Log centralization with Elastic

“Data is continuously collected, exchanged and stored automatically. Take governmental institutions like Belastingdienst (the Dutch IRS) for example, their operations fully depend on their critical IT infrastructure. This requires a complex mix of many servers, applications and interoperabilities between disconnected systems. But what if something goes wrong? Then they need to be able to locate the issue and fix it quickly. For example, say a mechanism is running slow or seems to be clogged in some way, then you first need to figure out why the issue occurs. In essence, you need to have an analytical insight on what is happening in this complex technical environment. That can be quite challenging… usually systems are not setup for inference, they are setup for production.”

Computers are everywhere these days. Everything runs in heavy automation, at best collecting runtime diagnostics. However, no implementation is perfect, and complexity creates problems. “Faulty operations or delayed system behavior will burn a hole in our client’s pockets over time. That is where we step in. They need people who are able to react in day-to-day operations to these circumstances. Accessible runtime diagnostics, as provided by a combination of Elasticsearch and Kibana, allow for more effective measures in tracking down situations and shortening reaction times. It all translates to money saved on every incident, one of the key ingredients to a good optimization strategy.”