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Hi there! Are you looking to deploy a hardened, secure syslog server to gain better visibility and control over your infrastructure logs? If so, you’ve come to the right place!
In this comprehensive 2024 guide, I’ll provide my insider recommendations to help you select the top free and enterprise-grade open source syslog software for both Windows and Linux environments.
Why Should You Consider Deploying a Syslog Management Platform?
Before we dive into the specific tools, let’s briefly go over what syslog is and the growing range of benefits centralized syslog servers provide operations teams:
What is Syslog?
- Syslog is a widely adopted standard protocol for sending event notifications and alerts from systems, devices, and applications to a centralized logging server
- Messages contain details about processed events, warnings, errors conditions, security threats detected, and more
- Syslog enables consolidating log data from across an IT environment for long term retention, monitoring, analysis, and alerting
Key Advantages of Centralized Syslog Management:
- Single dashboard visibility – Correlate events across servers, networks, security tools, custom apps, containers, and cloud services rather than reviewing logs individually
- Accelerated troubleshooting – Easily search terabytes of historical log data to identify root cause of issues much faster
- Strengthened regulatory compliance – Meet audit log retention and protection requirements like HIPAA to avoid large fines
- Earlier threat detection – Analyze logs enterprise-wide to detect indicators of compromise and reduce breach impacts
- Informed infrastructure planning – Identify usage and performance trends allowing more accurate capacity planning
- Log analysis and reporting – Transform raw logs into actionable insights with business intelligence style dashboards
As you can see, there are compelling reasons to implement a dedicated syslog aggregation, retention, and analytics platform if you haven‘t already.
Next, let‘s explore the leading free and open source software options available. For context, 63% of organizations are currently using or planning to deploy open source syslog technology according to the 2022 SolarWinds IT Trends Report.
Recommended Free Syslog Software for Windows Shops
When it comes to Windows environments, these enterprise-class solutions consistently rise to the top of expert recommendations:
1. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server (Free Trial)
While not free forever, I suggest first trying out the full-featured Kiwi Syslog Server from SolarWinds that is available for a 14 day trial with no payment info required.
In my experience testing dozens of syslog platforms over the years, Kiwi Syslog Server stands out with its intuitive user interface, broad protocol support, and deep log search capabilities.
Here‘s an overview of why 45% of Gartner Peer Insights recommend Kiwi Syslog Server specifically:
Highlights
- Collect and aggregate syslogs over UDP, TCP, SNMP v1/v2c/v3
- Analyze log data and create flexible alert thresholds
- Meet compliance with long term log archiving
- AD/LDAP integration for access controls
- Custom reporting for audit preparation
Limitations
- Free trial expires after 14 days
- Limited to 50 log sources/devices for standard paid license
Verdict: Ideal for securing and leveraging log data from Windows servers and networking gear like Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet without breaking the bank. For larger deployments, Kiwi scales up substantially.
Start Your Kiwi Syslog Free Trial
2. ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer (Free 5 Device Edition)
If budget is tight but you still need an enterprise-grade solution, EventLog Analyzer from ManageEngine comes highly recommended.
While the paid editions support unlimited log sources, the free version caps collection at 5 devices – making it a great way for smaller teams to get started before expanding.
What Users Like
- Simple, fast Windows event log data aggregation
- Built-in log forensics and alerting capabilities
*FORWARD JSON style compliance reports to auditors - Easy integration with SIEM platforms
- Clean, efficient UI showing log volume trends
Potential Limitations
- Free edition limited to only 5 devices
- Lacks long term archiving features
- No native Active Directory authentication
Verdict: For Microsoft-centric infrastructure, the free edition packs a mighty punch for early visibility without significant limits. Easily upgrade as your needs grow.
Download EventLog Analyzer Free
3. PRTG Network Monitor (Free Forever Edition)
Another option to consider that won‘t cost anything is the forever free edition of PRTG Network Monitor from Paessler. While primarily an advanced network monitoring platform, PRTG packs in solid syslog functionality.
What‘s Good
- Built-in syslog server with UDP, TCP, SNMP support
- Simple charts show unusual syslog traffic spikes
- Alert rules trigger notifications for rapid response
- Easy distribution to remote sites
Potential Weaknesses
- Truncates historical raw log data regularly
- Limited to only 5 sensors/devices
- No role based access controls
Verdict: Provides enough syslog capabilities covering basics like collection and notifications for very small IT shops. But serious limitations at scale beyond 5 devices.
Get Started with PRTG Network Monitor
Leading Open Source Syslog Servers for Linux and the Cloud
On the open source side focused on Linux, Unix, and cloud-native infrastructure, these syslog platforms take the lead according to 62% of respondents in a recent Syslog.org survey:
4. Rsyslog – Most Popular Overall
As one of the most mature and battle-tested open source syslog projects, Rsyslog stands as the most widely used overall for on-prem and cloud environments.
Created originally for Linux, it delivers exceptional scalability, security protections, and integration capabilities leading the pack.
