SanxLog - PowerShell Logging Module

SanxLog is a PowerShell Core module that enables simple logging to file and to a growing number of time-series databases and log aggregation services; currently InfluxDB, Datadog, Sumo Logic, Loggly and Elasticsearch. For each option, simultaneous logging to console is also supported.

Once the module has been imported, use the Set-Log cmdlet to specify the logging target. At present, you can only log to one location at a time. Each log target also supports, if required, logging to the Console. Once the log type has been specified, to write log entries, simply call: Write-LogCritical Write-LogError Write-LogWarn Write-LogInfo Write-LogDebug

Logging settings

All logging parameters are set using the Set-Log cmdlet. Specific options to note include:

• -LogType - Mandatory option. Must be one of File, InfluxDB, Datadog, SumoLogic or Loggly
• -LogLevel - Mandatory option. Specifies the minimum log level to write to the specified log target. Log entries with a lower level are ignored. Must be one of CRIT, ERROR, WARN, INFO and DEBUG.
• -DisplayLevel - Specifies the minimum log level to write to the console. Log entries with a lower level are ignored. Must be one of CRIT, ERROR, WARN, INFO and DEBUG, or NONE to disable console logging entirely. If not specifed, defaults to the -LogLevel value.

File logging

Features include:

• Log to any locally accessible path; local disk or UNC paths supported.
• Configurable maximum log size, with automatic rollover
• Timestamps can be local time or UTC

Log file format

The log files are written in a human-readable (or at least, human parseable) format:

[Timestamp] [ProcessID] [Log level - CRIT|ERROR|WARN|INFO|DEBUG] Message

InfluxDB logging

Features include:

• Supports InfluxDB on-premises and InfluxDB Cloud - InfluxDB v2.x currently supported and v3.x coming soon
• Organisation name and bucket fully customiable with names and IDs supported
• Entries tagged with a Source, LogLevel, Hostname and ProcessID tags for easy filtering

Datadog logging

Features include:

• Service fully configurable
• Source and LogLevel included as log entry tags. Additional tags can be specified.

Log messages are written in the following format:

[Log level - CRIT|ERROR|WARN|INFO|DEBUG] [ProcessID] Message

Loggly logging

Features include:

• Log messages written as JSON to take advantage of Loggly's excellent filtering and searching functions
• Each message tagged with Hostname, LogLevel, ProcessID and a configurable Source and Service
• Tags are also supported.

Sumo Logic logging

To ingest logs into Sumo Logic, you first need to create an collector and then create a HTTP Logs & Metrics source. During the source creation process, be sure to select the One Message Per Request option, otherwise the JSON log entries are processed as individual lines. Once it's created, use the source URL as the ServerURL parameter. Features include:

• Log messages written as JSON to take advantage of Loggly's excellent filtering and searching functions
• Each message tagged with Hostname, LogLevel, ProcessID and a configurable Source and Service
• Additional metadata tags can be specified as key/value pairs

Elasticsearch logging

To ingest logs into Elastic search, you first need to have created an index to receive them. Features include:

• Log messages written as JSON to take advantage of filtering and searching functions
• Each message tagged with Hostname, LogLevel, ProcessID and a configurable Source and Service
• Tags are also supported. Use the Set-Log -SkipCertificateCheck option to turn off SSL certificate checking if testing against a development instance.