CGI based syslog management system for virtual machines

Abstract

Undoubtedly, logs are brain of any software system. Development, debugging and upgradation of software applications became much easier due to the logging or auditing concept in computer science field. Virtual Machines also log and timestamp every activity that take place during their runtime. Gathering system details from those lengthy log files is a hectic work for the end-user since single log file contains millennial entries of audited log data. A management system can be very helpful solution and required for the analytical scanning and the visualization of the logged data and thus providing the way to end user for the relevant information about the virtual machines running on the hypervisors. The same system can help developers to gather relevant log entries and presenting data collectively to the end user. This system not only helps in providing and presenting details but also act as an alert system to notify user fatal errors occurred during runtime. Statistical usage information or notification system can further be developed by the means of this syslog system. This paper will present how developers can build an efficient Syslog Management System on the web using the (CGI) Common Gateway Interface in the C programming language and also mentions how CGI environment can be achieved in the Apache Tomcat webserver to build dynamic web tools. Also, it provides basic idea how C can be used effectively in the CGI interface to provide better methods for obtaining and extracting relevant system data.