BES Logs ... How long to keep them
Posted 06-28-2009 at 04:00 AM by hdawg
Yesterday I discussed the tools that I use to parse BES logs, but the question begs ... how long should you keep them? RIM says one to two weeks should be sufficient for troubleshooting purposes.
I'll agree that one to two weeks should be sufficient in most cases for troubleshooting, but the BES logs aren't just a source for troubleshooting; they're a great source for data mining. I touched upon this when mentioning the BlackBerry Resource Kit (BRK) and the value of the data that can be obtained from the logs. If you're not using the BES logs to do trending and performance review / usage analysis, you're wasting valuable data.
Want to know who's always out of coverage? Who sends the most messages? Who might be having calendaring problems? How many failed Enterprise Activations you had? What your fellow administrators are doing with their roles that you have assigned to them? ... all of this and more can be gathered through the logs and the BRK. (Another time we'll go into the details; I promise).
I say keep the logs for a year. Back them up, move them off of the BES after a week or two, zip them up; heck use 7-Zip and get the best compression available ... but don't just purge / delete them. There is valuable data in there; you should make use of it. The next time someone needs justification for doing an upgrade, adding additional hardware, or some other BES related project, the data you gather from these logs may just be what you need to move forward.
If you've got any questions about the tools / methods I use feel free to post a question / comment in response to this post, or in the forum.
Tomorrow we'll be back to the log files and will move on to the mother of all (useless) log files to parse on its own ... but a service that touches every aspect of BES; the BlackBerry Dispatcher (DISP) log.
If you've got feedback or ideas for what you'd like to see more on please drop me a line.
I'll agree that one to two weeks should be sufficient in most cases for troubleshooting, but the BES logs aren't just a source for troubleshooting; they're a great source for data mining. I touched upon this when mentioning the BlackBerry Resource Kit (BRK) and the value of the data that can be obtained from the logs. If you're not using the BES logs to do trending and performance review / usage analysis, you're wasting valuable data.
Want to know who's always out of coverage? Who sends the most messages? Who might be having calendaring problems? How many failed Enterprise Activations you had? What your fellow administrators are doing with their roles that you have assigned to them? ... all of this and more can be gathered through the logs and the BRK. (Another time we'll go into the details; I promise).
I say keep the logs for a year. Back them up, move them off of the BES after a week or two, zip them up; heck use 7-Zip and get the best compression available ... but don't just purge / delete them. There is valuable data in there; you should make use of it. The next time someone needs justification for doing an upgrade, adding additional hardware, or some other BES related project, the data you gather from these logs may just be what you need to move forward.
If you've got any questions about the tools / methods I use feel free to post a question / comment in response to this post, or in the forum.
Tomorrow we'll be back to the log files and will move on to the mother of all (useless) log files to parse on its own ... but a service that touches every aspect of BES; the BlackBerry Dispatcher (DISP) log.
If you've got feedback or ideas for what you'd like to see more on please drop me a line.
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