Log-Based Failure Analysis of Complex Systems: Methodology and Relevant Applications

Failure analysis is valuable to dependability engineers because it supports designing effective mitigation means, defining strategies to reduce maintenance costs, and improving system service. Event logs, which contain textual information about regular and anomalous events detected by the system under real workload conditions, represent a key source of data to conduct failure analysis. So far, event logs have been successfully used in a variety of domains. This chapter describes methodology and well-established techniques underlying log-based failure analysis. Description introduces the workflow leading to analysis results starting from the raw data in the log. Moreover, the chapter surveys relevant works in the area with the aim of highlighting main objectives and applications of log-based failure analysis. Discussion reveals benefits and limitations of logs for evaluating complex systems.