iTnews
  • Home
  • News
  • Technology
  • Software

Monash Uni splunks server logs

By Ry Crozier on Aug 19, 2009 2:45PM
Monash Uni splunks server logs

Search firm also pursues additional Telstra projects.

Monash University has licensed the next version of a tool called Splunk that it uses to index system log data from 600 physical and 100 virtual servers.

The tool, which is available in free and paid versions, enables companies to search across system, security incident and audit logs to troubleshoot IT issues and investigate issues.

Senior systems and storage administrator at Monash, Joshua Edmonds, told iTnews the University trialled the free version of the tool for a year before upgrading.

Versions are priced on the amount of log data that is indexed and searched each day. The free license included a 500MB limit, which Splunk said would cover "a handful of servers generating a modest amount of [log] data".

Edmonds said the University's license enabled it to index and search up to 1GB of data per day.

"At the moment we're only indexing our syslog data from the servers," he said. "We're not capturing log data from network equipment or storage devices.

"On a typical day we're looking at about 300 to 400MB but when there are problems that can peak at up to 1.2GB," he said.

The tool provided some leeway if data limits were breached. Edmonds said they had not been prevented from examining occasional data spikes.

Edmonds said Splunk had been deployed on a central logging server that captured log data from across its entire server environment.

He said it was possible the University would examine a more distributed architectural approach to Splunk's deployment.

Splunk said one of the advantages of version four of the tool was that the processing required for indexing and searching the log data could be conducted in a distributed fashion.

Splunk co-founder Michael Baum said rather than collect logging data and aggregating it in a single point, Yahoo! had installed Splunk in each of its 32 data centres to enable processing to occur locally.

"We then federate search across all those different locations in real time," he said.

Baum said the company had a "couple of hundred thousand" free users and 1100 paid customers. The paid version starts at US$9000 (AU$10,860) in Australia.

Existing customers in Australia included government agencies and Telstra, which had deployed the tool to support multimedia delivery on mobile phones.

Splunk said it was "talking to Telstra for more projects."

Baum believed there was a need for tools like Splunk - in part because vendors were "notoriously bad at giving [customers] good tools to analyse log data.

"Companies like Telstra can no longer afford to leave these logs out on end network devices where they typically get overwritten every couple of hours because there's not enough on-board memory," Baum said.

"[IT departments] really need a few days of data to be able to get a baseline and determine trends."

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Tags:
hardwareitlogsmonashnetworknetworkingsansearchserversoftwaresplunkstoragetelstra

Partner Content

Why Genworth Australia embraced low-code software development
Promoted Content Why Genworth Australia embraced low-code software development
Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Promoted Content Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Accenture and Google Cloud team up to create a loveable, Australian-first, renewable energy product
Promoted Content Accenture and Google Cloud team up to create a loveable, Australian-first, renewable energy product
The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats
Promoted Content The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats

Sponsored Whitepapers

Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers
Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers
NextGen Security Operations: A Roadmap for the Future
NextGen Security Operations: A Roadmap for the Future
Video: Watch Juniper talk about its Aston Martin partnership
Video: Watch Juniper talk about its Aston Martin partnership

Events

  • Micro Focus Information Management & Governance (IM&G) Forum 2022
  • CRN Channel Meets: CyberSecurity Live Event
  • IoT Insights: Secure By Design for manufacturing
  • Cyber Security for Government Summit
  • Forrester Technology & Innovation Asia Pacific 2022
By Ry Crozier
Aug 19 2009
2:45PM
0 Comments

Related Articles

  • DTA plots data centre panel overhaul
  • Qantas calls time on IBM, Fujitsu in tech modernisation
  • Don't miss Australia’s premiere IoT Conference on 9th June
  • Top 5 Benefits of Managed IT Services
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Email A Friend

Most Read Articles

Qantas calls time on IBM, Fujitsu in tech modernisation

Qantas calls time on IBM, Fujitsu in tech modernisation

PayTo rollout kicks off

PayTo rollout kicks off

Neobank Volt exits the banking industry

Neobank Volt exits the banking industry

TPG Telecom puts fresh targets on IT simplification

TPG Telecom puts fresh targets on IT simplification

Digital Nation

COVER STORY: Operationalising net zero through the power of IoT
COVER STORY: Operationalising net zero through the power of IoT
Crypto experts optimistic about future of Bitcoin: Block
Crypto experts optimistic about future of Bitcoin: Block
Integrity, ethics and board decisions in the digital age
Integrity, ethics and board decisions in the digital age
IBM global chief data officer on the rise of the number crunchers
IBM global chief data officer on the rise of the number crunchers
The security threat of quantum computing
The security threat of quantum computing
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorisation.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of nextmedia's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.