This post is the first in a multi-part series of posts on the many options for collecting and forwarding log data from different platforms and the pros and cons of each. In this first post we will focus on Syslog, and will provide background on the protocol.
Syslog has been around for a number of decades and provides a protocol used for transporting event messages between computer systems and software applications. The protocol utilizes a layered architecture, which allows the use of any number of transport protocols for transmission of syslog messages. It also provides a message format that allows vendor-specific extensions to be provided in a structured way. Syslog is now standardized by the IETF in RFC 5424 (since 2009), but has been around since the 80’s and for many years served as the de facto standard for logging without any authoritative published specification.