Realize log file monitoring and error detection reporting system with Splunk

Japan Pallet Rental Corporation, Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as JPR) was established in 1971 with the aim of disseminating 11-type logistics pallets that conform to Japanese Industrial Standards in Japan in order to solve the problem of "heavy manual handling." was done. With the spread of pallets, we have adopted a rental system that can realize efficient pallet transportation by eliminating "difficulty in collecting pallets after use" and "wasteful transshipment work at bases". By renting pallets, each company can use the pallets jointly, and JPR collects them all at once after use, and transports the cargo on the same pallet from the point of departure to the point of arrival. ” is realized. The company's rental pallet system has greatly contributed to the improvement of logistics efficiency, cost reduction, and reduction of CO2 emissions in Japan.

Currently, the company's rental pallets are used at approximately 5,000 bases, mainly in the manufacturing industries of processed foods and daily necessities, and the total number of pallets rented per year exceeds 33 million, making it No. 1 in the rental pallet industry. We are proud of our share.

Since 2002, we have been providing a system that can manage the total amount of RTs (returnable containers such as I-basket cars and plastic containers) owned by each company, including the huge pallets, where and how many are on the web. I've been Furthermore, the latest logistics equipment management solution system "Llink" enables more precise individual management by utilizing automatic recognition technology such as RFID.

Satoru Kuroiwa, Group Manager of the ICT Service Group of the JPR Information Systems Department, explains Llink, which began operation in 2013, as follows.

"By collecting individual movement data of RTI from all kinds of logistics sites such as factories, distribution centers, and stores, it becomes possible to search for data such as the amount of long-term retention and retention points from the cloud. It is a system that makes it possible to grasp the lead time for each event, such as up to.The vast amount of information can be quickly visualized and analyzed on the dashboard.Customers can check the operation report regularly, so the efficiency of logistics It will be a hint for drafting improvement measures for standardization.”

Llink is an OSS (open source software) integrated operation management tool that monitors the life and death of servers, but Macnica provides a system that monitors log files and reports errors when errors are detected in the logs. This is achieved using the data analysis platform "Splunk Enterprise" (hereinafter referred to as Splunk).

The ease of creating what you want to see yourself and the freedom to get immediate results

Regarding the background, Mr. Kuroiwa said, "At the time, the company had a system for collecting and storing logs, but there was no function to analyze them, so I thought it would be interesting to be able to visually capture logs with Splunk. At first, it was a free version, and I intended to use it for log monitoring purposes, but it turned out that it could be used to investigate the ratio of browsers used by users, and based on that, to determine policies for versions supported by the service. I realized the magnitude of the possibilities,” he recalls.

Therefore, we made it possible to visualize trend analysis such as frequently used functions in Llink, functions that are not used on the contrary, processes that take too much time, pages with errors, etc. on the dashboard.

Mr. Toshiyuki Tani, ICT Service Group, Information Systems Department, JPR, who was in charge of developing the function, said, "Splunk can handle data in different data formats in a centralized manner without having a database, and it is easy to create what you want to see. , and the degree of freedom that results can be obtained as soon as you type a command, was very different from other log analysis tools."

Switched to the paid version in June 2014, and increased the capacity in December as the amount of data handled increased. In the process, Mr. Tani created a script that automatically outputs the logs of monitored systems, making it possible to handle logs from even more systems.

The habit of checking information with Splunk every morning and starting work has spread

As of the end of 2015, Splunk monitors VMware vCenter Server logs of VMware vSphere running on VMware ESXi servers, guest OS logs, database process information, web server logs, application logs, and ADC (application log). Delivery controller) performance log, PC operation history log, proxy log, etc. In addition, Splunk collects, visualizes, and analyzes all of these, from entry/exit management logs for the office area from the security system in the head office building to lock/unlock logs for the vaults that store keys for shared cabinets. . There are 108 types of reports alone.

This makes it possible to monitor the operation of each system and manage security.

“Splunk can collect logs from any system by simply creating a script, so I was once again surprised by its breadth and flexibility,” says Tani. "In particular, the field extraction function is powerful, and in addition to being able to extract finely, access privileges can also be granted, so we can set the log viewable range for each department. Processing has also become speedy."

Mr. Kuroiwa also said, ``Splunk has permeated the work, such as the members developing Llink in the information system department and the application operation members checking the information visualized with Splunk every morning before starting work. It is used in various places within the company,” he confesses.

In the past, Llink had no choice but to spend manpower to perform detailed monitoring, but with the introduction of Splunk, it is now possible to easily visualize detailed log information from various systems and equipment. Splunk sends email alerts when there are system failures or when login attempts are unusually high. In addition, using the cloud-based phone API service "Twilio", it is designed to ring the IP phone with an alert mail as a trigger, in case the mail is not noticed.

"The information systems department is also improving its operations within the limited manpower, but I think it is a great achievement that we were able to build a new system that enables precise monitoring without spending time and effort. Kuroiwa appreciates it.

Splunk is a rare tool these days

In the future, JPR is looking to further leverage Splunk's functionality and apply it as a precursor to IoT. Specifically, the idea is to create a rental system for devices used for work. We are considering a method of providing one tablet to each person and lending laptops to those who wish to do so, but as there is currently no security feature, it is necessary to properly manage who borrows and when. For this reason, we would like to incorporate a Bluetooth SMART module such as ``Koshian'' provided by Macnica group 's original technology brand Mpression into a notebook PC, and automatically collect and analyze the log information with Splunk to achieve detailed visualization. .

Looking back on the introduction of Splunk this time, Mr. Kuroiwa describes it as one of the rare tools these days that once you start using it, you can't do without it. “What I like most about Splunk is the flexibility of customization and the high degree of feasibility of functions. Graphical performance that can be expressed.I think that is the reason why it is popular all over the world.My honest impression is that it is fun and very convenient." (Mr. Kuroiwa)

Mr. Kuroiwa, who is also interested in how other companies are using Splunk, said that if the ecosystem can be developed by sharing development examples in communities and user groups, a more interesting world can be seen. He told me he was coming. Much attention will be paid to how far JPR will draw out the potential of Splunk.

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