Optimizing Log Management with Log Center: Enhanced Log Retention and Access

Log Center is Your Key to Efficient Logging

In the ever-evolving world of Salesforce Commerce Cloud, managing your logs efficiently is crucial. Whether you’re a seasoned administrator or a support guru, Log Center is your go-to tool. In this article, we’ll explore the enhanced features of the latest version of Log Center and how it can empower your logging experience.

Starting Log Center Has Never Been Easier

With the revamped Log Center, accessing your logs is a breeze. You have two options: you can start Log Center directly from your web browser or launch it from within Business Manager. Here’s how:

Starting Log Center from a Browser:

  1. Open your preferred web browser.
  2. Enter the Log Center URL, such as https://logcenter-eu.visibility.commercecloud.salesforce.com/logcenter/search/
  3. Provide your username and password, and simply click “Log in.”

Starting Log Center from Business Manager:

  1. In Business Manager, go to Administration > Site Development > Development Setup.
  2. Under the Log Files section, select “Log Center.”

The best part? When you access Log Center from Business Manager, there’s no need to enter your credentials—it’s that seamless.

A Dashboard Tailored to Your Needs

The Log Center dashboard is now more customizable than ever. Based on your Account Manager tenant filters and realm assignment, the dashboard populates relevant data. Administrators and support personnel with appropriate roles can set the dashboard to display data for any company realm. The default settings showcase a histogram of the top stack traces over the past ten days, providing a quick overview.

But that’s not all—additional dashboard options include:

  • Viewing individual stack traces: Click the horizontal label in the histogram for the stack trace you want to view.
  • Searching messages: Click “Search All Messages” in the listed stack trace to access the histogram and search results.
  • Toggling time filters: Easily switch between different time intervals to analyze stack traces for specific periods.
  • Filtering stack traces: Refine your search by specifying realms (admin only), instance types, and service.
  • Initiating a search: Execute a search with your current filter settings by clicking “Show Filtered Results.”

Mastering the Art of Keyword Search

Log Center’s enhanced keyword search functionality allows you to find logs containing specific terms with ease. This advanced search scans various fields, including text messages, activity IDs, category names, thread names, and message stack traces. Results are presented in a comprehensive list, while the severity panel on the left displays the number of issues per severity containing the searched text or ID. And if you’ve set severity as a filter, the keyword/ID search is confined to the selected severity level.

Here are some key aspects of the keyword search:

  • Case-insensitive search: The search is not case-sensitive.
  • Case-sensitive operators: Operators used in queries are case-sensitive.
  • Flexible term order: The order of search terms is generally not important, except when forming a phrase.
  • Stop words: Stop words like “a,” “an,” “and,” and others are ignored during searches.

Configuring Searches and Notifications

Log Center doesn’t stop at searching—it also offers powerful configuration options for administrators. You can save your search filter settings for future use, making it convenient to set up recurring notifications or quickly access specific log data.

Here’s how to configure searches and notifications:

  1. Start Log Center.
  2. Go to the Search Tab and select “New Search.”
  3. Set your filters to narrow your search criteria.
  4. Perform a search: Conduct a basic search by entering search terms or an advanced search using LCQL (Log Center Query Language).
  5. Save your search for future use, and even share the URL with other users.
  6. Configure ongoing notifications with ease, specifying the time interval and thresholds as needed.

Fine-Tuning Logging with Administrators in Mind

Log Center administrators enjoy granular control over log levels and log volumes, thanks to the Configuration tab. These options empower you to tailor your logging to your exact requirements:

  • Log Level: Dive into the Centralized Log Level Management page, where you can set different log levels and add time-restricted log rules. Fine-tune your log configuration effortlessly.
  • Log Volume: Gain insights into log volume configurations for each realm. Configure log volume settings to ensure you receive the right amount of log data.
  • Loaner Realm Delete: Safely delete logs from loaner realms or test realms when necessary.

Please note that deleting logs is irreversible, so exercise caution.

With these enhancements, Log Center is more than just a logging tool—it’s a comprehensive solution designed to empower administrators, support teams, and developers to harness the power of logs for improved performance and troubleshooting.

