CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sql-serverweb-applicationserror-handling
sbozzie
sbozzie

Reputation: 727

What can I do with generated error logs?

I'm currently working on a web application which generates daily error (and non error) logs.

The current system outputs a log per task to a text file, and outputs critical errors as well as "start" and "finish" type messages to an email account.

The current workflow is as follows: scour the email box for errors, then go and find the .txt file to look at the associated errors and find the cause.

There are around 30 txt files split across about 5 servers.

This system was set up before me, but I'm looking for any advice on how to deal with the situation.

I have control of the script forming the error logs so can do pretty much anything - but I'm lost where to start: I'd considered some kind of web facing dashboard tool, maybe output the files to RSS or something? Are there any external or internal tools I should be using?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 71

Answers (2)

Pondlife
Pondlife

Reputation: 16240

It's not really clear what your problem is or what you want to do, but if I understand correctly, your biggest problem is that some messages are logged to a log file but others are sent by email. Therefore, there is no single location that has all error messages in it and that makes analysis and troubleshooting difficult.

The best solution would be to use a logging framework that supports multiple logging destinations (file, DB, email) and severities. That would allow you to specify a configuration like "all errors are logged to a text file and critical ones are also sent by email", so you can ensure that you have everything in one place for general analysis but critical errors are also handled with priority.

You didn't mention what programming language you use, but assuming it's .NET-based then log4net and Enterprise Library are two common frameworks and there are many questions about them here on SO. Googling should give you a good idea of the pros and cons for your situation. If you're using a different language then you can look for the equivalent package: log4j (Java), logging (Python) etc.

Upvotes: 1

Hernán
Hernán

Reputation: 1749

Of course you may use the SQL Server Reporting Services or review this comparison table, there are some packages which may support SQL Server but they may be overwhelming for your task.

Upvotes: 2

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