Adding a Log Type

A Log Type is a clear definition of the format in which an application writes logs. Site24x7 supports more than 100 different log types by default. Enable AppLogs, create a Log Profile, associate a Log Type to it and start collecting, analyzing, and managing your logs. You can also create custom log types in addition to what Site24x7 supports by default.

Adding a custom log type

Here is a how-to video to create and associate a log type with a log profile:

If your log type isn't listed on the list of supported log types, you can create custom log types and define them.

Go to Admin > AppLogs > Log Types > Add Log Type.

1. Display Name: Enter a display name.
2. Maximum Upload Limit: The maximum amount of logs (for this log type) that you could upload during the current billing cycle. This field will be visible only to users who purchase Log Management add-ons.
3. Search Retention (days): You can choose from the predefined Search Retention (days) options, 7, 15, 30, 60, or 90, to retain your logs. This setting specifies the number of days the collected log data will be stored and available for search in Site24x7. The default value is 30 days. Know more.
4. Auto Discovery: Toggle Enable to automatically look for this log format across any new servers that have been associated with this log type and start to upload them.
5. Sample Logs: Provide sample log lines to discover the log pattern. Click the + icon to add multiple logs. AppLogs provides multiple log patterns to combine different log patterns in a single log type. AppLogs also supports multiline, JSON, Key-value, and XML format logs.
   
   
6. Log Pattern: Log Pattern is the format in which Site24x7 parses your logs. This can be customized as per your requirements. You can also submit the log type with a default generated pattern. Our team will verify and update the log type with the correct log pattern once you submit the log type.
   
   
   Note

   When you submit a log type with a default pattern using AgentDateTime, a message will appear after saving. If no valid date and time value is available in the log line, we have used AgentDateTime as the date format. This means the log line will display the time the log was read by our agent.
   
   Whenever a log type is created with the default AgentDateTime, our team will verify if it is valid. If it is invalid, the log pattern will be updated with the correct date-time format.
   
   If you have a valid date and time format in your logs, refer to the Defining a Date Field section to configure the correct date field.

   For some sample logs, log patterns are identified and generated by default. In such a case, replace the default name with a relevant field name. Refer to this section to create a custom log pattern.
   
   
   Once you define the Pattern and enter the Name, click the icon to save the pattern. You can also click the quick help icon for log pattern syntax help.
   
   
   If you still need help creating the log pattern, you can contact support@site24x7.com with sample log lines you want to configure.
   
   Note

   Refer to the Update field configurations, Filter log lines at source, and Derived field support sections in this document to know the available log field configurations and features.

7. Enable API Upload if you want to send logs via an HTTPS endpoint.
8. Finally, click Save and associate it to a Log Profile. You can start searching your logs.

Define a log pattern

Every field name should start and end with $ (Ex : $Message$). Custom log pattern can be given in the Log Pattern section with the following syntax:

Log Pattern

$FieldName:DataType:Format$

• Defining a Number Field 

  ($FieldName:Number$) 
  Here, Number is the Data Type of the value associated with the Field Name. 

• Defining a String Field

  ($FieldName$) or ($FieldName:String$) 
  Here, String is the text associated with the Field Name.
  (Note: String is the default data type, and hence it need not be separately mentioned).

• Defining a Date Field

  ($FieldName:Date:Format$) 
  Here, FieldName is the variable name, Date is the Data Type of that variable. However, a Date variable must be defined with a Format.
  

