The Basics of Log Storage

Log storage is created by web gateways that convert and format properties together while writing these results into a log file. When creating a customized log or modifying an existing log, it is important to understand the most efficient ways to do so because Log Storage is crucial to improving traffic generation which will in turn increase productivity and profits.

The basics of log storage can be broken down into two simple steps:

1.     1. Define the Log Line. When creating the user, the first step is to create the log entry. This is done by creating an event to “Set Property Value” à choose the “User Defined Log Line.” From here all that is needed is to decide is what properties to add to format the log in the best, most effective, applicable way to fit the needs of each individual business. Users can convert, join and format all the different properties so that their log storage has the desired look and feel. It is best to set this up in a way that will be easy to analyze and understand how to make the business more productive.

2.     2. Writing the user to create a Log File. When working with log storage files users will also want to send the log string to the file system logging engine. This is where their log data will be managed. These files use the user defined properties that have stored the string as a parameter to send the data to a specific file logging engine.

Now that the specific log data is defined and written correctly, users will be able to understand these log storage basics to better analyze all website data compiled in these log files.

With the information that found from the log storage, users now can and should analyze the information to determine what aspects can be improved upon to increase your traffic generation and productivity. The more business owners, individuals, marketing personnel and IT teams analyze and compile new data, the more targeted traffic they will be able to bring to their websites.

Log Data Storage and Facebook

Did you know that Facebook has more than 300 million users and over the past few years has had to dramatically expand its data center space? With 300 million users, Facebook also has 30,000 servers supporting its operations. 20,000 of these servers have been newly added since 2

Jeff Rothschild, the VP of Technology at Facebook explains why the amount of Log Data Storage amassed in Facebook’s operations manages more than 25 terabytes of data…PER DAY. This is the equivalent of about 1,000 times the volume of mail delivered daily by the U.S. Postal Service.

When you have a business that needs to store such large amounts of data each day, it is important that you are using Log Storage Software providers that can support this much data storage.

The importance of being able to support log storage in massive amounts is crucial to being able to effectively utilize the data found from log storage. Rothschild discussed the effectiveness of Facebook’s engineering operations saying that they currently have about 230 engineers on staff that manages data for the more than 300 million users.

Rothschild also said that having one engineer for more than 1 million active users has been a consistent historic ratio at Facebook, they are always busy. ”We believe engineers at Facebook have a dramatic impact, along with the log data software we use.”

Although most online businesses aren’t nearly the size of Facebook, it is still important that log storage software be used to hold all of the necessary data. The more critical data you can hold using log storage, the more valuable information you will be able to gather to help you improve your business.

The technology specialists and marketing teams for Facebook utilize their data acquired from storage devices to make it so that they can increase the number of users they serve while also adding to the amount of data each user can store.

Making the Most of Web Analytics

If your business is successful, chances are you are using a web analytics tool. However, if you have never utilized web analytics before, it is going to be difficult for you to know how to take the data you receive and understand how to easily interpret it. 

Web Analyzers connect with your IP addresses and view the contact coming and going to each desired website. For example: if you use web analytics to connect with your main business website, they will be able to tell you how many visitors are coming to your website each hour, where they are coming from, how long they are staying, whether or not they are purchasing the products after visiting your site, etc.

By having all of this incredible information, the next step is to learn how to make the data work for you to make your business run more effectively.

1.                  How are your customers getting to your website? Do you have business information posted on other social media sites?

a.       If not, you may want to. One of the best ways to generate the traffic coming to your website is to create more options for your customers to find your website. For example, with my online business, I love using HubPages and Drop Jack to write articles and post links that will direct customers to my website. I have found that by doing this, I nearly double my traffic generation.

b.      If you do use other social networking sites to increase the amount of customers heading to your website, you will want to take the next step and find out where your customers are coming from. Do most of your customers start out by viewing your company’s Facebook page and from there they purchase products linked to your website? Or do they find your site by searching specific keywords in Google that take them to an article you have written? However your customers are getting to your site, this information you help you be more productive in your marketing program.

2.                  Utilize the site origins where your customers begin before they purchase a product and improve them. Brainstorm with your co-workers and think of ways to improve your social networking sites. Offer promotions that will attract more sales and more visits and write more articles that will make consumers want your services. This is the fun part. I love thinking of new ways to improve my business – especially when I know where to focus my efforts.Web analytics help me know where to spend my time and advertising budget.