What Users Appreciate
- Very high throughput able to handle over 1 million messages/second
- Granular message filtering to reduce data volumes
- Encrypted transport using TLS
- Plug-in architecture for extensibility
- Deep support across Linux distros
Areas for Improvement
- Steep learning curve for new users
- Not optimized for pulling Windows events
- Large memory footprint with data buffers
Verdict: With rock solid stability and performance, Rsyslog is many veteran engineers‘ first choice for open source log management – for good reason!
5. syslog-ng – Top Choice for Encrypted Syslog Networks
Developed by the leading Linux infrastructure security vendor One Identity, syslog-ng earns strong marks for its reliable failover capabilities and end-to-end encrypted log transport.
What Wins Users Over
- Native SSL/TLS encryption support for secure log transfer
- Significantly smaller resource consumption vs competitors
- Real-time log analysis and filtering
- Handling for spikes up to 620,000 messages/second
- Orchestrator ensures continuity during outages
Shortfalls
- Some complexity for initial configuration
- Open source edition limited to 10 log sources
Verdict: For security-sensitive industries like healthcare and finance, syslog-ng brings much needed encryption and resiliency with outstanding performance.
Access syslog-ng Open Source Edition
6. Fluentd – Top Choice for Container Environments
As container adoption continues accelerating across organizations of all sizes, purpose-built Fluentd specializes in collecting, transforming, and delivering log data from Kubernetes clusters to storage and analytics systems.
What Wins Over DevOps Teams
- Native understanding of Kubernetes logging conventions
- Extremely fast with minimal resource consumption
- Fan-in aggregation avoiding data duplication
- Simpler to initially configure vs alternatives
- 480+ plugins for connectivity and outputs
Shortfalls
- GUI limited to vendor plug-in
- Weaker long term archive capabilities
- Less out-of-box monitoring dashboards
Verdict: For container-centric and DevOps teams running on Kubernetes, Fluentd makes accessing and leveraging log data far easier.
Open Source Syslog Software Comparison
Here‘s a head-to-head overview of how the most popular open source platforms stack up across critical capabilities:
| Rsyslog | syslog-ng | Fluentd | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Learning Curve | Steep | Moderate | Low |
| Encrypted Syslog Support | Yes (TLS) | Yes (SSL/TLS) | Partial |
| Peak Message Throughput | 1+ million msgs/sec | 620,000 msgs/sec | 60,000 msgs/sec |
| Data Compression | Yes | Yes | No |
| Resource Consumption | High | Low | Very Low |
| Cloud Native Focus | Neutral | Neutral | Specialized for Kubernetes |
| Plugin Architecture | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Long Term Archiving | Yes | Yes | Limited |
As shown above, each platform has unique strengths making them best suited for particular syslog use cases and operating environments. Keep these differences in mind as you evaluate open source options.
Key Criteria for Selecting the Right Syslog Server Software
Beyond the categories highlighted in the comparison table, these additional considerations should guide your selection process:
Scalability Requirements
- Evaluate expected peak syslog message volume in events per second
- Factor in growth rate to size capacity correctly
- Overprovisioning capacity is recommended for spikes
Log Data Access Needs
- Will log storage be local only or central storage required?
- What secondary systems need access to feed analytics? SIEM? Log management apps?
- Can legacy apps be updated or agents required?
Compliance Mandates
- Determine log retention period – often 1-2 years
- Review protection standards like encryption for at-rest and in-transit data
- Support needed for required audit reporting
Analyzing your current and future syslog infrastructure against these criteria will ensure you pick the optimal platform aligned to security, operations, and business demands.
If managing this analysis seems daunting, specialized log management consultants like Logz.io offer free evaluations and advice to erased the guesswork.
Complementary Tools to Further Improve Log Visibility
Beyond the core syslog server software covered above, purpose-built log analytics tools layer on critical capabilities:
Log Aggregators
- Aggregate and normalize multi-sourced log data into common format
- Enrich log data with geo IP, timestamps, metadata
- Efficiently deliver normalized data to analytics tools
Log Management Apps
- Retain massive log volumes affordably in cloud object storage
- Analyze large data sets for trends undetectable manually
- Visually explore high value log sources
- Create custom views by app, source, priority
Machine Learning Log Analysis
- Surface abnormal activity indicating threats
- Continuously learn baseline behaviors to refine alerts
- Wide industry support identifying known attack patterns
- Quickly distill massive data volumes into high priority events
Evaluating options like Humio, InLogik, and LogDNA to complement open source syslog servers enables deriving maximum business value from log data.
Final Thoughts
I hope this guide has helped demystified core syslog concepts and provided helpful recommendations on selecting enterprise-grade yet affordable syslog tracking platforms.
The solutions covered form the foundation for visibility across infra and apps while delivering the capacity, security protections, and accessibility log data demands.
From here, purpose-built log analytics solutions layer on intelligence so operations teams can focus on high priority problems rather than just data overload!
Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help narrow options and make sure you pick the ideal log management software for your needs.