  $DateTime:date:EEEE MMM dd HH:MM:SS:SSS yyyy$

  For example,
  

  Date field	Sample log	Log pattern
  Tuesday Sep 19 13:34:56.123 2007 - The format should be EEEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss:SSS yyyy	Tuesday Sep 19 13:34:56.123 2007 Starting App Server	$Datetime:date:EEEEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss.SSS yyyy$ $message$
  Sep 19 2007 13:34:56 123456 PST - The format should be MMM dd yyyy HH:mm:ss SSSSS z	Sep 19 2007 13:34:56:123456 PST Starting App Server	$Datetime:date:MMM dd yyyy HH:mm:ss:SSSSS z$ $message$
  19-09-07 1:34:56 pm -0800 - The format should be yy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss a Z	19-09-07 1:34:56 pm -0800 Starting App Server	$Datetime:date:yy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss a Z$ $message$
  13:34:56,262 - The format should be HH:mm:ss,D	13:34:56,262 Starting App Server	$Datetime:date:HH:mm:ss,D$ $message$
  Tue September 19 13:34:56 - The format should be EEE MMMM dd HH:mm:ss	Tue September 19 13:34:56 Starting App Server	$Datetime:date:EEE MMMM dd HH:mm:ss$ $message$
  For the Unix time (in seconds) 1190234095, the format should be $DateTime:date:unix$	1190234095 Starting App Server	$Datetime:date:unix$ $message$

  Supported Date Formats:

  Format Requirement	Date Format	Example
  Year - 2 digits	yy (or) y	17 or 7
  Year - 4 digits	yyyy	2017
  Month - 2 digits	MM	07
  Month - 3 letters	MMM	Sep
  Month Name in full	MMMM	September
  Date	dd	19
  Hours in a day (0-12)	hh	1
  Hours in a day (0-23)	HH	13
  Minutes in an hour	mm	34
  Seconds in a minute	ss	56
  Milliseconds in a second	SSS	123
  Time Zone (+0800; -1100) Time Zone (PST) Time Zone (-08:00)	Z z X	-0800 PST +01:00
  Day in a year	D	262
  Day Name - 3 letters	EEE	Tue
  Day Name in full	EEEE	Tuesday
  AM/PM/am/pm	a	pm
  Unix time - seconds since epoch	unix	1190234095
  Unix time - milliseconds since epoch	unixm	1190234095123
  Unix time - microseconds since epoch	unixu	1585597114.768750

  Fetching date value from a folder or a file name

  Note

  The folder name generally consists of year, month, and date fields only. We will fetch the date value only if the log lines consist of hour, minute, and second values at the end.

  $DateTime:date:@folder(yyyy-MM-dd)HH:mm:ss$ $
  $DateTime:date:@file(yyyy-MM-dd)HH:mm:ss$ $
  $DateTime:date:@filepath(yyyy-MM-dd)HH:mm:ss$ $
  
  For example,
  Sample Log

  11:10:11 CassandraDaemon:init Logging initialized
  11:10:12 YamlConfigurationLoader:load Loading settings from file
  11:10:13 DatabaseDescriptor:data Data files directories

  Log Pattern

  $DateTime:date:@folder(yyyy-MM-dd)HH:mm:ss$ $ClassName$:$Method$ $Message$

  File Name: D:\MyWebApp\2020-01-15\process.log

  Here, the date value is present in the parent folder of the log file; hence @folder is mentioned in the log pattern.

  Collecting logs without the date value in the log line

  At times, log lines will have only the time field and not the date value. In such cases, you've to configure the below date pattern to collect logs.

  Sample Log

  11:10:11 CassandraDaemon:init Logging initialized
  11:10:12 YamlConfigurationLoader:load Loading settings from file
  11:10:13 DatabaseDescriptor:data Data files directories

  Log Pattern

  $DateTime:date:@filedate(yyyy-MM-dd)HH:mm:ss$ $ClassName$:$Method$ $Message$

  Here, @filedate will take the date value from the file's last modified date.

  Collecting logs without the date and time value in the log line

  At times, log lines will not have both the time and date field values. In such cases, you've to configure the below date pattern to collect logs.

  Sample Log

  CassandraDaemon:init Logging initialized
  YamlConfigurationLoader:load Loading settings from file
  DatabaseDescriptor:data Data files directories

  Log Pattern

  $DateTime:date:agent_time$ $ClassName$:$Method$ $Message$

  Here, agent_time will take the agent-installed machine's current time while reading the logs.

  Parsing date value from a different language

  For example, the below log lines contain date value in Portuguese language.

