What is log preparation?

Log preparation is the process of ensuring log data is accurate, properly formatted, and ready for use in log management and monitoring tools or platforms. This process includes validating data, removing redundant data, and formatting data to ensure it is compatible with monitoring and management tools.

Using log data effectively can help IT teams detect, identify, and remediate issues among IT environments. Having more sources of log data available to teams and more accurate results createso better IT outcomes. However, multiple sources of log data means massive data volumes, as well as multiple file types and formats.

The first step of log preparation is reviewing the collected data to ensure it's accurate and relevant. This eliminates redundant data points collected from multiple sources and identifies data outliers that may be the result of manual errors or process problems.

Once teams can review the data for accuracy and relevancy, it's uniformly formatted. This ensures monitoring software and platforms can easily ingest and analyze this data to produce actionable results.

Log preparation is an essential part of the log monitoring and management process because it sets the stage for success. If log data isn't properly formatted, platforms may not be able to integrate multiple data sources, leading to an incomplete picture of IT operations. If the data is inaccurate, the log management platform’s suggested actions may not deliver the intended results. Effective preparation makes it possible for teams to make the most of log management solutions.

To learn more about log preparation, explore Dynatrace log management and analytics resources.