associated with local log rotation. With tools like Otelic, you ensure that all your log data is secure, accessible, and easy to query, even for large-scale applications.