  Sample Logs
  Log Entry: 00:00:07 quinta-feira, 10 outubro 2019 Iniciando recebimento de mensagem
  Log Entry: 00:00:07 quinta-feira, 10 outubro 2019 Buscando mensagems na fila Quantidade=0
  Log Entry: 00:00:08 quinta-feira, 10 outubro 2019 Sucesso ao buscar quantidade: CM_OK

  Log Pattern

  Log Entry: $DateTime:date:pt(HH:mm:ss EEEE, dd MMMM yyyy)$ $Message$

  Here, "pt" denotes the language code for Portuguese.
  

  Refer to this document for locale codes for different languages.

• Defining a Decimal Field

  ($FieldName:Decimal$)
  Here, Decimal is the Data Type of the value associated with the Field Name. Ex : 165.5

• Defining an IP Field

  ($FieldName:ip$)
  Here, IP is the Data Type of the value associated with the Field Name. It can be either an IPv4 or IPv6 value. 
  Ex: 192.0.2.1, 2001:0db8:85a3:0:0:8a2e:0370:7334

• Defining a Word Field

  ($Filename:word$)
  Here, Word is the Data Type of the value associated with the Field Name. Word is simply a subset of String, but the field should contain only one word. If more than one word exists, it should be defined as String.

• Defining a Config field

  ($FileName:config:@file$)
  Here, @file is the config type associated with the Field Name.
  Ex: @folder, @file, @ip, @host
  
  ($FieldName:config:@filepath$)
  Ex: C:\Program Files\cassandra\logs\server.log
  Here, if your mention the file path, Site24x7 AppLogs will take the complete path of the file and insert it into that field. 
  In case, if you want to add a specific folder (Cassandra, for example), you can define the field as below:
  $FieldName:config:@filepath:2$
  
  Note

  Configure the config field without leaving space after the last field.

  In the following example, the config field is defined at the end of the log pattern, and there is no space between $Message$ and $FileName:config:@file$.

  $Datetime:date:dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm:ss:SSS a$ $Message$$FileName:config:@file$

  To capture both folder and file names in a separate field, use two config fields in the pattern as in the example below:

  $Datetime:date:dd-MMM-yyyy hh:mm:ss:SSS a$ $Message$$FileName:config:@file$$FolderName:config:@folder$

• Defining a Pattern field

  This data type is exclusive to JSON files and is used to define the pattern for any of the json object values in the same log.
  Pattern 1:
  

  json $log:pattern:$RemoteHost$ $RemoteLogName$ $RemoteUser$ [$DateTimefield:date:dd/EEE/yyyy:HH:mm:ss$] $Method$ $RequestURI$ $Protocol$ $Status:number$ $ResponseSize:number$ $Referer$ $UserAgent$$ $stream$ $time$

  Here, the date field is inside the data type pattern field.

  Pattern 2:
  

  json $log:pattern:$RemoteHost$ $RemoteLogName$ $RemoteUser$ [$DateTimefield$] $Method$ $RequestURI$ $Protocol$ $Status:number$ $ResponseSize:number$ $Referer$ $UserAgent$$ $stream$ $time:date:yyyy-mm-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'$

  Here, the date field is outside the data type pattern field.

  Sample log: 

  {"log":"172.21.163.159 - - [27/Jul/2020:19:53:11] GET /test.txt HTTP/1.1 200 12 - Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/52.0.2743.116 Safari/537.36","stream":"stdout","time":"2020-07-28T11:29:54.295671087Z"}
  {"log":"172.21.163.159 - - [27/Jul/2020:19:53:11] GET /test.txt HTTP/1.1 200 12 - Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/52.0.2743.116 Safari/537.36","stream":"stdout","time":"2020-07-28T11:29:54.295671087Z"}
  {"log":"172.21.163.159 - - [27/Jul/2020:19:53:11] GET /test.txt HTTP/1.1 200 12 - Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/52.0.2743.116 Safari/537.36","stream":"stdout","time":"2020-07-28T11:29:54.295671087Z"}

• Defining a JSON object

  ($FieldName:json-object$)

  This data type is exclusive to JSON logs.

  json $widgetId:number$ $name$ $description$ $params:json-object$ $version$ $timestamp:date:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss$

  Here, json-object is the Data Type of the value associated with the params field name. 

