Re: Make sure you're solving the right problem

Nice post.

I agree about sometimes feeling like a CSI when trying to track down performance issues or particularly nasty bugs. For some reason, I actually enjoy going through log files step by step trying to figure out what bizarre condition has triggered all hell to break loose.

Of course, that just emphasises the importance of proper logging, especially in large complex systems. It's not easy to isolate the problem if you don't have the 'evidence' to find out what might be causing it.

Comment on Re: Make sure you're solving the right problem

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Re^2: Make sure you're solving the right problem by talexb (Chancellor) on Oct 14, 2006 at 18:33 UTC
Absolutely agree about log files. SysAdmins complain about the space they take up, but there's extremely valuable forensic information in there. Having said that, half a dozen gigabytes of logs going back several months is probably excessive, unless you're trolling for something exceedingly rare. Alex / talexb / Toronto "Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds	[reply]

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Re^2: Make sure you're solving the right problem
by talexb (Chancellor) on Oct 14, 2006 at 18:33 UTC

Absolutely agree about log files. SysAdmins complain about the space they take up, but there's extremely valuable forensic information in there.

Having said that, half a dozen gigabytes of logs going back several months is probably excessive, unless you're trolling for something exceedingly rare.

Alex / talexb / Toronto

"Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds

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