Extending Log Management Capabilities

Log Center doesn’t just offer advanced search and configuration options; it also provides enhanced log retention and accessibility features. Managing log files efficiently is vital for monitoring system performance, tracking errors, and ensuring security. With the latest version of Log Center, you gain more control over log retention and access, enabling you to make informed decisions and streamline log-related tasks.

Log Retention: Balancing Necessity and Efficiency

In the realm of log management, understanding log retention is crucial. Log files capture a wealth of data, including critical system events, user activities, and error messages. However, storing logs indefinitely can lead to storage overload and inefficiency. Log Center’s intelligent log retention strategy strikes a balance between retaining valuable data and optimizing storage resources.

Log files are captured daily and automatically retained for a default period of 30 days. This duration ensures that you have access to historical log data for a substantial timeframe, allowing you to analyze trends, troubleshoot issues, and meet compliance requirements effectively.

There is one exception to the default retention period: security log files. Due to their critical nature, security logs are retained for an extended period of 90 days, providing an extended window for monitoring and auditing security-related events.

For those instances when you need to manage log files more aggressively or have specific data retention policies, Log Center offers flexibility. You can delete log files more frequently using WebDAV, enabling you to align log retention with your organization’s specific needs.

After three days, log files are automatically moved into a dedicated “log_archive” directory, where they are compressed into gzip files. This process optimizes storage space while preserving log data for reference. If, for any reason, you need to retain log files beyond their standard retention period, you have the option to download the files and store them locally.

Extended Access to Historical Logs

With the enhanced capabilities of Log Center, you not only benefit from improved log retention but also gain extended access to historical logs. In previous iterations, Log Center allowed access to logs for up to 5 days. However, the latest version extends this access to logs from the past 14 days.

While this expanded access is a valuable enhancement, it’s essential to note that it falls short of the full log retention periods. Given that logs are retained for 30 days by default (or 90 days for security logs), the ability to access logs from the past 14 days provides a more comprehensive historical perspective compared to the previous 5-day limit.

Exploring External Log Analysis Solutions

For organizations seeking to harness the full potential of their log data or meet longer retention requirements, considering external log analysis platforms is a strategic move. Solutions like Grafana and Elasticsearch offer powerful log management, analysis, and visualization capabilities, allowing you to leverage log data for monitoring, troubleshooting, and insights.

These platforms provide extensive data retention options, advanced search capabilities, and the ability to create custom dashboards and alerts. Migrating log data to external platforms can be a prudent choice when you need to delve deeper into log analysis or meet specific compliance or security needs.

In conclusion, Log Center’s enhanced log retention and extended access to historical logs provide valuable tools for efficient log management and analysis. However, for organizations with more extensive log retention requirements, exploring external log analysis solutions is a logical step towards maximizing the value of log data.

Embrace the Power of Logs

Logs are invaluable assets for maintaining system health, optimizing performance, and ensuring security. With the latest version of Log Center, you have the tools to manage and access logs effectively. Whether you choose to work within Log Center’s extended 14-day window or migrate logs to external platforms, embracing the power of logs is key to maintaining a robust and secure digital environment.

Unlock the potential of your log data with Log Center and external log analysis solutions, and gain valuable insights to drive your organization forward.

In Conclusion

The latest version of Log Center is undeniably a game-changer for Salesforce Commerce Cloud users. It simplifies log management, enhances search capabilities, and offers robust configuration options, elevating the logging experience to new heights. Whether you’re diligently tracking system messages, meticulously debugging custom code, or efficiently managing log volumes, Log Center has consistently proven to be a trusted companion.

While the recent upgrade extends the search window to 14 days, it’s essential to acknowledge that this enhancement, while valuable, may still fall short of the expectations of users who require access to logs over an extended period. In a world where comprehensive log retention is a cornerstone of effective troubleshooting and performance optimization, a 14-day window may not always suffice. Many users would undoubtedly welcome an expansion of this window to match the platform’s log retention period, ideally reaching a more robust 30-day threshold.

In this era of complex e-commerce ecosystems, achieving comprehensive insight into your operations and swiftly resolving issues often hinges on the availability of historical logs. Therefore, while Log Center’s updated and improved features are undoubtedly praiseworthy, there is room for further refinement in the area of log retention to better meet the demands of users seeking a comprehensive and insightful logging solution.

Get started with Log Center today and experience streamlined logging like never before!

 

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