  Sample log:
  {"timestamp":"2024-02-12 12:12:12","name":"Request Count of Sample App","widgetId":12,"description":"Event description","params":{"selected":212,"period":0},"version":"0.1"}
  

• Defining a JSON array

  ($FieldName:json-array:($FirstKey$ $SecondKey$ $ThirdKey$)$)

  This data type is exclusive to JSON logs.

  json $routePlannerRouteId$ $routeDate:date:yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss$ $routeId$ $regionId$ $oprCode$ $stopdetails:json-array:($locationKey$ $attributes$ $routePlannerStopId$ $stopETA$)$

  Here, json-array is the Data Type of the value associated with the stopdetails field name.

  Sample log:
  {"routePlannerRouteId":"10010202","routeId":"10010202","routeDate":"2022-12-09T00:00:00","regionId":"548","oprCode":"initialETA","stopdetails":[{"attributes":"test1","locationKey":"53w4","routePlannerStopId":"257288","stopETA":"2022-12-10T15:27:09-05:00"},{"attributes":"test2","locationKey":"257288","routePlannerStopId":"257288","stopETA":"2022-12-09T13:26:58-05:00"},{"attributes":"test3","locationKey":"442433","routePlannerStopId":"442433","stopETA":"2022-12-10T15:27:09-05:00"}]}
  

• Escape Special Characters

  If the log line has special characters, use ESC(<special character>).

  Sample log with special characters:
  2022-01-12 22:00:29,793 GMT*16.2*Message
  2022-01-12 22:00:29,793 GMT*16.2*Message
  2022-01-12 22:00:29,793 GMT*16.2*Message

  Then the log pattern should be defined as:

  $Datetime:date:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,S z$ESC(*)$Version$ESC(*)$Message$

Sending logs via an API endpoint

Site24x7 allows you to send logs to AppLogs through an HTTPS endpoint.

Update field configurations

• In the Sample Output table, hover over a field name to find the  icon and click on it.
• In the ThreadId - Field Configurations window that opens, choose the required field from the left pane and fill in the options on the right side.
• Display Name: The name will be automatically appended based on the field you choose from the left pane.
• Unit for this Field: Choose a suitable unit. This option is for number fields only.
• Toggle to Yesagainst the following options, if you wish to enable them. 
  • Enable Groupby: Group the entries with the same value.
  • Character Length for Groupby: Specify the number of characters that should be displayed in Groupby query output. You can add upto 200 characters for a field.
  • Hide this Field from Search Result: Hide this particular field when you view the search results.
  • Enable Masking: Toggle to Yes to enable masking. Provide the expression for the data to be masked as a capture group in the regex and the mask string.
  • Enable Hashing: Toggle to Yes to enable hashing. Provide the expression and include the data to be hashed as a capture group in the regex. Learn more about masking and hashing.

Filter log Lines at source

• Select Log Lines only if this Field: Choose from the options: Matches, Doesn't Match, Contains, Doesn't Contain to select the log lines that satisfy the value in Any of these Values field added below.

  Consider the examples below:

  • If you don't want to collect INFO logs, select Doesn't Match and enter INFO in the Any of these Values field below.
  • If you want to collect only the logs that contain the word system, select Contains, and enter system in Any of these Values field below.
    Note

    The values in the filters are case-sensitive.

• Any of these Values: Enter a value for the above-specified condition.
• Ignore this Field at Source: Toggle to Yes to ignore that particular field at the agent-side itself, before uploading.
• Click Apply.
  
  

Derived field support

Using derived field support, you can define a regex for the unparsed fields to extract necessary information.

Related articles

• How to limit log uploads from a particular log type
• Adding a log profile
• Query Language
• AppLogs alerts
• Best practices for log management