Category: Software Debug

This is part three of my Application Logging improvement plan. So far I have discussed that log should be machine readable for application performance, management and monitoring. In this post I give an example of how to make the log readable to human (or make the log just like everyone has been used to seeing them). I am going to use vim to view the log files and have it configured so it knows how to handle the file with syntax etc.

First thing is configure vim to recognize the format.

Multi-threading is now becoming a norm. Obvious issue with logging is how to synchronize between threads. As discussed in last post Application Logging Improvement Plan – Part 1, we want to log as much as possible in machine readable format. So there comes a problem with multiple threads trying to log at the same time. Two possible implementations come to mind but both are flawed.

1. Synchronize between threads for logging – Disk writes are slow and now locking contention would only make it worse. This slows down the business logic and is a big no-no.
2. Log without synchronizing – Business logic works but logs get jumbled up because multiple threads are trying to log at the same time. This leaves logs in worst shape and unusable.

We can do better by combining both of above to get a solution. We will create a per thread logging buffer (lets call it LogBuffer) where each thread would log without any conflicts. And at a certain threshold, threads synchronize and log their LogBuffer to the disk (lets call this Flush).