Logging
Logs are one of the four pillars of observability. Instana supports log consumption from various sources by using tracers, container sensors, and OpenTelemetry. Instana focuses in collecting logs to support the observability and address related use cases effectively.
Instana can automatically collect application and service logs through its tracer technology and correlate them with metrics and traces to enrich spans and calls with relevant log context.
Instana also supports log collection through container sensors and OpenTelemetry. These options are optional and require manual configuration.
- Collect OpenTelemetry logs. To ingest logs into Instana through OpenTelemetry, you might need an add-on or additional configuration. For more information, see License and entitlement requirements.
- Collect application and service logs automatically. For more information, see Log messages.
- Correlate logs with metrics and traces by using the logs within the context of Kubernetes and containers. For more information, see Analyze Kubernetes logs.
- Enrich traces or calls with additional messages. For more information, see Instana tracing SDK.
- Integrate with a dedicated logging product. For more information, see Logging integrations.
To use Logs with Instana, you have the following options:
Managing and viewing logs
From the navigation menu in the Instana UI, click Logs.
To analyze logs in detail when troubleshooting, click Analyze Logs and carry over the selected timeframe to your further investigation.
Summary
The Summary tab offers you a quick overview of the Current retention Period, Current month log volume, and Log count distribution for the selected timeframe.
Click on the pencil icon of the Current retention period for configuring extended log retention. For more information, see Configuring extended log retention.
To view detailed log volume reports, go to Account and billing > Usage > Log messages. For more information, see Viewing log volume report.
Inspect the Log count distribution for the selected time frame by interacting with the graph:
- Click a legend item to view detailed information about a specific combination of log levels or isolate a single log level for a more detailed graph.
- Hover over the graph to view a detailed analysis list for a specific time point.
Click a time point on the graph to access the following options:
- Zoom to time range: Refreshes the graph to focus on data for the selected time range.
- Export to CSV: Generates and downloads a CSV file with the data for the selected time range.
To create a logging Smart Alerts quickly, click ADD SMART ALERT.
Managing logs
You can manage how long Instana retains logs and how Instana reports log volume.
You can extend the log retention period for logs in Instana by configuring the log retention period settings. Extended log retention is an add-on feature for Instana logging. For more information about changing the log retention period, see Configuring extended log retention.
You can manage and monitor your log usage by using log volume reports. Log volume reports are an add-on feature for Instana logging. For more information about viewing log volume reports, see Viewing log volume reports.
You can integrate logs with third-party logging providers to enable a fluid workflow between Instana and the logging providers. For more information about log integrations, see Integrating logs.