Symantec SIEM Gives Real-Time Security Information

Symantec Security Information Manager is a comprehensive SIEM solution that offers enterprise-wide log collection, management and retention. It enables organizations to centralize and analyze large amounts of diverse log data. 

One such example of how Symantec has helped companies is PGi.  This innovative webinar and mobile conferencing company needed to protect its diverse, heterogeneous environment of 2,000 endpoints. To accomplish this, PGi turned to Symantec security solutions. Key benefits included improved risk posture and protection of its valuable customer data.

Symantec’s industry-leading correlation engine brings together organizational data, security event information and threat intelligence. It allows organizations to prioritize security incident response activities based on business risk. This proactive approach allows online business owners to more effectively defend their enterprises from threats while demonstrating compliance with industry regulations.

Key Features of Symantec:

• Supports virtual environment deployments
• Soft appliance deployments
• Custom log management/universal collectors
• Over 150 out-of-box compliance reporting templates
• Multi-conditional correlation rules

Key Benefits Associated with Symantec’s Features:

• Leveraging its highly scalable architecture to aggregate and normalize large quantities of diverse event data, Symantec Security Information Manager gives security leaders a composite view of potential threats and security exposures.
  
  
• Symantec Security Information Manager brings together event, threat and organizational data, allowing organizations to prioritize and remediate incidents based on business risk. Symantec Security Information Manager collects and analyzes events in real time using rules-based correlation.
  
  
• Offering over 200 predefined source collectors, Symantec Security Information Manager’s log collection capability gathers event logs from a wide range of sources throughout your infrastructure. If required, custom collectors may also be created to collect information from unique business applications and data sources.
  
  
• Symantec Security Information Manager provides a real-time correlation engine with more than 80 predefined rules, covering a wide range of security signatures, to detect and identify malicious activities.
  
  
• Symantec Security Information Manager helps security leaders demonstrate compliance by offering more than 400 out-of-the-box dashboards, reports and queries. Because all content is available in easy to use templates, customization is significantly simplified.

In fact, Symantec was honored as one of the world’s most ethical companies. In an official blog, Symantec states why that was the case: “Operating with integrity, and with a sharp focus on ethics and compliance, is the foundation of the corporate responsibility we have for all of our stakeholders. What we do and how we do it matters. It matters to our employees. It matters to our customers. It matters to our shareholders, our suppliers, our partners, and everyone we work with around the globe.”

If you need a proven, trustworthy SIEM partner, choose Symantec.

What is Splunk Enterprise?

Splunk is software that business owners can download and install in minutes. Splunk Enterprise is a fully featured, powerful, easy-to-use platform for collecting, searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine data. It is simple to activate and utilize ~ turning raw machine data into rapidly visible and organized insight and intelligence.

Splunk Enterprise is the fast and robust way to collect, analyze and secure the massive streams of machine data generated by IT systems and technology infrastructure of business owners around the world.

With this software program, IT departments can troubleshoot problems and investigate security incidents in minutes (not hours or days). They can monitor your end-to-end infrastructure to avoid service degradation or outages.

They can also gain real-time visibility and learn critical insights into the customer experience, transactions and individual/universal behaviors. With Splunk Enterprise, business owners can make their data accessible, usable and valuable to their marketing, IT, customer service, site design, and product development teams.

Successful businesses have IT systems and technology infrastructure that generate massive amounts of data. These facts and figures are generated by you and your board of directors, partners, vendors, affiliates, employees, potential clients and customers. By monitoring and analyzing everything from customer clickstreams and transactions to network activity to call records, Splunk Enterprise turns your machine data into valuable insights that business owners can turn into even more profit.

Splunk Enterprise collects and indexes any machine-generated data from virtually any source, format or location in real time. This includes data streaming from packaged and custom applications, app servers, web servers, databases, networks, virtual machines, telecoms equipment, operating systems, sensors and much more.

 

There's no requirement or need to "understand" the data upfront. Just point Splunk Enterprise at your data and it will immediately start collecting and indexing—so you as the business owner can start searching and analyzing it to find logical and organized ways to improve the way you do business.