Online viewing of server logs? Is this encouraged?

Question

I understand that this could be a big security issue if people manage to hack it and able to view the server logs. Is there any application that can actually grab logs and display via web interface with the necessary security imposed? I am talking about java enterprise application

Answer 1

I haven't tried any of the products available, but often thought about it trying. I even implemented some log analysis tools myself.

Maybe have a look at this "commercial"

Answer 2

I have recently worked with a large web-based application which would have a separate menu entry for debugging, available to selected users -- and provided it was first activated in the first place. Even though the solution implemented was kind of short on features -- it just showed the .log file as is onscreen --, it usually did the job. Since we as developers had full access to the server (usually in a VM), we'd often use a tool such as BareTail for convenient features such as line highlighting and following tail, but if you can't always access the server and your time allows it, you should consider implementing the best of both worlds, which may not be very complex.

Answer 3

Take a look at Splunk. http://www.splunk.com/ This tool is likely overkill for what you are looking for, but should do the job.